Instant Quick Look (Space)
Press Space to preview images (EXIF HUD), video (VLC accelerated), audio waveforms, PDF documents via self-hosted PDF.js, syntax-highlighted code, and archive directory trees.
MyFiles
A fast, keyboard-first Windows file manager built with Node.js and Electron. Combines the best ergonomics of macOS Finder — Quick Look, Miller Columns, and Colored Tags — with the native power of Windows, resolving the performance bottlenecks and layout flaws of both platforms.
Liquid Glass Design System
Windows 11 native Acrylic material integration (backgroundMaterial: 'acrylic') with optical depth layers, specular glare tracking, and an accessibility mode for low-spec machines.
Dual-Pane & Tabs Workspace
Split your workspace with Ctrl+Shift+D, open tabs with Ctrl+T, or spawn independent windows with Ctrl+N. Cross-pane drag-and-drop with instant drive jumping.
Visual Interface Tour
Explore the 4 Finder views & native desktop ergonomics.
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Design Philosophy
Solving the architectural flaws of both major platforms.
Compared to Windows Explorer
Windows Flaws Solved- 0 ms Context Menu Latency Replaces the 500ms+ latency of Windows 11 shell extensions with an instantaneous native right-click menu.
- Non-Blocking Streaming Search Bypasses blocking indexer freezes with asynchronous streaming search and an instant content-grep filter toggle.
- Universal Quick Look Spacebar previews images, videos, audio, syntax code, Markdown, PDF, doc excerpts, and multi-format archives.
-
Clean Address Bar Ergonomics
Provides a fully editable path bar, clickable breadcrumb segments, and standard
Ctrl+L/Alt+Dnavigation.
Compared to macOS Finder
Finder Flaws Solved- Instant File & Folder Creation Dedicated ribbon actions and template creation via right-click anywhere — no missing "New File" hassle.
- Directly Editable Path Bar Type raw paths with real auto-completion alongside interactive breadcrumb navigation.
- Persistent Telemetry Metrics An always-visible status bar showing live free disk space, item counts, and aggregate selection sizes.
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Native Dual-Pane & Multi-Window
Split-pane workspace (
Ctrl+Shift+D) and multi-window spawning (Ctrl+N) built right in.
| Feature Capability | Windows 11 Explorer | macOS Sequoia Finder | MyFiles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instant Quick Look (Space) | No (Third-party add-ons required) | Native | Instant (Multi-format + PDF.js + Code + Archives) |
| Miller Columns View | No | Native | Native with live preview & horizontal sync |
| Dual-Pane Split Workspace | No | No | Built-in (Ctrl+Shift+D) with drag-and-drop |
| Right-Click Context Menu Latency | 400–800 ms shell latency | ~100 ms | Instant (0 ms) |
| Editable Address Bar | Yes | Clunky dropdown modal | Instant (Ctrl+L / Alt+D + breadcrumbs) |
| Colored Tag Taxonomy | No | Native | 7-Color Tags with sidebar filters |
| Native Archive Inspection | Partial ZIP only | ZIP only | ZIP, 7Z, RAR, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, CAB, ISO |
| Local Wi-Fi QR Mobile Transfer | Cloud OneDrive only | AirDrop (Apple ecosystem only) | Any Phone (iOS & Android) via Wi-Fi QR |
| Cryptographic Deduplication | No | No | 2-Phase SHA-256 with safe deletion |
| Batch PowerRename | PowerToys add-on only | Basic sequential rename | Built-in with regex, variables & live diff |
| Disk Treemap & Temp Cleaner | No | No | Interactive treemap + %TEMP% cleaner |
| Status Bar Disk Gauge | Hidden in sub-menus | Minimal | Persistent Free Space / Item / Selection stats |
| Browser / Mobile Web Server Mode | No | No | Built-in via server.js (port 5241) |
| Multi-Window Desktop Support | Yes | Yes | Built-in (Ctrl+N & tab drag-out) |
| RAM Footprint (Baseline) | 250–500 MB | 150–300 MB | 120–180 MB (Zero Framework Overhead) |
Capabilities
Built for keyboard speed, visual clarity, and power.
4 View Modes
Finder View Switcher
Grid view with 4-step gear slider, List view with virtual scrolling, Miller Columns for hierarchical traversal, and Gallery view with carousel scrubbing.
Quick Look
Centered Media Previews
Instant Spacebar preview for images, hardware-accelerated video via VLC/media-stream, audio waveforms, PDF.js, and ZIP/7z/RAR archive inspection.
Design
Liquid Glass System
Windows 11 Acrylic material (backgroundMaterial: 'acrylic') with specular glare tracking on pointer movement and frosted glass dialogs.
Performance
Non-Blocking Core
Asynchronous storage metrics via fs.promises.statfs with 4-second TTL drive caching and throttled background subfolder counting queues.
Inspector
Multi-Selection Stack
Real-time file attributes, image dimensions, word counts, copyable metadata, aggregate folder sizes, and type breakdown chips.
