A better file explorer inspired by macOS Finder, with enhanced sorting, grouping, and network volume support.
The 'z' means we're not trying to be perfect - we're trying to be useful. This is a filesystem manager built for the reality of mixed environments where ALL metadata matters - whether it's from Macs, cameras, AI tools, or any other source.
The ultimate creative studio runs both Mac and Linux boxes on the same LAN:
- Macs for creative tools, audio/video production, design work
- Linux boxes for development, servers, compute, and actual file management
- Shared storage that somehow needs to work well for everyone
Finderz bridges this gap by actually reading and respecting the .DS_Store files Macs leave everywhere, turning what's usually considered "pollution" into useful metadata. Your Mac colleagues set up a careful folder view? Finderz will respect it. But unlike Finder, you can also override it with better sorting rules when needed.
Finderz aims to be a superior file management experience that combines the visual elegance of macOS Finder with powerful customization options and cross-platform compatibility. Built for Linux (Pop!_OS 22.04) with the ability to leverage macOS metadata when available. A little janky? Maybe. More useful than Finder? Definitely.
ALL metadata is sortable, viewable, and filterable:
- Mac metadata (.DS_Store): Icon positions, view preferences, color labels
- EXIF data: Camera, lens, settings, GPS location, date taken
- AI generation metadata: Prompts, models, samplers, seeds, workflows (ComfyUI/SD/Midjourney)
- XMP sidecars: Adobe Lightroom edits, ratings, keywords
- Extended attributes: Linux xattrs, macOS resource forks
- Audio/Video: Duration, codec, bitrate, dimensions
- Office documents: Author, revision history, comments
- Any sidecar files: .metadata, .json, custom formats
- Read and utilize .DS_Store metadata from macOS volumes
- Preserve macOS folder view settings across network shares
- Seamless integration with mixed macOS/Linux environments
- Create multiple sorting presets (e.g., "Always by date, then name")
- Quick-switch between sorting configurations
- Per-directory sorting memory
- Customizable grouping ranges (not limited to Finder's presets)
- Multi-level grouping criteria
- User-defined grouping templates
- 3-4 different view/behavior profiles
- Quick profile switching based on context
- Per-user and per-directory settings persistence
- Target OS: Pop!_OS 22.04 (Ubuntu-based)
- Base: Fork of existing Linux file manager (TBD)
- Language: (Based on forked project)
- UI Framework: (Based on forked project)
finderz/
├── README.md # This file
├── docs/ # Documentation
├── src/ # Source code
├── config/ # Configuration templates
└── scripts/ # Build and utility scripts
- SMB/AFP shares from Mac servers that are full of .DS_Store files
- NAS devices accessed by both Mac and Linux machines
- External drives formatted as exFAT that move between systems
- Git repositories where Mac devs accidentally committed .DS_Store files (now they're features!)
When your Mac colleague sends you a carefully organized project folder, Finderz will:
- Respect their icon positions and view settings
- But still let you sort by date modified when you need to find the latest files
- Show you their color labels and tags
- Let you add your own Linux-side organization on top
- Fork Nemo as base
- Set up development environment
- Basic .DS_Store parser implementation
- Implement sorting profiles
- Create grouping system
- Add settings management
- Network volume support
- Performance optimization
- UI/UX refinements
- User testing
- Documentation
- Package for distribution
- Pop!_OS 22.04 or compatible Ubuntu-based distribution
- Development tools (gcc, make, etc.)
- Git
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/halapenyoharry/finderz.git
cd finderz
# Install dependencies
bash install-deps.sh
# Build Finderz
meson setup build
cd build && ninja
# Test metadata extraction
bash ../test-metadata.sh
# Run Finderz with debug output
G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=all ./src/nemo
# To see metadata columns:
# 1. Navigate to folder with images
# 2. Switch to list view (Ctrl+2)
# 3. Right-click column header
# 4. Select "Visible Columns..."
# 5. Enable: AI Prompt, AI Model, Rating, etcContributions are welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines before submitting PRs.
GPL v2 - Same as Nemo, which Finderz is forked from. See LICENSE file for details.
- macOS Finder for design inspiration
- The open-source file manager community
- .DS_Store reverse engineering efforts
Finderz - Where better file management begins