MonoTree

MonoTree is a native file-tree TUI for exploring a directory without loading every descendant eagerly. It provides keyboard navigation, incremental search, sort modes, explicit expansion depth, directory history, and a context menu. Published contract: monotree 0.1.5, OpenCLIs build 2026-06-30-131509. The executing binary, registry, and public CDN metadata agree on this release.

Quick Start

openclis install monotree

monotree --version
monotree                         # project-aware root detection
monotree ~/Projects              # exact explicit root
monotree search renderer .       # non-interactive search

The optional positional path becomes the exact root. Without it, MonoTree starts from the current directory and applies project-root detection before opening the TUI.

Complete CLI Reference

Version 0.1.5 has four operational families—interactive browse, search, docs, and test—plus help/version aliases.

Invocation	What it does	Output or effect boundary
`monotree [path]`	Opens the interactive tree at an explicit path or an auto-detected project root.	Full-screen TUI; context actions can edit files.
`monotree search <query> [path]`	Loads the tree to depth 5 and searches files beneath `path` or `.`.	Summary on stderr, at most 15 matching file rows on stdout; zero matches still exit successfully.
`monotree docs [topic]`	Lists embedded docs or prints one topic.	Version 0.1.5 contains the `index` topic. Unknown/reserved topics exit non-zero.
`monotree test`	Runs three breadcrumb/path-bar tests in a PTY harness.	Unix-only; creates and removes an isolated `/tmp/monotree-test-PID` fixture.
`monotree help`, `-h`, `--help`	Prints the bundled TUI key reference.	Read-only.
`monotree version`, `-V`, `--version`	Prints `monotree 0.1.5`.	Read-only installed-payload proof.

The bundled 0.1.5 help text lists only [path], help, version, and TUI keys; it omits the working search, docs, and test commands. Also, monotree search without a query does not show search help—it falls through and treats search as an interactive path. Supply the query explicitly.

Non-Interactive Search

monotree search "session" .

Search canonicalizes the optional path when possible, loads five levels, filters out directory rows, and prints only the first 15 matching files. The Loaded N files, searched "QUERY", M matches line goes to stderr, which lets a script capture file rows separately. This is filesystem/name search; use Monogram for indexed code symbols and call relationships.

Keys	Action
`Up` / `Down`, `j` / `k`	Move the selection.
`Enter`	Expand/collapse a directory or select a file.
`Left`	Collapse the current directory or move to its parent.
`/`	Start tree search/filtering.
`b`	Go back through directory history.
`Ctrl+F`	Go forward through directory history.
`u` or Backspace	Move to the parent directory.
`r`	Refresh filesystem state.
`q`	Quit.

Tree Shape and Context

Keys	Action and cost boundary
`s`	Toggle name/time sorting.
`e`	Expand all top-level directories.
`E`	Expand the selected directory through all descendants; use carefully on very large trees.
`1`…`5`	Expand the selected directory to a bounded depth.
`c`	Collapse the complete tree.
`m`	Open the selected item’s context menu. Inspect the menu action before confirming any filesystem mutation.

Prefer bounded 1…5 expansion when repository size is unknown. E is a deliberate full traversal and can be expensive even though it does not edit files. The menu is not read-only. Its current actions divide into three groups:

Group	Actions	Effect
Navigation/read	Open, Send Path, Copy Path, Copy Content, Refresh Folder, Close All Nested, Set as Root, Open/Reveal in Finder	Changes view state, opens the platform file manager, or writes to the clipboard.
Filesystem mutation	New File, New Folder, Rename, Delete, Duplicate, Duplicate with Timestamp	Creates, renames, recursively deletes, or copies entries. Delete requires confirmation; path/name validation rejects traversal.
Placeholder in 0.1.5	Zip Folder, Zip (gitignore), Git Blame, Git History	Displays a message only; it does not yet create an archive or open Git history.

Deletion uses symlink_metadata: a symlink itself is removed rather than following it, while a real directory is removed recursively. Treat m as an entry into a mixed read/write surface, not merely an information panel.

Self-Test Contract

monotree test verifies three concrete behaviors: initial breadcrumb rendering, Up → Left → Enter re-rooting, and Esc returning focus to the tree. The PTY harness uses Unix openpty/fork; Windows returns exit code 2 without running it.

Published Platforms

Version 0.1.5 ships darwin-aarch64, linux-x86_64, linux-aarch64, and windows-x86_64 archives. Browse, search, and embedded docs are cross-platform; the built-in PTY test is Unix-only.

Relationships

Tool	Ownership
Maxmux	Embeds a project/prompt file-tree experience inside a terminal multiplexer
MonoTerm File Tree	Explains how the embedded prompt tree shares the engine but uses a different input mode
Monogram	Searches indexed code symbols and call relationships rather than directory shape
MonoDoc	Converts selected documents into Markdown; MonoTree only locates them

Get Started

Articles

So Anthropic

User Guide

Philosophy

Applied Philosophy

Architecture

Gestalt Color

Transparency

Terminal Core

Features

VariableMD

Research

CodexMono

OpenCLIs

vpncli

MonoSurf

AI-CLIs

Quick Start

Complete CLI Reference

Non-Interactive Search

Navigation and Search

Tree Shape and Context

Context Menu Effects

Self-Test Contract

Published Platforms

Relationships

​Quick Start

​Complete CLI Reference

​Non-Interactive Search

​Navigation and Search

​Tree Shape and Context

​Context Menu Effects

​Self-Test Contract

​Published Platforms

​Relationships

Quick Start

Complete CLI Reference

Non-Interactive Search

Navigation and Search

Tree Shape and Context

Context Menu Effects

Self-Test Contract

Published Platforms

Relationships