diff --git a/lib/vicinae-ipc/include/vicinae-ipc/ipc.hpp b/lib/vicinae-ipc/include/vicinae-ipc/ipc.hpp
index e600665d7..f0371c921 100644
--- a/lib/vicinae-ipc/include/vicinae-ipc/ipc.hpp
+++ b/lib/vicinae-ipc/include/vicinae-ipc/ipc.hpp
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ struct DMenu {
     std::optional<int> width;
     std::optional<int> height;
     bool noFooter = false;
+    bool preview = false;
   };
 
   struct Response {
diff --git a/vicinae/src/cli/cli.cpp b/vicinae/src/cli/cli.cpp
index b822da899..7b96ef645 100644
--- a/vicinae/src/cli/cli.cpp
+++ b/vicinae/src/cli/cli.cpp
@@ -264,6 +264,8 @@ class DMenuCommand : public AbstractCommandLineCommand {
                   "Do not show quick look if available for a given entry");
     app->add_flag("--no-metadata", m_req.noMetadata, "Do not show metadata section in quick look");
     app->add_flag("--no-footer", m_req.noFooter, "Hide the status bar footer");
+    app->add_flag("--preview", m_req.preview,
+                  "Enable tab-separated preview mode (format: label<TAB>preview_path)");
   }
 
   void run(CLI::App *app) override {
diff --git a/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-model.hpp b/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-model.hpp
index 51e26afa7..2325d090c 100644
--- a/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-model.hpp
+++ b/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-model.hpp
@@ -4,22 +4,33 @@
 #include "common/scored.hpp"
 #include "utils.hpp"
 
-class DMenuModel : public vicinae::ui::VerticalListModel<std::string_view> {
+struct DMenuEntry {
+  std::string_view label;
+  std::string_view quickLookPath;
+};
+
+class DMenuModel : public vicinae::ui::VerticalListModel<DMenuEntry> {
 public:
-  DMenuModel(QObject *parent = nullptr) { setParent(parent); }
+  DMenuModel(QObject *parent = nullptr, bool noIcon = false) : m_noIcon(noIcon) { setParent(parent); }
 
   void setSectionName(std::string_view name) { m_sectionName = name; }
 
-  ItemData createItemData(const std::string_view &item) const override {
-    if (isFile(item)) {
-      return ItemData{.title = getLastPathComponent(item).c_str(), .icon = ImageURL::fileIcon(item)};
+  ItemData createItemData(const DMenuEntry &item) const override {
+    if (!m_noIcon && isFile(item)) {
+      auto path = item.quickLookPath.empty() ? item.label : item.quickLookPath;
+      return ItemData{.title = QString::fromUtf8(item.label.data(), item.label.size()),
+                      .icon = ImageURL::fileIcon(path)};
     }
-    return ItemData{.title = QString::fromUtf8(item.data(), item.size())};
+    return ItemData{.title = QString::fromUtf8(item.label.data(), item.label.size())};
   }
 
   int sectionCount() const override { return 1; }
 
-  VListModel::StableID stableId(const std::string_view &item) const override { return hash(item); }
+  VListModel::StableID stableId(const DMenuEntry &item) const override {
+    auto h1 = hash(item.label);
+    auto h2 = hash(item.quickLookPath);
+    return h1 ^ (h2 << 1);
+  }
 
   int sectionIdFromIndex(int idx) const override { return idx; }
 
@@ -27,20 +38,22 @@ class DMenuModel : public vicinae::ui::VerticalListModel<std::string_view> {
 
   std::string_view sectionName(int id) const override { return m_sectionName; }
 
-  std::string_view sectionItemAt(int id, int itemIdx) const override { return m_entries[itemIdx].data; }
+  DMenuEntry sectionItemAt(int id, int itemIdx) const override { return m_entries[itemIdx].data; }
 
-  void setEntries(std::span<Scored<std::string_view>> entries) {
+  void setEntries(std::span<Scored<DMenuEntry>> entries) {
     m_entries = entries;
     emit dataChanged();
   }
 
 private:
-  static bool isFile(std::string_view entry) {
-    if (!entry.starts_with('/')) return false; // avoid unnecessary stat
+  static bool isFile(const DMenuEntry &entry) {
+    std::string_view path = entry.quickLookPath.empty() ? entry.label : entry.quickLookPath;
+    if (!path.starts_with('/')) return false; // avoid unnecessary stat
     std::error_code ec;
-    return std::filesystem::exists(entry, ec);
+    return std::filesystem::exists(path, ec);
   }
 
