- I needed something that _performs_ on the Pi which I was setting up as a _media player_ for my 3-yr old. - `ranger` wasn't an option because of slow python deps and I found ranger's changing/shifting panes very confusing. Please don't get me wrong here, I have several popular utilities in python. But when it comes to low-power, low-freq devices, the performance of interpreted or scripting languages is questionable.

`nnn` also has the `du` and `navigate-as-you-type` modes which aren't readily available in `ranger` (AFAIK; I don't use it). Then you get to copy (un)quoted file path(s) even without X, `vidir` integration, terminal locker support and finally, all the painstaking optimization.

The binary size is ~60KB (much lesser than the C source file that generates it). The requirements are minimal too - a c (say, musl) and a curses library.

Copying file path(s) between two instances of `nnn` works seamlessly (with or without clipboard).

I think the philosophy behind `ranger` and `nnn` are different and they were written to cater to different use-cases and a different audience at the very beginning. I had to write `nnn` on my desktop and at some point I noticed it works like a charm with my drop-down terminator session (I never lose any context anymore) so it became a desktop software.