# Findly

> Findly is a free, open-source macOS menu bar utility. Press Ctrl + ~ (Control and the key left of 1, written ⌃` on a Mac) to slide a Finder-style file drawer in from any screen edge; switch to another app and it slides away. It is its own window — not the real Finder — so it appears on every Space with a single line of collectionBehavior, with no Apple Events, Accessibility, or private SPI.

- Platform: macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
- Price: Free, open source (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: free for non-commercial use)
- Author: rocavence (https://github.com/rocavence)
- Install: `brew install --cask rocavence/tap/findly`
- Download: https://github.com/rocavence/Findly-app/releases/latest
- Source code: https://github.com/rocavence/Findly-app
- Website: https://findly.rocavence.com (English: https://findly.rocavence.com/en/)
- Current version: 1.0.0 (October 2026)

## What it does

Findly is a quick file drawer you can summon over anything and dismiss just as fast:

- Press Ctrl + ~ (⌃`) to slide the drawer in/out, or click the menu bar icon; use Ctrl + Option + an arrow key (⌃⌥ + arrow) to open it on the top, bottom, left, or right edge. Every shortcut can be changed in Settings › Shortcuts.
- It appears on whichever screen the mouse is on.
- Switch to another app and the drawer auto-parks off-screen; press the hotkey again to slide it back.
- Drag the drawer's inner edge to resize width/height — it remembers for next time.
- Because it is its own window, one line of `collectionBehavior = [.canJoinAllSpaces, .fullScreenAuxiliary, .stationary]` makes it appear on every Space and over full-screen apps — no Finder, Apple Events, or private SPI.

## Inside the drawer

- Sidebar: Finder's own sidebar, read the way Finder shows it: Favorites in Finder's order, iCloud Drive, Locations (eject buttons; updates on mount and unmount) and Tags (click to list tagged files via Spotlight; folded at first). Settings › Sidebar turns items on and off, or "Same as Finder" follows Finder's own sidebar settings, re-read each time the drawer opens.
- Menu bar icon: click toggles the drawer; right-click (or Control-click) opens the menu.
- File list: an AppKit NSOutlineView list view with Name / Size / Kind / Date Modified, click-to-sort headers, Group by Kind, folders that expand in place, and Finder's shortcuts: Return renames, Cmd + Down / Cmd + O open, Cmd + Delete trashes, Cmd + [ / Cmd + ] / Cmd + Up navigate, Cmd + F searches (this folder or subfolders), Cmd + Shift + . shows hidden files (also a switch in Settings, off by default), Space / Option + Space Quick Look.
- Live updates via FSEvents; refreshes keep expansion, selection and scroll position.
- Drag and drop in and out (list, folder rows, sidebar, path bar); moves within a volume, copies across, never overwrites. Like Finder, no progress message; only failures are reported.
- Settings: language, appearance, accent, launch at login, default edge, slide away on app switch, mouse side buttons, show hidden files, sidebar items or Same as Finder, shortcut recorder with conflict checks, Full Disk Access status, update check.
- Resource use: about 13 MB of memory idle, about 35 MB with the drawer open; the app is 2.5 MB.
- Six languages: Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese.

## Why its own window

The original direction was to avoid rebuilding a file browser UI by driving a real Finder window via AppleScript + Accessibility. That worked but cost a lot: per-Space window juggling, cross-Space moves blocked under SIP, private SkyLight/CGS SPI, telling "our" windows from the user's, timestamp-guessing for auto-park. Switching to its own window removed all of it — at the cost of building the browser UI with NSOutlineView (the component behind Finder's list view), which gets very close while keeping the architecture far cleaner.

## Install notes

- Homebrew (recommended): `brew install --cask rocavence/tap/findly` (no quarantine step needed)
- Self-signed (not Apple-notarized). On first launch, open via right-click → Open, or run `xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Findly.app`.
- Full Disk Access: the drawer browses the whole file system and the sidebar mirrors Finder favorites. Grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. Without it, TCC-protected folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, CloudStorage/Dropbox) can't be opened; the drawer explains why and links to the settings pane.
- Tested on macOS 14+, primarily macOS 26 (Tahoe).
- Tech stack: Swift 6, AppKit (NSPanel, NSOutlineView), SwiftUI settings, FSEvents, NSMetadataQuery, Quick Look, Carbon RegisterEventHotKey, XcodeGen.

## Links

- Download (latest release): https://github.com/rocavence/Findly-app/releases/latest
- Source code & docs: https://github.com/rocavence/Findly-app
- License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0