Install vifm with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper, scoop

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• vifm
• vifm-convert-dircolors
• vifm-pause
• vifm-screen-split

Project history

The SourceForge project was registered on March 6, 2002, placing vifm among the long-running terminal file managers of the early 2000s. Its original positioning has remained stable: a curses/ncurses file manager for vi users, with keyboard-driven control over files and directories rather than a graphical shell.

Over time, vifm grew beyond a simple two-pane navigator. The official site describes a Vim-like environment extended with ideas from mutt, and lists features such as user mappings, command-line ranges and abbreviations, marks and registers, directory tree comparison, undo/redo/backgrounded operations, FUSE support, sessions, color schemes, preview mode, filters, one- or two-pane tabs, tmux and GNU Screen integration, trash, and cross-platform support.

The release history shows steady incremental growth. The 0.7.6 release in 2013 emphasized environment integration, local filtering, external command-line editing, tmux support, and Windows packaging. The 0.8 release in 2015 added XDG support, custom views, a job bar, command-line abbreviations, live search highlighting, and file-picker options. Later releases added Lua integration, richer selection handling, and continued UI and documentation maintenance.

Adoption history

vifm's adoption is mostly visible through long-lived packaging and user communities rather than a single corporate sponsor. It appears across common Unix-like package sets and keeps official channels for GitHub issues, SourceForge tracking, email, a Q&A site, a wiki, and a mailing list. The homepage also links related ecosystem projects such as color schemes, the Vim plugin, devicons, and image-preview helpers, which is a typical sign of a small but durable terminal-tool community.

How it is used

vifm is typically used as a daily terminal file manager by Vim users: browse directories in one or two panes, select files with visual-mode-like operations, define file associations and custom commands, preview content, run shell commands, compare directory trees, batch rename or filter files, and jump between remembered locations with marks or bookmarks. Its Vim plugin also lets it act as a file picker or netrw replacement inside editor workflows.

Why package nerds care

vifm matters in package catalogs because it sits in the same mental family as ranger, Midnight Commander, and editor-integrated file pickers, but with a stricter Vim-inspired command language. It is old enough to have SourceForge-era roots and modern enough to have GitHub releases, AppImage/Windows artifacts, XDG configuration, Lua-facing extension points, and an active 0.14.x line in 2026.

Timeline

• 2002-03-06: The vifm SourceForge project is registered.
• 2013-10-31: v0.7.6 is released with environment integration, local filtering, tmux support, and expanded Windows packaging.
• 2015-07-09: v0.8 is released with custom views, XDG support, live search highlighting, job bar, and file-picker options.
• 2022-09-04: v0.12.1-beta release notes describe Lua editor integration and experimental Lua API additions.
• 2026-05-31: v0.14.4 is released as a bugfix and documentation update in the v0.14.x series.

Related projects

• vifm belongs to the broader family of terminal file managers and vi-like tools. The official site explicitly connects its interface ideas to Vim and mutt, while SourceForge lists ranger as a comparable console file manager with vi key bindings.

Sources

• https://github.com/vifm/vifm
• https://github.com/vifm/vifm/releases/tag/v0.12.1-beta
• https://github.com/vifm/vifm/releases/tag/v0.14.4
• https://github.com/vifm/vifm/releases/tag/v0.7.6
• https://github.com/vifm/vifm/releases/tag/v0.8
• https://sourceforge.net/projects/vifm/
• https://vifm.info/