Productivity
Tabs & Dual-Pane
Full tab management (Ctrl+T, Ctrl+W), dual-pane split workspace (Ctrl+Shift+D), and multi-window spawning (Ctrl+N).
Deduplication
SHA-256 Dedup Scanner
Built-in 2-phase SHA-256 duplicate detection engine to identify redundant files across drives with safe review and deletion.
Batch Renamer
PowerRename Tool
Regex-powered batch renamer with real-time substitution preview, sequential numbering, and case transformation.
Mobile Sharing
Local Wi-Fi QR Share
Windows Share Hub with local Wi-Fi QR codes for direct file downloads to mobile phones on the same local network without cloud uploads.
Universal Preview
Quick Look format matrix & preview engines.
Tap Space on any file to open the centered modal. Cycle through items with Arrow keys without dismissing.
| Category | File Extensions | Engine & Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| Images | .png, .jpg, .webp, .gif, .svg, .bmp, .ico, .tiff, .avif | Hardware canvas decoding, 90° rotation, horizontal flip (H), zoom, and floating glass EXIF HUD (I) |
| Video | .mp4, .webm, .mov, .mkv, .avi, .m4v | Native streaming via media-stream:// with HTTP 206 byte-range seeking, plus VLC direct passthrough |
| Audio | .mp3, .wav, .ogg, .m4a, .flac, .aac | Waveform player card with duration counter and seeking controls |
| PDF Documents | .pdf | Bundled self-hosted PDF.js engine with page navigation, dark mode invert, zoom fit, and hand pan (H) |
| Office Documents | .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .docm, .xlsm | Fast metadata extractor and structured text excerpt display |
| Code & Data | .js, .ts, .py, .rs, .go, .c, .cpp, .cs, .java, .html, .css, .json, .yaml, .sql, .sh, .ps1 | Monospace syntax preview with line numbers, in-doc search (Ctrl+F), and copy to clipboard |
| Markdown | .md, .markdown | Rendered HTML preview with headings, fenced code blocks, tables, and lists |
| Archives | .zip, .7z, .rar, .tar, .gz, .bz2, .xz, .cab, .iso | Internal file paths, compressed/uncompressed sizes, and compression ratio without extracting |
| Directories | Folders & Junction Points | Item count, subfolder tally, file list table, and one-click "Open Folder" action |
Keyboard-First Controls
Every operation mapped to muscle memory.
Designed so you rarely have to lift your fingers off the keyboard.
| Shortcut | Context | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Global | Open or dismiss Quick Look centered preview |
| Arrow Keys | Global / Preview | Navigate files or cycle active preview targets |
| Enter | File List | Open file with default Windows handler / enter folder |
| Ctrl + N | Global | Spawn new independent MyFiles desktop window |
| Ctrl + T | Global | Open new browser-style folder tab |
| Ctrl + W | Global | Close active folder tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + D | Global | Toggle dual-pane split workspace view |
| Ctrl + 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 | Global | Switch view modes: Grid · List · Miller Columns · Gallery |
| Ctrl + F | Global | Focus live search bar with real-time streaming results |
| Ctrl + L / Alt + D | Global | Focus editable breadcrumb address bar |
| Alt + Up | Global | Navigate to parent directory hierarchy |
| Alt + Left / Alt + Right | Global | History back / forward navigation |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | Global | Create new folder instantly |
| F2 | File List | Inline rename for selected item |
| Ctrl + D | File List | Duplicate selected file or folder |
| Delete | File List | Move selected item(s) safely to Windows Recycle Bin |
| Shift + Delete | File List | Permanently delete selected item(s) with prompt |
| Ctrl + C / X / V | File List | Standard Copy, Cut, and Paste clipboard operations |
| Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y | Global | Undo / Redo filesystem modifications |
| F | Quick Look | Toggle full-window Quick Look maximization |
| I | Quick Look | Toggle EXIF and media metadata HUD overlay |
| F5 / Ctrl + R | Global | Force refresh active directory and storage metrics |
| Esc | Global | Dismiss modal, context menu, or Quick Look overlay |
Workflows
Field guides for high-speed file operations.
Workflow 01
Zero-Cloud Mobile QR Transfer
Highlight any file, tap Share Hub, and point any iPhone or Android camera at the screen QR code. Download initiates over LAN Wi-Fi at raw local router speed without internet data consumption.
Workflow 02
2-Phase SHA-256 Deduplication
Scan multi-gigabyte disks in seconds. Phase 1 filters candidates by byte size without reading blocks. Phase 2 cryptographically hashes matching pairs and moves duplicates safely to the Recycle Bin.
Workflow 03
Hardware-Accelerated 4K Video
Spacebar opens native media-stream:// range streaming. For heavy or exotic codecs, tap Play in VLC for immediate GPU-accelerated video decoding without external transcode delay.
Systems Architecture
Engineered with modular, isolated components.
