Privacy

• Espresso reads file names, sizes, dates and Finder tags. It never reads what's inside your files. Extended details (image dimensions, durations, page counts) come from Spotlight or from file headers, and can be turned off in Settings › Metadata.
• The index is stored on your Mac, in ~/Library/Application Support/Espresso.
• Espresso has no analytics, no telemetry and no accounts. The only network requests are the update check and opening the donation page in your browser, when you click it.

FAQ

How is this different from Spotlight?

Spotlight searches file contents and metadata and ranks results for you. Espresso searches names and paths of every file, including hidden and system files, shows everything that matches in a sortable list, updates as you type, supports precise filters and regular expressions, and keeps disconnected disks searchable.

Why does Espresso ask for Full Disk Access?

To see folders that macOS protects. Without it, Espresso still indexes everything else. See Getting started.

Does Espresso slow down my Mac?

Indexing a disk takes a burst of work once. After that, Espresso only follows changes as they happen, and does nothing when it's closed.

How much space does the index use?

About 110 bytes per file: roughly 230 MB for two million files.

Can I exclude folders?

Yes: Settings › Disks › Decaf. There are also presets such as node_modules and .git.

Which file systems are supported?

Any that macOS can mount: APFS, HFS+, exFAT, FAT32, NTFS (read-only) and others. Network shares can be enabled in Settings › Disks; they can be slow to index.

Where do I report a problem or suggest an idea?

Open an issue on GitHub.