kitten-choose-files(1) kitty kitten-choose-files(1)

kitten-choose-files - Choose files, fast

Added in version 0.45.0.

The choose-files kitten is designed to allow you to select files, very fast, with just a few key strokes. It operates like fzf https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/ and similar fuzzy finders, except that it is specialised for finding files. As such it supports features such as filtering by file type, file type icons, content previews and so on, out of the box. It can be used as a drop in (but much more efficient and keyboard friendly) replacement for the File open and save dialog boxes common to GUI programs. On Linux, with the help of the desktop-ui <> kitten, you can even convince most GUI programs on your computer to use this kitten instead of regular file dialogs.

Simply run it as:

kitten choose-files

to select a single file from the tree rooted at the current working directory.

Type a few letters from the filename and once it becomes the top selection, press Enter. You can change the current directory by selecting a directory and pressing the Tab key. Shift+Tab goes up one directory level.

If you want to choose a file and insert it into your shell prompt at the current cursor position, press ctrl+shift+p>c <#shortcut-kitty.Insert-chosen-file> for files or ctrl+shift+p>d <#shortcut-kitty.Insert-chosen-directory> for directories. Similarly, to have a file chosen in a command line, use, for example:

some-command $(kitten choose-file)

Note, that the above may not work in a complicated pipeline as it performs terminal I/O and needs exclusive access to the tty device while choosing a file.

You can create keyboard shortcuts to quickly switch to any directory in choose-files.conf. For example:

map ctrl+t cd /tmp
map alt+p  cd ~/my/project

When you wish to select multiple files, start the kitten with --mode=files. Then instead of pressing Enter, press Shift+Enter instead and the file will be added to the list of selections. You can also hold the Ctrl key and click on files to add them to the selections. Similarly, you can hold the Alt key and click to select ranges of files (similar to using Shift+click in a GUI app). Press Enter on the last selected file to finish. The list of selected files is displayed at the bottom of the kitten and you can click on them to deselect a file. Similarly, pressing Shift+Enter will un-select a previously selected file.

By default, the kitten does not process hidden files and directories (whose names start with a period). This can be changed in the configuration and also at runtime via the clickable link to the right of the search input.

Similarly, the kitten respects both .gitignore and .ignore files, by default. This can also be changed both in configuration or at runtime. Note that .gitignore files are only respected if there is also a .git directory present. The kitten also supports the global .gitignore file, though it applies only inside git working trees. You can specify global ignore patterns, that apply everywhere in choose-files.conf.

This kitten can also be used to select non-existent files, that is a new file for a Save file type of dialog using --mode=save-file. Once you have changed to the directory you want the file to be in (using the Tab key), press Ctrl+Enter and you will be able to type in the file name.

This kitten can also be used to select directories, for an Open directory type of dialog using --mode=dir. Once you have changed to the directory you want, press Ctrl+Enter to accept it. Or if you are in a parent directory you can select a descendant directory by pressing Enter, the same as you would for selecting a file to open.

You can configure various aspects of the kitten's operation by creating a choose-files.conf in your kitty config folder <#confloc>. See below for the supported configuration directives.

show_hidden last

Whether to show hidden files. The default value of last means remember the last used value. This setting can be toggled within the program.

sort_by_last_modified last

Whether to sort the list of entries by last modified, instead of name. Note that sorting only applies before any query is entered. Once a query is entered entries are sorted by their matching score. The default value of last means remember the last used value. This setting can be toggled within the program.

respect_ignores last

Whether to respect .gitignore and .ignore files and the ignore setting. The default value of last means remember the last used value. This setting can be toggled within the program.

An ignore pattern to ignore matched files. Uses the same sytax as .gitignore files (see man gitignore). Anchored patterns match with respect to whatever directory is currently being displayed. Can be specified multiple times to use multiple patterns. Note that every pattern has to be checked against every file, so use sparingly.

show_preview last

Whether to show a preview of the current file/directory. The default value of last means remember the last used value. This setting can be toggled within the program.

pygments_style default

The pygments color scheme to use for syntax highlighting of file previews. See pygments builtin styles https://pygments.org/styles/ for a list of schemes. This sets the colors used for light color schemes, use dark_pygments_style to change the colors for dark color schemes.

dark_pygments_style github-dark

The pygments color scheme to use for syntax highlighting with dark colors. See pygments builtin styles https://pygments.org/styles/ for a list of schemes. This sets the colors used for dark color schemes, use pygments_style to change the colors for light color schemes.

cache_size 0.5

The maximum size of the disk cache, in gigabytes, used for previews. Zero or negative values mean no limit.

syntax_aliases pyj:py pyi:py recipe:py

File extension aliases for syntax highlight. For example, to syntax highlight file.xyz as file.abc use a setting of xyz:abc. Multiple aliases must be separated by spaces.

video_preview width=480 fps=10 duration=5

Control how videos are sampled for previwing. The width controls the size of the generated thumbnail from the video. Duration controls how long the generated thumbnail plays for, in seconds. Note that when changing these you should also use the --clear-cache flag otherwise it will not affect already cached previews.

