Command line

flux [OPTIONS] [PATH]

The binary is built as flux-fm; --help refers to it as flux. PATH may be a plain path or a file:// URI; the prefix is stripped and the rest is not percent-decoded.

Opening a location

`PATH`	Result
none	Opens the home directory.
a directory	Opens it.
a supported archive file	Opens the archive explorer on it.
`#name`, `:tag:name`, `:t:name` or `tags://name`	Opens the home directory filtered by the tag `name`.

Options

Option	Description
`-h, --help`	Print this help message
`-v, --version`	Print version information
`--no-sidebar`	Disable sidebar for this session
`--no-header`	Disable header bar for this session
`--no-statusbar`	Disable statusbar for this session
`--terminal`	Start with the terminal open in the configured position
`--file-properties PATH`	Open the file properties window for PATH
`--set-icon TARGET IMAGE`	Set a custom icon/image for TARGET
`--cwd PATH`	Navigate the running window to PATH (starts a new window if none is running)
`--set-icons-stdin`	Read TARGET<TAB>IMAGE pairs from standard input
`--reset-icon TARGET`	Reset custom icon for TARGET back to default
`--reset-icons-stdin`	Read TARGET paths from standard input to reset
`--quick-list PATH...`	Open with quick-panel pre-populated with PATHs
`--quick-list-stdin`	Open with quick-panel populated from standard input
`--preview PATH`	Open folder PATH with the preview panel in wide mode
`--selection`	Print the paths selected in the running window, one per line (-0: NUL-separated)
`--toggle`	Show or hide the running window
`--show`	Bring the running window to the front
`--hide`	Hide the running window
`--theme NAME`	Set the theme to NAME, or 'default' to remove it
`--menu-editor`	To manage menu.rs

--no-sidebar, --no-header, --no-statusbar and --terminal may appear anywhere on the command line. They apply to the window opened by PATH, a tag, --preview, --quick-list or --quick-list-stdin, and are ignored by the other options.

Every other option must be the first argument once the session flags are removed. Arguments after the first are read only by the options that take values.

--terminal opens the embedded terminal in the position configured under Settings → Terminal: the bottom pane, the right sidebar panel or the full window. Combined with --preview, both open unless the position is full window, where the terminal takes over the whole window and --preview is superseded.

Custom icons

--set-icon stores the icon in config.toml. For a directory it also updates any matching pinned sidebar entry. TARGET and IMAGE are resolved to canonical absolute paths, and the command fails if IMAGE does not exist.

--set-icons-stdin reads one pair per line. Separate the two paths with a tab, or write two words and quote or escape any that contain spaces. Blank lines and lines starting with # are ignored. A bad line is reported on stderr with its line number and skipped, and the command exits with status 1 after applying the rest.

/home/me/Music /home/me/icons/music.svg
"/home/me/My Videos" /home/me/icons/video.svg

--reset-icons-stdin reads one target path per line, with the same rules for blank lines and comments.

Quick list

--quick-list opens the first path and fills the quick panel with all the paths given. Arguments that start with - are not treated as paths. --quick-list-stdin reads one path per line, skipping blank lines and # comments, and opens the home directory when the input is empty.

find . -name '*.log' | flux --quick-list-stdin

Selection

--selection asks a running window for the paths selected in its active tab and prints them, one per line. It talks to the window named by $FLUX_PID, which Flux sets in its embedded terminal, and otherwise to the window that navigated last. It does not open a window.

A path containing a newline is skipped with a warning; --selection -0 terminates each path with NUL instead, which keeps every path intact for xargs -0.

flux-fm --selection | xargs -d '\n' ls -l

Window visibility

--toggle, --show and --hide take no arguments and control a window that is already running. --toggle flips its visibility, --show makes it visible and brings it to the front, and --hide hides it. --show and --hide are idempotent.

Each window listens on $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/flux/toggle-<pid>.sock, or under $XDG_CACHE_HOME/flux/ when there is no runtime directory. The command connects to the window with the highest PID, sends one line (toggle, show or hide) and reads one line back, visible or hidden, which is the state the window ended up in.

When no window is running, --toggle and --show open the home directory as if no arguments were given, and --hide does nothing and exits with status 0.

flux-fm --toggle

Theme

--theme NAME stores NAME as the theme in config.toml and exits without opening a window. Running windows apply it as soon as the file changes. NAME is the file name of an installed theme without .css, such as one in ~/.local/share/flux/themes; default removes the theme. An unknown name lists the available themes on stderr and exits with status 1.

flux-fm --theme default

Exit status

Status	Meaning
`0`	Success. Missing values for `--file-properties`, `--set-icon`, `--reset-icon`, `--theme` and `--quick-list` print the help text and also exit with `0`.
`1`	Unrecognized option, `--preview` without a directory, an icon file that does not exist, a skipped line in `--set-icons-stdin`, an unknown `--theme` name, or `--selection` finding no running window.

Flux Documentation