open

Smart file opener — dispatches files and directories to different programs based on type.

Features

• Type-aware dispatching: Opens video, audio, image, and text files each with their own configured program.
• Special keywords: music, wifi, mail, im, cb, db, postman — launch apps or run pipelines with a single word.
• Configurable: Edit ~/.config/open/open.toml to set your preferred programs for each type.
• Sensible defaults: Works out of the box with common terminal tools (termusic, mpv, nvim, yazi, etc.).

Installation

# Make it executable
chmod +x open

# Copy to somewhere in your PATH
cp open ~/.local/bin/open

Requires Python 3.11+ (for tomllib).

Usage

open <music|wifi|mail|im|cb|db|postman|path>

Special keywords

Keyword	Action	Default
music	Launch music player	termusic
wifi	WiFi manager	nmtui
mail	Email client	aerc
im	Instant messaging	iamb (Matrix client)
cb	Clipboard manager	cliphist list | fzf | cliphist decode | copy
db	Database client	gobang
postman	API client	atac

File types

| Type | Handler |

GIF	mpv
Directory	yazi
Video	mpv
Audio	mpv
Image	kitty +kitten icat
Text	nvim
Default	xdg-open

Configuration

On first run, a config file is created at ~/.config/open/open.toml with the defaults shown above. Edit it to use your preferred programs:

# ~/.config/open/open.toml

# Special keywords
music = "spotify-tui"
wifi = "iwgtk"
mail = "mutt"
im = "weechat"
clipboard = "cliphist list | fzf | cliphist decode | wl-copy"
db = "gobang"
postman = "atac"

# Directory handler
directory = "lf"

# MIME-type handlers
video = "vlc"
audio = "audacious"
image = "nsxiv"
text = "helix"

# Fallback for unknown file types
default = "xdg-open"

Handlers can include arguments (e.g., kitty +kitten icat) or shell pipelines (e.g., cliphist list | fzf | ...). Pipeline commands are run through the shell; everything else is split with shlex and passed to subprocess.run.

Examples

open ~/music/playlist/     # Opens in yazi (file manager)
open video.mp4              # Opens in mpv
open photo.png              # Opens in kitty image viewer
open document.md            # Opens in nvim
open music                  # Launches termusic
open wifi                   # Opens nmtui
open mail                   # Opens aerc
open im                     # Opens iamb (Matrix)
open cb                     # Opens clipboard manager (fzf pick → decode → copy)
open db                     # Opens gobang (database client)
open postman                # Opens atac (API client)

Dependencies

Program	Used for
Python 3.11+ (for tomllib)	Runtime
termusic / mpv / nvim / yazi / kitty	Default handlers (configurable)
aerc / iamb / cliphist / nmtui	Default keyword handlers
gobang / atac	Default keyword handlers

License

Apache License 2.0