Specify an arbitrary program based preview generator. The syntax is:

pattern program arguments...

Here, pattern can be used to match file names or mimetypes. For example: name:*.doc matches files with the extension .doc. Similarly, mime:image/* matches all image files. program can be any executable program in PATH. It will be run with the supplied arguments. The last argument will be the path to the file for which a preview must be generated.

Can be specified multiple times to setup different previewers for different types of files. Note that previewers specified using this option take precedence over the builtin previewers.

The command must output preview data to STDOUT, as a JSON object:

{
    "lines": ["line1", "line2", "..."],
    "image": "absolute path to generated image preview",
    "title_extra": "some text to show on the first line",
}

The lines can contain SGR formatting escape codes and will be displayed as is at the top of the preview panel. The image is optional and must be in one of the JPEG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, APNG formats.

map esc quit
map ctrl+c quit
map enter accept
map shift+enter select

When selecting multiple files, this will add the current file to the list of selected files. You can also toggle the selected status of a file by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on it. Similarly, the Alt key can be held to click and extend the range of selected files.

map ctrl+enter typename

Type a file name/path rather than filtering the list of existing files. Useful when specifying a file or directory name for saving that does not yet exist. When choosing existing directories, will accept the directory whoose contents are being currently displayed as the choice. Does not work when selecting files to open rather than to save.

map down next 1
map up next -1
map left next left
map right next right
map home next first_on_screen
map ctrl+home next first
map end next last_on_screen
map ctrl+end next last
map tab cd .
map shift+tab cd ..
map ctrl+/ cd /
map ctrl+~ cd ~
map ctrl+` cd ~
map ctrl+shift+` cd ~
map ctrl+t cd /tmp
map ctrl+f 1
map alt+f -1
map alt+h toggle dotfiles
map alt+i toggle ignorefiles
map alt+d toggle sort_by_dates
map alt+p toggle preview

The source code for this kitten is available on GitHub https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/tree/master/kittens/choose_files.

kitten choose_files [options] [directory to start choosing files in]

Select one or more files, quickly, using fuzzy finding, by typing just a few characters from the file name. Browse matching files, using the arrow keys to navigate matches and press Enter to select. The Tab key can be used to change to a sub-folder. See the online docs <> for full details.

The type of object(s) to select Default: file Choices: dir, dirs, file, files, save-dir, save-file, save-files
A list of filters to restrict the displayed files. Can be either mimetypes, or glob style patterns. Can be specified multiple times. The syntax is type:expression:Descriptive Name. For example: mime:image/png:Images and mime:image/gif:Images and glob:*.[tT][xX][Tt]:Text files. Note that glob patterns are case-sensitive. The mimetype specification is treated as a glob expressions as well, so you can, for example, use mime:text/* to match all text files. The first filter in the list will be applied by default. Use a filter such as glob:*:All to match all files. Note that filtering only appies to files, not directories.
A suggested name when picking a save file.
Path to an existing file to use as the save file.
Window title to use for this chooser
Show the window title at the top, useful when this kitten is used in an OS window without a title bar.
Override individual configuration options, can be specified multiple times. Syntax: name=value.
Specify a path to the configuration file(s) to use. All configuration files are merged onto the builtin choose-files.conf, overriding the builtin values. This option can be specified multiple times to read multiple configuration files in sequence, which are merged. Use the special value NONE to not load any config file.

If this option is not specified, config files are searched for in the order: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kitty/choose-files.conf, ~/.config/kitty/choose-files.conf, $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/kitty/choose-files.conf. The first one that exists is used as the config file.

If the environment variable KITTY_CONFIG_DIRECTORY <#envvar-KITTY_CONFIG_DIRECTORY> is specified, that directory is always used and the above searching does not happen.

If /etc/xdg/kitty/choose-files.conf exists, it is merged before (i.e. with lower priority) than any user config files. It can be used to specify system-wide defaults for all users. You can use either - or /dev/stdin to read the config from STDIN.

Path to a file to which the output is written in addition to STDOUT.
The format in which to write the output. The text format is absolute paths separated by newlines. The shell format is quoted absolute paths separated by spaces, quoting is done only if needed. The shell-relative format is the same as shell except it returns paths relative to the starting directory. Note that when invoked from a mapping, this option is ignored, and either text or shell format is used automatically based on whether the cursor is at a shell prompt or not. Default: text Choices: json, shell, shell-relative, text
Path to a file to which to write the process ID (PID) of this process to.
Clear the caches used by this kitten.

Kovid Goyal

2025, Kovid Goyal

December 24, 2025 0.45.0