I don’t have an answer to your question, but one thing I love about Material Files that I haven’t seen in other FOSS apps, is that it has lots of options to access network locations, including SMB, (S)FTP, and WebDAV, and other apps’ files via Storage Access Framework.

On my tablet (which I currently use as both a dev machine and a file server) I can access Termux and TIC-80 home directories, and from other devices I can access the WebDAV server (Copyparty under Termux).

I just wish it had better UI when using a keyboard (tablet) or remote control (TV).