Carelo: A Modern Dual-Pane File Manager for Linux

Moving from macOS to Linux is usually easier than people expect. The terminal is excellent, package managers are powerful, window managers are flexible, and most development workflows feel at home quickly.

Then you start looking for a file manager.

Not just a basic file browser. A real dual-pane file manager. Something that lets you compare folders, move files with confidence, work with remote storage, preview content, open a terminal when needed, and keep your hands on the keyboard. Something modern enough to feel like it belongs on a current desktop, but practical enough to handle daily work.

On macOS, ForkLift fills that role well for me. It is polished, fast, and built around the kind of workflows power users actually repeat every day. After using that kind of tool, switching to Linux can feel surprisingly rough. Linux has capable file managers, and some classic dual-pane tools are extremely powerful, but the choices often fall into two categories: beautiful single-pane desktop browsers, or older commander-style tools that prioritize capability over modern interaction design.

Carelo started from that gap.

The Problem

A dual-pane file manager is not just about showing two folders side by side. That is the easy part.

The real value is flow.

You want to keep a project folder on the left and a build output folder on the right. You want to copy assets from Downloads into a repo, inspect a PDF, rename a file, archive a folder, jump into a remote server, compare locations, and keep moving. You want drag and drop when it is faster, keyboard shortcuts when they are faster, and a preview panel when opening another app would break focus.

Linux has tools that cover pieces of this. Nautilus integrates well with GNOME. Dolphin is mature and feature-rich. Midnight Commander is still great in the terminal. Krusader is powerful. But if you are coming from a polished macOS dual-pane workflow, the overall experience can still feel fragmented.

Carelo is an attempt to build the file manager I wanted after moving from macOS to Linux: modern, local-first, dual-pane by default, and designed for everyday file work rather than nostalgia.

What Carelo Is

Carelo is a desktop file manager built with Tauri and Rust. It focuses on fast local file operations, dual-pane browsing, rich previews, remote storage, archives, and configurable tools.

The core idea is simple: keep the interface familiar, but make the workflow feel current.

Carelo is not trying to hide the filesystem or turn file management into a cloud dashboard. It is for people who know where their files live and want a better way to work with them.

Dual Panes, Tabs, and Views

Carelo starts with the dual-pane model because that is still the most efficient layout for many real tasks. Copying, moving, comparing, extracting, staging, and organizing files all benefit from seeing source and destination at the same time.

Each pane can have its own tabs, so you can keep multiple working locations open without losing context. The app also supports list, grid, and column views, making it possible to switch between dense file operations and more visual browsing depending on the folder.

The goal is not to force one workflow. It is to make common workflows cheap.

Preview Without Losing Context

One of the biggest workflow breaks in file management is opening files just to know what they are.

Carelo includes a preview panel for metadata and common media types. Images, audio, video, PDFs, and text-like content can be inspected without leaving the file manager. The preview panel also shows practical file details such as size, timestamps, owner, group, permissions, and path information.

This matters more than it sounds. When you are cleaning up downloads, checking exported assets, reviewing documents, or comparing similar files, preview speed directly affects how focused the work feels.

Search That Fits File Work

Carelo has two search modes.

Fuzzy file search helps jump to files and folders by name. It is built for quick navigation inside the current location and streams partial results while scanning. Content search looks inside files, supports plain text streaming, and can search extracted text from formats such as PDFs and Office-style documents where supported.

Both search paths are cancellable and report progress through the current work indicator. That matters on large folders and remote locations, where a search should never make the app feel stuck.

Remote Storage

A Linux file manager should not stop at the local disk.

Carelo supports remote volumes such as SFTP, FTP, SMB/CIFS, WebDAV, and S3-compatible storage through its remote storage layer. Remote locations appear in the sidebar, can be browsed in panes, and participate in normal file workflows where possible.

The goal is to make a remote server or NAS feel like part of the same working environment, without forcing every operation through a separate app.

Archives as Part of the Workflow

Archives are part of file management, not a separate chore.

Carelo supports browsing and extracting archives, along with archive creation for common formats including ZIP, TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.ZST, and 7Z. Long-running archive operations show progress and can be cancelled.

That makes archives behave more like file operations and less like modal interruptions.

Custom Tools and Editor Integration

Power users always have their own tools.

Carelo includes configurable context-menu tools, so commands such as opening a path in an editor can be added without changing the app. Tool commands can use placeholders like the selected path, and availability can be scoped to files, folders, or specific extensions.

The point is not to guess everyone’s setup. It is to make the setup configurable enough that Carelo can fit into yours.

Why Not Just Use the Existing Tools?

You should, if they work for you.

Dolphin, Nautilus, Krusader, Double Commander, Midnight Commander, and others all have strengths. Carelo exists because none of them quite matched the experience I wanted after moving from ForkLift to Linux.

The missing piece was not one checkbox feature. It was the combination:

dual-pane browsing as the default workflow
modern interface and previews
remote storage in the same mental model as local files
archive operations with progress and cancellation
configurable external tools
fast fuzzy search and content search
enough keyboard and mouse support to move naturally between both

Carelo is built around that combination.

Who Carelo Is For

Carelo is for developers, designers, sysadmins, content workers, and Linux desktop users who spend real time moving through folders.

It is for people who want more than a simple file browser, but do not want to live entirely inside a terminal file manager.

It is for people who miss the feel of tools like ForkLift, but want something that fits a Linux-first workflow.

The Direction

Carelo is still evolving, and that is part of the point. File managers are deeply personal tools. The only way to make one good is to use it, hit the rough edges, and keep sanding them down.

The direction is clear: