Running Yazi

Launch Yazi from any directory:

Start Yazi

yazi

Yazi opens showing the contents of the current directory. The interface is divided into three columns:

Column	Description
Left	Parent directory (breadcrumb context)
Center	Current directory file list
Right	File preview panel

Quitting

Shortcut	Action
q	Quit Yazi and return to the shell
q (with shell wrapper y)	Quit and change shell directory to the last-visited folder

If you used the y shell wrapper function, Yazi writes the last-visited directory to a temporary --cwd-file on exit. The shell wrapper reads this file and cds into it automatically.

Getting Help

Shortcut	Action
F1	Open the help menu
~	Open the help menu (alternative key)

The help menu shows all available keybindings organized by mode (normal, select, input, visual, etc.).

First Steps

1. Run yazi in your home directory
2. Press l or → to enter a directory
3. Press h or ← to go up
4. Press q to quit

tip

Install the shell wrapper (y function) before using Yazi — it's the first thing you'll want after quitting.