diff --git a/crates/nu-command/src/commands/open.rs b/crates/nu-command/src/commands/open.rs
index 27e3d8dcbb..62b3c7f080 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/src/commands/open.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/src/commands/open.rs
@@ -74,6 +74,11 @@ documentation link at https://docs.rs/encoding_rs/0.8.28/encoding_rs/#statics"#
                 example: "open file.csv --encoding iso-8859-1 | from csv",
                 result: None,
             },
+            Example {
+                description: "Lists the contents of a directory (identical to `ls ../projectB`)",
+                example: "open ../projectB",
+                result: None,
+            },
         ]
     }
 }
@@ -99,6 +104,8 @@ async fn open(args: CommandArgs) -> Result<OutputStream, ShellError> {
     let scope = args.scope.clone();
     let cwd = PathBuf::from(args.shell_manager.path());
     let shell_manager = args.shell_manager.clone();
+    let name = args.call_info.name_tag.clone();
+    let ctrl_c = args.ctrl_c.clone();
 
     let (
         OpenArgs {
@@ -109,6 +116,17 @@ async fn open(args: CommandArgs) -> Result<OutputStream, ShellError> {
         _,
     ) = args.process().await?;
 
+    if path.is_dir() {
+        let args = nu_engine::shell::LsArgs {
+            path: Some(path),
+            all: false,
+            long: false,
+            short_names: false,
+            du: false,
+        };
+        return shell_manager.ls(args, name, ctrl_c);
+    }
+
     // TODO: Remove once Streams are supported everywhere!
     // As a short term workaround for getting AutoConvert and Bat functionality (Those don't currently support Streams)
 
diff --git a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/open.rs b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/open.rs
index 6f39b0772f..7c95a8005f 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/open.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/open.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use nu_test_support::fs::Stub::EmptyFile;
 use nu_test_support::fs::Stub::FileWithContentToBeTrimmed;
 use nu_test_support::playground::Playground;
 use nu_test_support::{nu, pipeline};
@@ -230,3 +231,24 @@ fn errors_if_file_not_found() {
         expected
     );
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn open_dir_is_ls() {
+    Playground::setup("open_dir", |dirs, sandbox| {
+        sandbox.with_files(vec![
+            EmptyFile("yehuda.txt"),
+            EmptyFile("jonathan.txt"),
+            EmptyFile("andres.txt"),
+        ]);
+
+        let actual = nu!(
+            cwd: dirs.test(), pipeline(
+            r#"
+                open .
+                | count
+            "#
+        ));
+
+        assert_eq!(actual.out, "3");
+    })
+}