diff --git a/kittens/choose_files/main.go b/kittens/choose_files/main.go
index 720579868..f09479406 100644
--- a/kittens/choose_files/main.go
+++ b/kittens/choose_files/main.go
@@ -44,16 +44,16 @@ type Handler struct {
 }
 
 func (h *Handler) draw_screen() (err error) {
-	h.get_results()
+	matches, in_progress := h.get_results()
 	h.lp.StartAtomicUpdate()
 	defer h.lp.EndAtomicUpdate()
 	h.lp.ClearScreen()
-	y := 0
-	if dy, err := h.draw_search_bar(y); err != nil {
-		return err
-	} else {
-		y += dy
-	}
+	defer func() { // so that the cursor ends up in the right place
+		h.lp.MoveCursorTo(1, 1)
+		h.draw_search_bar(0)
+	}()
+	y := SEARCH_BAR_HEIGHT
+	y += h.draw_results(y, 4, matches, in_progress)
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/kittens/choose_files/results.go b/kittens/choose_files/results.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8e6841f77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kittens/choose_files/results.go
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+package choose_files
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+
+	"github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/tools/tui/loop"
+	"github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/tools/utils"
+	"github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/tools/utils/style"
+	"github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/tools/wcswidth"
+)
+
+var _ = fmt.Print
+
+func (h *Handler) draw_results_title() {
+	text := filepath.Clean(h.state.BaseDir())
+	home := filepath.Clean(utils.Expanduser("~"))
+	if strings.HasPrefix(text, home) {
+		text = "~" + text[len(home):]
+	}
+	available_width := h.screen_size.width - 9
+	if available_width < 2 {
+		return
+	}
+	tt := wcswidth.TruncateToVisualLength(text, available_width)
+	if len(tt) < len(text) {
+		text = wcswidth.TruncateToVisualLength(text, available_width-1)
+	}
+	text = ` 📁 ` + text + ` `
+	extra := available_width - wcswidth.Stringwidth(text)
+	x := 3
+	if extra > 1 {
+		x += extra / 2
+	}
+	h.lp.MoveCursorHorizontally(x)
+	h.lp.QueueWriteString(text)
+}
+
+func (h *Handler) draw_no_matches_message(in_progress bool) {
+	text := "Scanning filesystem, please wait…"
+	if !in_progress {
+		text = utils.IfElse(h.state.SearchText() == "", "No files present in this folder", "No matches found")
+	}
+	for _, line := range style.WrapTextAsLines(text, h.screen_size.width-2, style.WrapOptions{}) {
+		h.lp.QueueWriteString("\r")
+		h.lp.MoveCursorHorizontally(1)
+		h.lp.QueueWriteString(line)
+		h.lp.MoveCursorVertically(1)
+	}
+
+}
+
+func (h *Handler) draw_matching_result(r ResultItem) {
+}
+
+func (h *Handler) render_match_with_positions(text string, stop_at int, positions []int, scale int) {
+	prefix, suffix, _ := strings.Cut(h.lp.SprintStyled("fg=green", " "), " ")
+	write_chunk := func(text string, emphasize bool) {
+		if text == "" {
+			return
+		}
+		if emphasize {
+			h.lp.QueueWriteString(prefix)
+			defer func() {
+				h.lp.QueueWriteString(suffix)
+			}()
+		}
+		if scale > 1 {
+			h.lp.DrawSizedText(text, loop.SizedText{Scale: scale})
+		} else {
+			h.lp.QueueWriteString(text)
+		}
+	}
+	at := 0
+	limit := min(stop_at, len(text))
+	for _, p := range positions {
+		if p > limit || at > limit {
+			break
+		}
+		write_chunk(text[at:p], false)
+		at = p
+		if r, sz := utf8.DecodeRuneInString(text[p:]); r != utf8.RuneError {
+			write_chunk(string(r), true)
+			at += sz
+		}
+	}
+	if at < len(text) {
+		write_chunk(text[at:], false)
+	}
+}
+
+func icon_for(x os.DirEntry) string {
+	if x.IsDir() {
+		return `📁`
+	}
+	return "XX"
+}
+
+func (h *Handler) draw_column_of_matches(matches []ResultItem, x, available_width int, has_extra_matches bool) {
+	for i, m := range matches {
+		h.lp.QueueWriteString("\r")
+		h.lp.MoveCursorHorizontally(x)
+		text := ""
+		if has_extra_matches && i == len(matches)-1 {
+			text = "…"
+		} else {
+			text = m.text
+			tlen := len(text)
+			if wcswidth.Stringwidth(text) > available_width-3 {
+				text = wcswidth.TruncateToVisualLength(text, available_width-4) + "…"
+				tlen = len(text) - 1
+			}
+			h.lp.QueueWriteString(icon_for(m.dir_entry) + " ")
+			h.render_match_with_positions(text, tlen, m.positions, 1)
+		}
+		h.lp.MoveCursorVertically(1)
+	}
+}
+
+func (h *Handler) draw_list_of_results(matches []ResultItem, y, height int) {
+	if len(matches) == 0 || height < 2 {
+		return
+	}
+	available_width := h.screen_size.width - 2
+	col_width := available_width
+	num_cols := 1
+	if len(matches) > height {
+		col_width = 40
+		num_cols = available_width / col_width
+		for num_cols > 0 && height*(num_cols-1) >= len(matches) {
+			num_cols--
+		}
+		col_width = available_width / num_cols
+	}
+	x := 1
+	for i := range num_cols {
+		is_last := i == num_cols-1
+		chunk := matches[:min(len(matches), height)]
+		matches = matches[len(chunk):]
+		h.lp.MoveCursorTo(x, y)
+		has_extra_matches := is_last && len(matches) > 0
+		h.draw_column_of_matches(chunk, x, col_width-1, has_extra_matches)
+		x += col_width
+	}
+}
+
+func (h *Handler) draw_results(y, bottom_margin int, matches []ResultItem, in_progress bool) (height int) {
+	height = h.screen_size.height - y - bottom_margin
+	h.lp.MoveCursorTo(1, 1+y)
+	h.draw_frame(h.screen_size.width, height)
+	h.lp.MoveCursorTo(1, 1+y)
+	h.draw_results_title()
+	y += 2
+	h.lp.MoveCursorTo(1, y)
+	switch len(matches) {
+	case 0:
+		h.draw_no_matches_message(in_progress)
+	default:
+		switch h.state.SearchText() {
+		case "":
+			h.draw_list_of_results(matches, y, height-y)
+		default:
+			h.draw_matching_result(matches[0])
+			y += 2
+			h.draw_list_of_results(matches[1:], y, height-y)
+		}
+	}
+	return
+}
diff --git a/kittens/choose_files/scan.go b/kittens/choose_files/scan.go
index d0d9a34f7..103534586 100644
--- a/kittens/choose_files/scan.go
+++ b/kittens/choose_files/scan.go
@@ -66,10 +66,13 @@ func (sc *ScanCache) fs_scan(root_dir, current_dir string, max_depth int) (ans [
 		ans = scan_dir(current_dir, root_dir)
 		sc.set_cached_entries(current_dir, ans)
 	}
-	for _, x := range ans {
-		ans = append(ans, x)
-		if x.dir_entry.IsDir() && max_depth > 0 {
-			ans = append(ans, sc.fs_scan(root_dir, x.abspath, max_depth-1)...)
+	ans = slices.Clone(ans)
+	// now recurse into directories
+	if max_depth > 0 {
+		for _, x := range ans {
+			if x.dir_entry.IsDir() {
+				ans = append(ans, sc.fs_scan(root_dir, x.abspath, max_depth-1)...)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	return
@@ -79,7 +82,7 @@ func (sc *ScanCache) scan(root_dir, search_text string, max_depth int) (ans []Re
 	if strings.HasPrefix(search_text, "/") {
 		root_dir = "/"
 	}
-	ans = slices.Clone(sc.fs_scan(root_dir, root_dir, max_depth))
+	ans = sc.fs_scan(root_dir, root_dir, max_depth)
 	if search_text == "" {
 		slices.SortFunc(ans, func(a, b ResultItem) int {
 			switch a.dir_entry.IsDir() {
@@ -105,7 +108,9 @@ func (sc *ScanCache) scan(root_dir, search_text string, max_depth int) (ans []Re
 		for _, x := range ans {
 			pm[x.text] = x
 		}
-		matches := subseq.ScoreItems(search_text, utils.Keys(pm), subseq.Options{})
+		matches := utils.Filter(subseq.ScoreItems(search_text, utils.Keys(pm), subseq.Options{}), func(x *subseq.Match) bool {
+			return x.Score > 0
+		})
 		slices.SortFunc(matches, func(a, b *subseq.Match) int { return cmp.Compare(b.Score, a.Score) })
 		ans = utils.Map(func(m *subseq.Match) ResultItem {
 			x := pm[m.Text]
@@ -116,7 +121,7 @@ func (sc *ScanCache) scan(root_dir, search_text string, max_depth int) (ans []Re
 	return ans
 }
 
