Files
narl-workspace/docs/wiki/Files-and-Search.md
T
nvrl c72b65fc38 search: a write reads only its folder, and the match is lit
`file_text::catch_up` read every file without a row, which after a write meant
walking every file node there is to find the one or two just put in. It now
takes the part of the tree to look in: an upload asks about the folder it went
into, an import about the folder it was poured into, an SFTP save about the
folder it landed in, a decrypt about what was decrypted. Only an import at the
root and the pass at start look at everything.

The excerpt of a file found by its text marks each matched word between
U+0002 and U+0003, which no text file has a use for, and the list draws them
lit. A cut through a match leaves an opening without its close, and the rest
is lit to the end rather than the marker shown.

The screenshots are taken again, so the search one shows it.
2026-10-21 12:53:37 +02:00

3.1 KiB

Files and search

Files

A file is a node like a document, only with bytes instead of text. It sits in a folder beside the notes about it, shows its size in the list, and Enter opens it.

Put files in:

  • drop them onto the list;
  • :upload picks files for the folder you are in;
  • :import uploads a whole folder, and :import! a zip (see Not losing things);
  • copy them in over the SFTP mount.

Each upload is written to disk as it arrives, never held in memory, so the only limit is WORKSPACE_MAX_UPLOAD_MB (1024 by default) per request.

What opens in place

  • images, video and audio;
  • PDFs, in the browser's own viewer;
  • text and source code of any kind, with line numbers, up to the first 256 KiB;
  • markdown, rendered, with :source to see it as written;
  • CSV and TSV, as a table of the first 500 rows;
  • certificates, keys and keystores (.pem, .crt, .cer, .der, .csr, .key, .p8, .p12, .pfx), read on the server.

A CSV file as a table

A certificate shows its subject, issuer, validity, key, names, usage and fingerprints, and which key belongs to which certificate. A .p12 or an encrypted key asks for its password, which opens it for that one look and is not stored. Nothing of a private key is sent back but its algorithm and size.

A certificate read on the server

Anything else is a download: :download (:dl) fetches the file under the cursor, and gx opens it in a browser tab of its own. Files are renamed with :name, moved like documents, and deleted into the trash with x.

Uploads are only ever served as types that cannot run in the browser. An HTML file or an SVG, for example, downloads instead of opening.

key searches
/ the space you are in
Ctrl-P every space

Results appear as you type, ranked by relevance, each with the space and folder it is in. Tab or Ctrl-N / Ctrl-P walk them without leaving the line, and Enter opens the one lit. Afterwards n and N open the next and previous result beside the list, and :noh clears the search.

A search that found a line in a log file

Each word you type matches the start of a word, so inge finds "ingest". All the words must be there. Punctuation is ignored, so a search of nothing else finds nothing.

Inside files

A search reads the text files in the tree as well as the documents. A file counts as text by its type, or when its first 8 KiB read as UTF-8 with no NUL byte, which covers .log files and Makefiles. The first 256 KiB of each is indexed, the same part the viewer shows. A file found by its text shows the words around the match under its name, with the words that matched lit.

The text is read when a file arrives, by upload, import or the SFTP mount, again when its bytes change, and at start for any file still missing it. PDFs, office documents and images are not read.

A sealed file is never indexed; see The vault. Sealing a file drops its text in the same step, and decrypting it reads it again.