I've been using Alfred for a long time to launch apps. I recently got a new computer and since switching to it, I've been averaging 95 launches per day. Anyway, I'm trying to use my mouse less, so I've been experimenting with Homerow, made by the same developers as Superwhisper, which I love, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

I've now run into the challenge of switching between per-app windows. I'm not entirely sure what workflow I want, but I'm wondering whether I should download a dedicated app, use Alfred, or try something else entirely. Open to any suggestions!

Thanks in advance!

The Problem

Hello! I had a personal problem that I decided to solve myself. I use tools like Claude Code, Codex, etc. a lot, and one of my biggest annoyances is constantly changing directories into whatever folder I want to work in. Going into Finder or typing ls was too slow for me.

What Nav Does

So I decided to build nav. Nav allows you to:

• Browse your folders in a full-screen TUI using vim keys or arrows
• Press enter on a folder, and your shell cds into it
• Fuzzy search the current directory
• Open an interactive tree view with depth/format toggles, copy-to-clipboard, and save-to-file options
• Reveal in finder, and open files in their default app
• All in a \~3 MB Go binary, with a plain text mode for those who are using a terminal that does not support the Nerd Font

>Note: Nav, including the website, was built with AI

Why I Built It

I know tools like yazi, nnn, and ranger already exist, but I wanted something more minimal in terms of features, with a built-in automatic shell wrapper installer and uninstaller. Building it myself also gave me a deeper understanding of how such tools work, which may sound counterintuitive, but that's just how I learn best.

Links & Feedback

If you have feature ideas, bug reports, or feedback of any kind, I'd love to hear from you. And if you find nav useful, a star on GitHub would be much appreciated!

https://getnav.dev/

https://github.com/TheGentleTurtle/nav

brew install TheGentleTurtle/tap/nav

TL;DR: Nav is a TUI file navigator for your terminal that automatically cd's the shell into whatever folder you select