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Yazi

Yazi

Section titled “Yazi”

This page covers the official Yazi plugin for rim.

Its job is simple:

  • expose one plugin command: plugin.yazi.yazi
  • call the external yazi program with --chooser-file
  • let Yazi return the selected path
  • ask rim to open that file

So the plugin is a file picker bridge, not a file manager embedded inside rim.

Yazi Prerequisite

Section titled “Yazi Prerequisite”

Before using the Yazi plugin, install Yazi itself.

Use the official Yazi installation guide:

The plugin runs the yazi command directly. If yazi is missing from PATH, the command will fail at runtime.

Install The Yazi Plugin

Section titled “Install The Yazi Plugin”

Step 1: Run the install command

Section titled “Step 1: Run the install command”
Terminal window
rim plugin install github zooeywm/rim --package rim-plugin-yazi

You can also use a full GitHub URL:

Terminal window
rim plugin install github https://github.com/zooeywm/rim --package rim-plugin-yazi

By default, rim builds with the release profile. If you explicitly want a debug build:

Terminal window
rim plugin install github zooeywm/rim --package rim-plugin-yazi --profile debug

Step 2: Let rim verify the toolchain

Section titled “Step 2: Let rim verify the toolchain”

Before cloning and compiling, rim checks:

  • git
  • cargo
  • rustup
  • the Rust target wasm32-wasip2

If one of them is missing, rim stops and tells you what to install.

If the Wasm target is missing, install it with:

Terminal window
rustup target add wasm32-wasip2

Step 3: Let rim install the Wasm artifact

Section titled “Step 3: Let rim install the Wasm artifact”

On success, rim copies the built .wasm file into your user plugin directory:

  • Linux and other Unix-like systems: ~/.config/rim/plugins/
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/rim/plugins/
  • Windows: %AppData%\\rim\\plugins\\

Step 4: Restart rim

Section titled “Step 4: Restart rim”

This step is required. Plugin discovery does not hot-reload.

Step 5: Invoke the command

Section titled “Step 5: Invoke the command”

The full plugin run target is:

plugin.yazi.yazi

The plugin also exposes a default human-facing command name based on the descriptor:

Yazi

In practice, after startup you can use either:

  • :Yazi
  • a custom alias from commands.toml
  • a custom key binding from keymaps.toml

Manual Fallback

Section titled “Manual Fallback”

If you are developing the plugin locally or do not want rim to clone from GitHub, you can still build and copy the artifact yourself:

Terminal window
rustup target add wasm32-wasip2
cargo build -p rim-plugin-yazi --target wasm32-wasip2
mkdir -p "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/rim/plugins"
cp target/wasm32-wasip2/debug/rim_plugin_yazi.wasm "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/rim/plugins/"
Section titled “Recommended User Setup”

Command alias

Section titled “Command alias”

Add this to commands.toml:

[command]
commands = [
  { name = "y", run = "plugin.yazi.yazi", desc = "Open Yazi picker" },
]

Then you can open the picker with:

:y

Key binding

Section titled “Key binding”

Add this to keymaps.toml:

[mode.normal]
keymap = [
  { on = "<leader>y", run = "plugin.yazi.yazi", desc = "Open Yazi picker" },
]

That gives you a stable keyboard path even if you never use the command line.

What Happens When It Runs

Section titled “What Happens When It Runs”

The Yazi plugin launches:

yazi --chooser-file ""

rim reserves the empty third argument position and lets the file picker flow write the chooser path there.

After you confirm a file in Yazi:

  1. Yazi writes the chosen file path to the chooser file
  2. rim reads that path
  3. rim opens the selected file in the editor

If you cancel, rim keeps running and reports the open action as cancelled.

Failure Cases

Section titled “Failure Cases”

Typical failure cases are:

  • git, cargo, or rustup is not installed
  • the Rust target wasm32-wasip2 is not installed
  • yazi is not installed
  • yazi is installed but not in PATH
  • the wrong Cargo package name was passed to --package
  • the plugin .wasm file was copied to the wrong directory
  • the plugin file exists, but rim was not restarted
  • the .wasm file is corrupted or not a valid plugin component
  • another plugin with the same plugin id is already loaded

When plugin discovery fails, rim reports a warning instead of crashing.

Difference From Yazi Plugins

Section titled “Difference From Yazi Plugins”

This is the most important conceptual difference:

  • Yazi plugins are Lua-based and live in named plugin directories under the Yazi config directory
  • rim plugins are Wasm component files placed directly in rim/plugins/

So while Yazi’s docs are a good reference for end-user plugin expectations, do not copy Yazi’s plugin folder structure into rim.

Section titled “Related Reading”