mq-dir vs Yazi: the new terminal challenger meets quad-pane GUI

Yazi is the terminal file manager that finally makes ranger feel old. Rust, async, image preview that just works. mq-dir is its GUI counterpart from the parallel-work-on-macOS angle. This post is the careful comparison from someone who runs both.

TL;DR

• Yazi for terminal workflows, SSH sessions, single-context navigation with rich preview.
• mq-dir for GUI workflows, multi-context parallel work, drag-drop integration with other apps.
• Run both — almost no overlap, real complement.

Side-by-side

Where Yazi wins

Async preview engine

Yazi loads previews on a background thread. Selecting a 50MB PDF doesn't lock the UI; the preview appears when ready. Other terminal file managers either block or skip preview entirely.

mq-dir also has async preview (per-tab), so this isn't a Yazi-unique advantage GUI-vs-GUI. But terminal-vs-terminal, Yazi is the leader.

Terminal image preview

Yazi renders images directly in the terminal via Sixel (modern terminals) or Kitty graphics protocol (Kitty, WezTerm) or iTerm2's image protocol. Real previews, in the terminal, with no setup. This is genuinely magical — ranger users spent years configuring chafa or w3mimgdisplay to get a fraction of this experience.

mq-dir is a GUI app and just renders images natively. Yazi's accomplishment is doing this in a terminal — a problem mq-dir doesn't have.

SSH / remote workflows

Same as nnn — terminal apps win for remote work. SSH into a server, run Yazi, full file management. mq-dir is local-only.

Plugin system

Yazi's plugin system is Lua-based, sandboxed, and surprisingly capable. Custom previewers, custom commands, custom themes. The community is growing fast.

mq-dir has no plugins in v0.x. Roadmap mentions custom columns + palette extensions for v0.3+, but Yazi is years ahead here.

Cross-platform

Yazi runs on Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows (via WSL or native). mq-dir is macOS-only.

Where mq-dir wins

Quad-pane parallel work

Yazi's three-pane layout (parent / current / preview) is for navigating a single context with preview. It's not for showing four independent project contexts simultaneously.

mq-dir's 2x2 shows four genuine parallel contexts — different folders, different sorts, different selections — all visible at once. For multi-AI-agent workflows, this is the unique value.

Native macOS integration

Drag from mq-dir to Slack/email/browser. Drag from Safari into mq-dir. macOS tags read/write. Quick Look. AirDrop (Finder still owns AirDrop, but mq-dir doesn't block it).

Yazi runs in a terminal and can't participate in macOS drag-and-drop. For workflows that bridge filesystem and other apps, mq-dir wins.

State persistence

Yazi remembers some state across sessions (last directory). mq-dir's persistence is religious — folder, sort, scroll, focus, hidden file toggle, column widths, preview state, projects, layouts — all survive force-quit, schema bumps, machine migrations.

For users who lose context to "I closed it and now I'm back at /" — mq-dir's depth matters.

GUI affordances

Right-click menus, drag-drop, click-to-select with shift-click range, context-aware toolbars. The GUI vocabulary is rich and accessible without learning vim-like keys.

For users who'd rather click than chord, mq-dir is just easier.

macOS-native multimedia

Yazi can preview images via terminal graphics; mq-dir plays video, plays audio with waveform, renders PDF multi-page, renders Markdown with full GFM. The fidelity gap on rich media is real.

Where they're tied

• Both serious about keyboard navigation.
• Both fast and modern.
• Both open-source MIT-licensed.
• Both async-preview-aware.

Use case routing

The coexistence pattern

Most of our users land here:

• mq-dir as the GUI daily driver in the dock.
• Yazi in a tmux/cmux pane (or just a regular Terminal tab) for terminal work.

Zero overlap. Each handles its part of the workflow. Installing both is the right move.

What mq-dir wants to learn from Yazi

Honest credit:

1. Plugin design. Yazi's Lua-based, sandboxed plugin model is the cleanest in the file-manager space. When mq-dir designs its plugin API, this is the reference.
2. Async preview discipline. Yazi's preview never blocks. mq-dir's preview is mostly async but a few edge cases (large GIFs especially) can still hitch — there's room to learn.
3. Speed culture. Yazi optimizes aggressively. mq-dir is fast but Yazi's commitment to "every keystroke in <16ms" is worth borrowing.

What Yazi can't borrow from mq-dir

Mostly: things that are GUI-specific. Drag-drop, native quad-pane visual, Mac integrations. These belong to GUI apps; Yazi's terminal nature is a constraint, not a flaw.

Verdict

Yazi is the best-in-class modern terminal file manager. mq-dir is the best-in-class macOS GUI file manager for parallel work. They optimize for different problems and don't really compete.

If you're a terminal-heavy developer on macOS in 2026, install both:

brew install yazi
brew install --cask mq-dir

Use whichever fits the immediate task. The split usually settles around 60% mq-dir / 40% Yazi for typical macOS dev work; YMMV.

Both free, both MIT, both serious tools. Both safe to commit to long-term.