Hanselminutes with Scott Hanselman Vjekoslav Krajačić on File Pilot and a return to fast UIs
Jan 1, 2026
Vjekoslav Krajačić, the Principal Developer of FilePilot and former game industry dev, dives into his innovative lightweight file explorer. He discusses how his background in game development informs the app’s high-performance and immediate-mode UI design. Krajačić reveals the challenges of integrating with older Windows APIs and the benefits of a custom OpenGL renderer that makes FilePilot feel fast. He also shares insights on building from scratch, the influence of Handmade Hero, and plans for future features including cross-platform support.
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Game-Style UI Delivers Speed
- Vjekoslav built FilePilot from scratch using a game-like renderer and immediate-mode UI for extreme responsiveness.
- He applied game-development techniques to make a file manager feel as fast as a game.
Switched From OpenGL To DirectX
- Vjekoslav used OpenGL initially but plans to move to DirectX due to driver instability.
- He built his own renderer and UI framework atop OpenGL from his game-industry background.
Small Executable, Big Impact
- FilePilot is deliberately tiny and minimal: a single ~2.3MB executable with few dependencies.
- That compactness reflects a craft-focused philosophy favoring small, efficient binaries over heavy runtimes.
