Features

• Live updates on external drives: files added, renamed or deleted on a connected drive show up in search within seconds, instead of at its next reindex. You can see how each drive keeps up, and turn its live updates off, in Settings > Drives & Volumes

• App launcher: the search bar prioritizes apps if the query seems to hint at that

• Folder icons: paths in the search bar show the folder icon, which you can turn off in Settings > Style. You can pick an icon for each drive in Settings > Drives & Volumes

• Option to turn off the Everything index: hides its asterisk and shortcut everywhere, and can delete its saved index to free the space. You can turn it off in Settings > Search

• Index sizes: size on disk for each scope, drive and Everything index

• Status bar editor: pick what the status bar shows in the window and the search bar, in Settings > Style

• Alfred workflow: search Cling from Alfred with cl and reindex with clreindex. You can install it, and the Raycast extension, in Settings > General

Fixes

• Fixed a possible crash when dragging the results table's header past the last column
• Fixed a possible crash when previewing code
• Fixed a possible crash when applying a quick filter while Cling is indexing
• Fixed a possible crash while saving the index of a very large drive
• Fixed a possible freeze at launch when a drive is slow to answer

Improvements

• Searching a drive that was unplugged without ejecting, offers to reindex it, in case its index missed the last changes

• Status bar shows how long the last search took
• More files that change constantly and nobody searches for stay out of the index: database side files, apps' logs, web view data and the system's logs
• Periodic reindexing waits for the drive to settle, so it doesn't slow down I/O workload
• CLI stuff: cling open, cling everything on|off|delete, cling volume follow|unfollow|skip-reindex and cling search --search-bar

Fixes

• Thousands of files added or deleted at once across many folders, like an unpacked archive or a big checkout, enter or leave the index within seconds, where new folders used to wait up to an hour for the next full reindex
• Everything picks up thousands of files added or deleted at once within seconds, instead of walking the whole disk again for each of them
• A big git checkout no longer makes Cling walk the same folders over and over
• The search window does less work on each redraw when you have many quick and folder filters

Features

• Cloud Storage: online-only files in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud folders show up in search, and download from the preview on-demand. You can turn each folder off in Settings > Drives & Volumes

• Typo tolerance: a misspelled search still finds the file, so colour finds color and seperate finds separate

• Index stats: files, size on disk, memory and last full index for every scope, drive and Everything, at the bottom of the index size view

• Open and Save panels: Drop to Focused Element (⌥⏎) takes an Open or Save panel to the selected files and selects them, without moving the cursor

• Remote access: Tailscale setup for reaching the file server away from home, in Settings > File server

• Side-independent modifiers for the global hotkey: ⌘, ⌥, ⌃ and ⇧ work on either side. You can turn it on in Settings > General

• Auto-disable filters: filters turn off 5 minutes after search. You can change the time, or give a filter its own, in Settings > Filters

Fixes

• cling reindex --wait reports how many entries it indexed instead of 0
• cling reindex --everything --wait shows the new walk's progress instead of the old index's size from the start
• The Welcome window no longer runs off the bottom of smaller screens and hides the Get Started button
• cling explain finds the scope and ignore rules of paths under /tmp, /var and /etc
• Previewing a password protected PDF no longer moves the keyboard focus into its password field
• Long filter names fit in the search bar's filter button, and a quick filter with its own folders no longer lists them after its name
• Thousands of files added or deleted at once enter or leave the index right away, where some of them used to wait for the next full reindex
• Fixed a possible crash when right-clicking below the last row of a list on macOS 27
• Fixed a possible freeze when previewing a file on a network share that stopped answering
• Fixed a possible freeze while the index caught up with files changed on disk

Improvements

• The file server gets online-only cloud files onto the Mac before sending them, with progress on the page instead of a download stuck at zero
• A gear at the end of the search bar's bottom bar opens Settings

• → on a file searches inside its folder, with the file still selected
• The live index changes list can be paused, and its rows excluded from the index or hidden from the list while they stay indexed

Features

• File server: search this Mac and download its files from a browser on your phone or another computer, over your local network or a VPN like Tailscale

  Needs Cling Pro: turn it on in Settings > File server, then scan its QR code or paste its link to sign in

  The same search options as the Cling window: scopes, drives, Everything, quick filters and folder filters

  Tap Select or glide two fingers down the list to pick files (Select All works too), then download them, zip them, or share a Send Securely link to them

  Folders and selections download as ZIPs that pick up where they left off if the connection drops, and videos play without downloading first

  On a phone, files open in a viewer: swipe down to close it, sideways to go to the next or previous file

  In landscape or a wide browser window, files show in a preview beside the list instead, which can be hidden, and code files are highlighted

  Add it to the iPhone Home Screen to use it as an app, with downloads saved through the share sheet and kept on the phone (up to 1 GB in cache)

  Downloads over 100 MB ask first, and the size can be changed in Settings > File server

  It only answers on private addresses, never on a public one, and with Tailscale it can serve HTTPS on the Mac's Tailscale name

Improvements

• The Everything index leaves out external drives and Time Machine backups, and skips the internal disk's other volumes that are off in Settings > Drives & Volumes