-func (h *Handler) get_results() {
+func (h *Handler) get_results() (ans []ResultItem, in_progress bool) {
 	sc := &h.scan_cache
 	sc.mutex.Lock()
 	defer sc.mutex.Unlock()
@@ -124,7 +129,7 @@ func (h *Handler) get_results() {
 		sc.dir_entries = make(dir_cache, 512)
 	}
 	if sc.root_dir == h.state.CurrentDir() && sc.search_text == h.state.SearchText() {
-		return
+		return sc.matches, sc.in_progress
 	}
 	sc.in_progress = true
 	sc.matches = nil
@@ -142,4 +147,5 @@ func (h *Handler) get_results() {
 			h.lp.WakeupMainThread()
 		}
 	}()
+	return sc.matches, sc.in_progress
 }
diff --git a/kittens/choose_files/search-bar.go b/kittens/choose_files/search-bar.go
index c5cdb19d9..ca25c7c5a 100644
--- a/kittens/choose_files/search-bar.go
+++ b/kittens/choose_files/search-bar.go
@@ -46,15 +46,15 @@ func (h *Handler) draw_search_text(available_width int) {
 	h.lp.MoveCursorHorizontally(-2)
 }
 
-func (h *Handler) draw_search_bar(y int) (height int, err error) {
+const SEARCH_BAR_HEIGHT = 4
+
+func (h *Handler) draw_search_bar(y int) {
 	left_margin, right_margin := 5, 5
-	height = 4
 	h.lp.MoveCursorTo(1+left_margin, 1+y)
 	available_width := h.screen_size.width - left_margin - right_margin
-	h.draw_frame(available_width, height)
+	h.draw_frame(available_width, SEARCH_BAR_HEIGHT)
 	h.lp.MoveCursorTo(1+left_margin+1, 2+y)
 	h.draw_search_text(available_width - 2)
-
 	return
 }