exa is a modern replacement for the command-line program ls that ships with Unix and Linux operating systems. This command is used by terminal users, administrators, and developers hundreds of times daily, as well as being useful when writing automated scripts. Unfortunately, these two uses are at odds with each other. While users want new features and customisation, administrators would prefer the stability of a long-lived and ubiquitous tool. By deliberately making some decisions differently, exa attempts to be a more featureful, more user-friendly version of ls.