+  bool m_noIcon = false;
   std::string_view m_sectionName;
-  std::span<Scored<std::string_view>> m_entries;
+  std::span<Scored<DMenuEntry>> m_entries;
 };
diff --git a/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.cpp b/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.cpp
index 063b0b9be..1da0b58f9 100644
--- a/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.cpp
+++ b/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.cpp
@@ -9,19 +9,39 @@
 #include <ranges>
 
 namespace DMenu {
-View::View(ipc::DMenu::Request data) : m_data(data), m_model(new DMenuModel(this)) {
-  m_entries = std::views::split(m_data.rawContent, std::string_view("\n")) |
-              std::views::transform([](auto &&s) { return std::string_view(s); }) |
-              std::views::filter([](auto &&s) { return !s.empty(); }) | std::ranges::to<std::vector>();
+View::View(ipc::DMenu::Request data)
+    : m_data(data), m_model(new DMenuModel(this, m_data.preview || m_data.noIcon)) {
+  auto lines = std::views::split(m_data.rawContent, std::string_view("\n")) |
+               std::views::transform([](auto &&s) { return std::string_view(s); }) |
+               std::views::filter([](auto &&s) { return !s.empty(); });
+
+  m_entries.reserve(std::ranges::distance(lines));
+
+  for (auto line : lines) {
+    if (m_data.preview) {
+      // Preview mode: parse as tab-separated (label<TAB>preview_path)
+      size_t tabPos = line.find('\t');
+      if (tabPos != std::string_view::npos) {
+        m_entries.emplace_back(DMenuEntry{line.substr(0, tabPos), line.substr(tabPos + 1)});
+      } else {
+        m_entries.emplace_back(DMenuEntry{line, ""});
+      }
+    } else {
+      // Default mode: use line as-is, no delimiter parsing
+      m_entries.emplace_back(DMenuEntry{line, ""});
+    }
+  }
 }
 
-QWidget *View::generateDetail(const std::string_view &text) const {
+QWidget *View::generateDetail(const DMenuEntry &item) const {
   if (m_data.noQuickLook) return nullptr;
+
+  std::string_view path = item.quickLookPath.empty() ? item.label : item.quickLookPath;
   std::error_code ec;
 
-  if (text.starts_with('/') && std::filesystem::exists(text, ec)) {
+  if (path.starts_with('/') && std::filesystem::exists(path, ec)) {
     auto detail = new FileDetail;
-    detail->setPath(text, !m_data.noMetadata);
+    detail->setPath(path, !m_data.noMetadata);
     return detail;
   }
 
@@ -70,9 +90,9 @@ void View::textChanged(const QString &text) {
 }
 
 void View::setFilter(std::string_view query) {
-  auto toScore = [&](std::string_view s) {
-    int score = fzf::defaultMatcher.fuzzy_match_v2_score_query(s, query);
-    return Scored<std::string_view>{.data = s, .score = score};
+  auto toScore = [&](const DMenuEntry &entry) {
+    int score = fzf::defaultMatcher.fuzzy_match_v2_score_query(entry.label, query);
+    return Scored<DMenuEntry>{.data = entry, .score = score};
   };
 
   auto filtered = m_entries | std::views::transform(toScore) |
@@ -98,8 +118,8 @@ void View::updateSectionName(std::string_view name) {
   m_model->setSectionName(m_sectionName);
 }
 
-void View::itemSelected(const std::string_view &view) {
-  auto text = QString::fromUtf8(view.data(), view.size());
+void View::itemSelected(const DMenuEntry &item) {
+  auto text = QString::fromUtf8(item.label.data(), item.label.size());
   auto panel = std::make_unique<ListActionPanelState>();
   auto main = panel->createSection();
   auto select = new StaticAction("Select entry", ImageURL::builtin("save-document"),
diff --git a/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.hpp b/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.hpp
index 2dddf4e32..3f17d19dd 100644
--- a/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.hpp
+++ b/vicinae/src/ui/dmenu-view/dmenu-view.hpp
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ class View : public TypedListView<DMenuModel> {
   void selectEntry(const QString &text);
   void initialize() override;
 
-  std::vector<std::string_view> m_entries;
-  std::vector<Scored<std::string_view>> m_filteredEntries;
+  std::vector<DMenuEntry> m_entries;
+  std::vector<Scored<DMenuEntry>> m_filteredEntries;
   std::string_view m_sectionNameTemplate;
   std::string m_sectionName;
   bool m_selected = false;