fzf builtin plugin improvements

[Axlefublr]

I find the default behavior of fzf reasonable, but a bit unwieldy

Most of the time, I'm fzfing for a file to immediately open it — pressing Enter twice is a bit laborious
You unfortunately can't just chain the fzf plugin call and open together, as that wouldn't handle the case when you cancel fzf — it'd then open the entry you are currently on, which is not what we want

Then, cding to some subdirectory is really wonderful by using fzf.
But currently, I have to search for a file (which may not exist) in that directory, to reveal that directory
instead of simply filtering through directories only

It's kind of the worst of both worlds, imo. As a default, it makes sense, but for more active usage I find it inconvenient.

I would love to be able to provide flags to the fzf plugin, to change its behavior: some --open flag to make the plugin automatically open the accepted file, and some --dir flag to make the plugin search for a directory, to then cd into

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You can make fzf display directories instead of files by passing the --walker option with correct arguments.
On that, you can make fzf either ignore or accept hidden directories — directories that start with a dot.

I believe the fzf plugin should care about the show_hidden option set — if it's true, fzf will search through hidden directories, but if it's false, it won't

--walker=file,follow,hidden
--walker=file,follow
--walker=dir,follow,hidden
--walker=dir,follow

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Currently I achieve these three wants I've outlined by forking the plugin two times; while the changes are quite minimal and could instead be part of the core plugin. Thoughts?

[sxyazi]

I would love to be able to provide flags to the fzf plugin, to change its behavior: some --open flag to make the plugin automatically open the accepted file, and some --dir flag to make the plugin search for a directory, to then cd into

This should be done in the smart-enter.yazi plugin, because Yazi itself does not have the concept of “open for files, enter for directories”. Instead, both files and directories can be opened or entered.

Opened a new issue to track this: yazi-rs/plugins#144

You can make fzf display directories instead of files by passing the --walker option with correct arguments.

Duplicate of #2715, and there's already a PR for it, #2716.

Before merging, I need to sort out how to distinguish between the plugin's own arguments and fzf's arguments, the current implementation forwards all plugin arguments as fzf arguments, for example, plugin fzf --walker=x becomes fzf --walker=x, which causes the plugin to no longer be able to accept its own arguments.

[Axlefublr]

because Yazi itself does not have the concept of “open for files, enter for directories”

I think I get your overall point, but do want to point out that the fzf plugin does different behavior depending on whether the picked result is a directory or file. If it's a directory, it does cd, and if it's a file it does reveal — so this would be easily achievable with some simple logic.
I'm assuming, though, that your point is “this behavior is outside of scope of the fzf plugin, and should be done by some other plugin” — not sure, still, how to handle the case of cancelling fzf; so stringing the fzf plugin with the smart enter plugin doesn't quite work.

Thanks for opening that issue, smart-enter having fzf integration would indeed solve almost everything! The pr you then mention would solve the “almost” bit. Thank you for your time :3

[Shallow-Seek]

The plugin fazif can achieve this. You can use fzf with yazi with any options. The faziffd script has alt+c, which searches only all folders. You can also simply replace the faziffd content by fd -H -t d |fzf if you don't need the scripts with it.

[sxyazi]

how to handle the case of cancelling fzf; so stringing the fzf plugin

with the smart enter plugin doesn't quite work Not chaining these two plugins together, but rather having them operate independently, each focusing on and doing its own job well. They communicate through the DDS publish-subscribe system - fzf plugin just launches fzf and waits for the user's selection, while smart-enter decides on different actions depending on the selected file type. `projects.yazi` is an example of how this can be achieved: https://github.com/MasouShizuka/projects.yazi/blob/a5e33db284ab580de7b549e472bba13a5ba7c7b9/README.md?plain=1#L108-L129

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On Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 6:49 AM Shallow-Seek ***@***.***> wrote: *Shallow-Seek* left a comment (sxyazi/yazi#3099) <#3099 (comment)> The plugin fazif <https://github.com/Shallow-Seek/fazif.yazi> can achieve this. You can use fzf with yazi with any options. The faziffd script has alt+c, which searches only all folders. You can also simply replace the faziffd content by fd -H -t d |fzf if you don't need the scripts with it. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3099 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AEFWFIE2ACKMQNFU2KVGKBL3PYYY3AVCNFSM6AAAAACEUE6KLSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTEMRZHE4DINJTHA> . You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[github-actions]

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