nnn (n³) is a tiny, nearly zero-config terminal file manager written in C and released under the BSD-2-Clause licence, built for developers, sysadmins, and command-line users who want fast filesystem browsing, disk usage analysis, batch renaming, and file picking without leaving the shell.

What it is

nnn is a full-featured terminal file manager that lives in the command-line ecosystem. The binary is roughly 150 KiB, typically uses less than 3.5 MB of resident memory, performs all arithmetic with integers rather than floating point, and ships with no configuration file — sensible defaults apply immediately, and features and dependencies can be compiled in or out. It is POSIX-compliant, follows the Linux kernel coding style, and runs on Linux, macOS, BSD, Haiku, Cygwin, WSL, the Raspberry Pi, and Termux on Android, across desktop environments or a strictly CLI environment.

The concrete problem it solves is the ad-hoc shell workflow of chaining ls, cd, cp, mv and rm calls to browse, select, and act on files. nnn gathers those operations into a single keyboard-driven interface: it analyzes disk usage, batch renames selections, launches applications, and acts as a file picker for other programs. Remote directories can be reached through mounts that require sshfs or rclone, and shell integration is easy because nnn can cd on quit. Where the built-in feature set ends, a plugin repository adds live previews, disk (un)mounting, find-and-list, file and directory diffs, and uploads, while a patch framework hosts sizable user-submitted patches that are subjective in nature.

Key capabilities

• Disk usage analyzer in block or apparent size, alongside light (default) and detail view modes.
• Search-as-you-type filtering with fuzzy, regex (POSIX or PCRE2), and string (default) matching, plus a subtree search plugin for opening or editing files.
• Sorting by name, access, change, or modification time, size, and extension, with numeric-name ordering by default, a case-insensitive natural sort, reverse sort, and directory-specific ordering.
• Built-in previewer for directories and text files, FIFO-based previewer plugins with extensive mime support, and a plugin for image, video, and audio thumbnails.
• Contexts, which act as tabs or workspaces with custom colors, plus sessions and bookmarks for marking and revisiting directories.
• Archives can be created, listed, extracted to, and mounted through FUSE, and selected file paths can be copied to the system clipboard.
• Convenience operations include batch renamer, cross-directory file and range selection, create-with-parents, duplicate, link, copy-as and move-as, FreeDesktop-compliant trash integration, and completion notifications on cp, mv, and rm.

Who uses it and how

• Vim and Neovim users integrate it through nnn.vim, nnn.nvim, and a vim-floaterm nnn wrapper, using it as a file picker inside an editing session.
• Operators on memory-constrained or small-screen hardware, such as Raspberry Pi boards and phones running Termux, use the single-column mode, 8-color and xterm-256 support, and handheld-friendly shortcuts.
• Remote work is handled by mounting directories over sshfs or rclone and operating on them as if they were local.
• Users who want a fixed setup can compile features in or out, back up configuration with a plugin, and either install through the many packagers that carry nnn or run a static binary with no installation step.
• Programs and plugins feed file lists in through stdin or a plugin interface, letting nnn act as the selection layer for another tool.

Getting started

Install the nnn package from the distribution's packager — it is widely available — or download the static binary and run nnn directly, since no installation and no configuration file are required.

How it compares

The facts name no competing file managers or paid products, so nnn stands alone in this registry. The only related projects listed are integrations rather than alternatives: nnn.vim, the vim-floaterm nnn wrapper, and nnn.nvim embed it inside an editor instead of replacing it.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster must supply external tools for specific features: remote mounts need sshfs or rclone, and mounting archives uses FUSE. Anyone who wants a graphical file manager, a configuration file with elaborate theming out of the box, or a GUI-driven workflow should look elsewhere, because nnn is deliberately terminal-first and no-config. The main risk to weigh is simply that its minimalism is the point — extension beyond the core depends on plugins, patches, and compile-time choices rather than on a large built-in surface.