MyFiles operates under a dual runtime architecture: the UI runs either as an Electron desktop window with secure context isolation, or headless via Node.js HTTP range-streaming for local network access.
myfiles/ ├── main.js # Electron main process — window lifecycle, IPC handlers, protocol streams ├── preload.js # Context-isolated bridge exposing window.myFilesAPI safely ├── server.js # Standalone Node.js HTTP server (web mode & mobile QR share) ├── fs-engine.js # Unified filesystem engine — non-blocking statfs, caching, search ├── archive.js # Archive inspection, extraction, and compression (7-Zip + bsdtar) ├── dedup.js # 2-phase SHA-256 duplicate detection engine ├── storage.js # Storage analytics, temp directory cleaner, Recycle Bin metrics ├── vlc.js # VLC media player IPC bindings ├── src/ │ ├── index.html # Unified DOM layout, modals, context menus, and toolbars │ ├── styles.css # Liquid Glass design system, CSS tokens, responsive typography │ ├── renderer.js # Core client controller — views, selection, drag & drop, Quick Look │ └── vendor/pdfjs/ # Self-hosted PDF.js engine (zero external CDN dependency) ├── docs/ │ └── GITHUB_RELEASES_GUIDE.md # Complete GitHub Releases & CI/CD guide └── test/ └── self-check.js # Built-in 61-suite automated verification engine
Local Web Server API
Clean REST API & HTTP 206 streaming (Port 5241).
When running headless via server.js, MyFiles exposes a complete JSON API for local browsers and network devices.
| Endpoint | Method | Parameters | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
/api/drives | GET | — | Returns array of mounted logical drives with storage metrics |
/api/readdir | GET | ?path=<path> | Lists directory contents with file stats and metadata |
/api/file-content | GET | ?path=<path>&maxBytes=<n> | Fetches text snippet or media URL for Quick Look |
/api/raw-file | GET | ?path=<path> | Serves raw binary file data with correct MIME headers |
/api/stream | GET | ?path=<path> | HTTP 206 Partial Content byte-range video/audio stream |
/api/download | GET | ?path=<path> | Initiates direct file attachment download |
/api/search | GET | ?path=<path>&q=<q>&content=1 | Performs async recursive filename or text-grep search |
/api/recycle-bin | GET | — | Returns items currently in Windows Recycle Bin |
/api/recycle-bin/restore | POST | { "path": "<itemPath>" } | Restores an item from the Recycle Bin to original path |
/api/recycle-bin/empty | POST | — | Empties the Windows Recycle Bin securely |
Security & Sandboxing
Zero telemetry with hardened process isolation.
Process Sandboxing
Hardened-
Context Isolation Enabled
The Electron renderer runs with
contextIsolation: trueandnodeIntegration: false. All filesystem operations require validated IPC channels inpreload.js. -
Path Traversal Interception
Both Electron main and
server.jsnormalize all requested paths, blocking escape sequences (../) and invalid drive roots.
Network & Data Privacy
Zero Telemetry- 100% Offline & Telemetry-Free MyFiles does not connect to external telemetry endpoints or track usage. Files and metadata never leave your local machine.
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Local LAN Binding Only
The web server binds strictly to private LAN addresses (
192.168.x.xor127.0.0.1) and never opens UPnP router ports to the public internet.
Downloads & Builds
Download production binaries or run from source.
Standard Setup (NSIS)
107 MB
MyFiles-Setup-1.1.1.exe
Standard Windows installer with automatic desktop and start menu shortcuts, uninstaller, and file association support.
Standalone Portable
106 MB
MyFiles-Portable-1.1.1.exe
Single portable executable with zero installation footprint. Store on a flash drive and launch immediately on any Windows 10/11 machine.
# 1. Clone & install dependencies
git clone https://github.com/thesatyamjain/myfiles.git
cd myfiles && npm install
# 2. Run in Desktop Electron Mode
npm start
# 3. Run in Standalone Web Server Mode (port 5241)
npm run server
# → Open http://localhost:5241 or mobile Wi-Fi address
# 4. Build Windows Installers via electron-builder
npm run build:installer # Produces dist/MyFiles-Setup-1.1.1.exe
npm run build:portable # Produces dist/MyFiles-Portable-1.1.1.exe
# 5. Run Automated Test Suite (61 tests)
npm test
Automated Verification: 61 test suites validating syntax, DOM parity, Liquid Glass tokens, and non-blocking IPC contracts.
npm test → 61 passed
Operating Flow
Speed-first file management in practice.
01 · Launch
Zero Lag Startup
Launch as an independent desktop window with Acrylic depth or headless web server.
02 · Browse
4 Finder Views
Glide between Miller columns, zoomable cards, and sticky-header detail tables.
03 · Preview
Spacebar Quick Look
Inspect PDFs, code syntax, video, audio waveforms, and ZIP archives instantly.
04 · Operate
Dual-Pane & Power Tools
Split screens with Ctrl+Shift+D, batch-rename, deduplicate, and share via QR.