brew install --cask thelowtechguys-cling
Right Command + / (slash) to show/hide Cling.png icon or .pdf invoice to narrow results.
~/.fsignore file lets you specify gitignore patterns for excluding files and folders from the index.Included in the 14-day free trial. After that, a license keeps them unlocked.
Option + a single key to instantly narrow down results with minimal typing.
Option + Escape to clear all filters and go back to searching everything.Option + a number key to jump between volumes. All filters stack with your typed query.| Feature | Cling Pro | Free version |
|---|---|---|
| Home, Library and Applications search scopes Search files in your home folder, user library, and installed apps | ||
| Fuzzy search and search history Find files with partial queries, navigate history with arrow keys and tab completion | ||
| Instant actions on files Open, copy, move, QuickLook, batch rename, or act on files with hotkeys | ||
| Smart defaults on launch Show your most recently changed files when opening Cling | ||
| Library, System, and Root search scopes Search system files, hidden files, dotfiles, and app data | ||
| External volume indexing Persistent indexes for USB drives, external hard drives, and network shares | ||
| Quick Filters for file types Narrow down results by file type without typing common queries | ||
| Custom folder filters Save folder sets for quick filtering of search results | ||
| Scripts for custom actions Run custom scripts on files with pre-assigned hotkeys | ||
| Up to 10,000 results Free version is capped at 500 results |
No credit card required, keep using for free after the trial
Refunds accepted within 14 days of purchase, no questions asked
Cling is similar to these apps in that it provides instant search results, but the key differences are:
Cling is very much not like these apps.
They are all file search apps that provide advanced search features, allowing you to craft complex queries using metadata and file content to dig deep into your filesystem and find as many files as possible.
Cling is for quickly finding one or more specific files by roughly knowing the name, and then doing something with the file immediately like:
Cling is not an app for finding all files that match a complex query.
To provide instant search results, Cling maintains an in-memory index of your filesystem split across separate engines for each search scope.
This can consume a significant amount of memory, ranging from 300MB to 2GB depending on the size of your filesystem and the number of files indexed.
Whenever Cling is in background (the window is not visible), the index will be marked as swappable to disk. This allows macOS to move the index to disk and free up RAM when memory pressure is high. Cling will reload the index from disk when you open its window again.
The most CPU-intensive operations are:
Searching will consume CPU in short bursts. A typical search across 9+ million files completes in under 100ms. When you stop typing, CPU usage drops to 0%.
When Cling is in background, it will pause searching and consume very little CPU for processing file changes.
The impact on battery is proportional to how many searches you do and how many file changes will happen in the background.
Even though a search will look like it's consuming 100% CPU of multiple cores, it's a very fast operation and the battery energy used isn't that high in the long term.
Processing and indexing file changes is very efficient and will not impact battery life significantly.
