What are the features?
Hey everyone,
I wanted to share something I’ve been working on (and using a lot lately): Captain’s Deck, a dual-pane file manager for macOS built for power users who care about speed, flexibility, and control.
It takes inspiration from classic orthodox file managers (think Total Commander or Midnight Commander), but it’s completely native to macOS and designed to feel fast and modern.
⚓ Dual-Pane Interface
You get the classic two-panel layout for moving files between folders without constant tab switching.
Adjustable split (vertical or horizontal)
Tabs in each pane (Cmd+T / Cmd+W)
Sync browsing between panes (Cmd+Option+Y)
⚙️ File Operations
All the basics, but fast and reliable:
Copy, move, delete, rename, and create folders
Batch rename with pattern matching
Visual feedback and conflict resolution
Full drag-and-drop and clipboard support (Cmd+C/V/X)
🌐 Remote & Cloud Support
Captain’s Deck can connect to just about anything:
Protocols: SFTP/SSH, FTP, SMB, AFP, NFS, WebDAV
Cloud: S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloud Files
Connecting via SFTP with your SSH keys is literally one shortcut away (Cmd+K).
🗜️ Archive Browsing
You can browse archives like folders — no need to extract first.
Supports ZIP, RAR, 7z, JAR, IPA, APK, and more. You can also create new archives or search within them.
🔎 Navigation & Search
Quick Open (Cmd+P) like Spotlight, but for files and commands
Quick Filter (/) to instantly filter file lists
Full search (Cmd+Shift+F) with content matching and archive support
Bookmarks (Cmd+B), Quick Bookmarks (Cmd+1–9), and Recent Folders sidebar
🧭 Sidebar & Preview Panel
A clean Finder-style sidebar with Devices, Favorites, Recents, and Tags.
The preview panel supports images, text, audio/video, metadata, and Quick Look (Cmd+Y).
🧰 Developer Goodies
If you code or manage repos:
Git integration — color-coded file status, branch display, context menu actions, and a Git panel (Cmd+Shift+G)
Built-in Terminal — toggled with backtick (`), synced with your current path, and supports Zsh/Fish/Bash
Plugin system — extend with JavaScript plugins using the built-in API (with sandboxing)
External Tools — assign shortcuts to your favorite editors or utilities
🧠 Other Features Worth Mentioning
Workspaces: save and restore your entire setup
Folder Sync: visual comparison and bidirectional sync
App Deleter: completely removes apps and their support files
Dropstack: temporary file collection area
Activity View: live transfer monitoring
Themes: from native macOS to classic Norton Commander blue
Full keyboard navigation and Vim-style movement keys
⚡ Privileged Operations
Supports admin-required operations (copy/delete in protected folders) via macOS’s proper SMJobBless mechanism — no hacky elevation tricks.
🧩 Requirements
macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or newer
Works on Apple Silicon & Intel
Optional: unar and p7zip for archive support (brew install unar p7zip)
👨✈️ Why You Might Like It
If you miss the efficiency of classic file managers, need serious remote access, want built-in Git and terminal tools, or just prefer keyboard-driven workflows — this might be for you.
Captain’s Deck — navigate your files with precision and speed.
Happy to hear feedback or feature suggestions if anyone gives it a spin!
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