Features

• New index engine: huge memory savings, energy impact and CPU usage improvements

  in-memory index goes from several GB of RAM to 60-100 MB

  full reindexing goes from several minutes down to less than 10 seconds

  energy impact on keeping the index up to date on file events becomes completely negligible

• the Everything index: search every file on the local disks with no ignore rules, toggled with ⌘⇧E or the ✱ in the search bar

• Index size pruning: click on the file count in the status bar to see how many files each scope and folder adds to the index and prune unwanted folders

• External drives filter: search all external drives and find which drive contains a specific file

  Pick External drives in the filter menu or press ⌥E

• Search bar: a floating bar similar to Spotlight

  You can also pin it to the desktop as a small always available search field

  ⌃ Tab switches between the bar and the window

• MCP server lets an AI agent work with Cling in plain language: search, explain why a file is missing, and change indexes, ignore rules, filters, scripts and settings

  Install it into common agents from Settings > MCP.

  Some things you can ask an agent like Claude or Codex to do with Cling:

  • why doesn't my ~/.ssh/config show up when I search sshcfg?
  • stop indexing rust target folders but keep the binaries
  • index my external drive and refresh it every day
  • make a quick filter for Figma and Sketch files on Option F
  • write a script on Cmd Ctrl Z that zips the selected files into one archive on my Desktop

• Window position: the window comes up centered on the display with the cursor

  Behaviour can be changed in Settings > General

Fixes

• Indexing no longer waits for iCloud Drive, Dropbox or other cloud storage to download folders kept only online
• / typed in the Reindex excluded path field no longer jumps to the search bar
• Space and ⌥ letters typed in a sheet no longer open Quick Look or switch filters
• ⌥ filter shortcuts worked in the window without Pro by mistake, and now need Pro like the filters themselves
• Files inside an excluded folder no longer stay searchable until the next reindex
• The live changes list and the file count no longer pick up changes in folders that aren't indexed
• Xcode projects and other bundles no longer get a plain folder icon in the results and show their own instead
• Results no longer flash a different list for a moment as you type with a quick filter on

Improvements

• Filters in Settings > Filters carry their own icon and colour

• The window always stays ready between summons, so the Instant mode setting is gone and becomes the default
• The action rows have their own pane in Settings > Action Bar, with a live preview of the rows that stays in view while you change them

• cling logs persist on keeps Cling's debug logs on disk when a problem needs them, off goes back to the macOS default
• The index follows file changes as they happen and catches up on launch with what changed while Cling was closed, so it no longer walks every location again each hour
• While Cling is closed, a background job gathers file changes every few hours, when the Mac is idle, so the index is current the moment Cling opens (Watch file events in the background in Settings > Search)
• Following those changes in the background takes about a tenth of the CPU and energy it used to, and the busiest folders that aren't indexed, like temporary files and build output, no longer cost anything
• Cling uses about a tenth of the memory it used to, around 60 MB with 1.6 million files indexed, and locations that aren't searched, like System and Root without Pro, are no longer indexed
• Indexing Home and Library takes less than half the time
• A ! rule reaches inside an ignored folder only when it names a path there, like !Library/Caches/Clop/*, the same as in git
• Allow character escapes in query: \r, \n, \t, \xHH for any byte and \uHHHH for any character
• Settings and controls can be read and operated by VoiceOver and AI agents that use the Mac through accessibility
• Reindexing an excluded path makes its files searchable within moments, without waiting for the whole location to reindex
• Home and End select the first or last row, so the arrow keys carry on from there
• Files in a Home folder that links elsewhere, like a ~/.ssh kept in a dotfiles folder, show under the link's path, and in: works on that folder
• Blocklist prefixes in Settings > Excluded Paths accept ~/ paths
• Hidden system files on external drives are no longer indexed
• CLI searches no longer wait behind a reindex or status command that is still running

Fixes

• Clicking a file no longer leaves the list unfocused, so the selection stops looking greyed out and the arrow keys walk the results straight away
• Trashing files leaves the next file selected instead of jumping back to the top of the list

Improvements

• Much lower CPU use in high volume of file events with the Cling window open

Fixes

• Holding Option with another modifier no longer brings the filters up over the action rows, so ⌘⌥ stays on Open With

Features

• Minimum query length: Cling waits for 3 characters before searching instead of matching on the first keystroke. You can configure it in Settings > Search, 1 brings back the old behaviour

• Dim status bar: the bottom bar sits faded and comes back to full strength when you hover it. You can turn it off in Settings > Style

• Filter icons and colors: set icons and colors that change the appearance of the Cling window when a filter gets activated to make it more obvious when the search is scoped to a limited set of files

Fixes

• Fixed a possible freeze while the results list was showing files from a drive that had stalled, caused by reading each row's size and date from the disk as the list drew and sorted
• Fixed a possible freeze when a script step timed out or failed to start
• Script steps no longer leave a temp folder behind on every run

Improvements

• Size and date fill in immediately for files on the startup disk
• Results whose letters are scattered across a long path now rank below the ones that should match naturally
• Config files rank alongside everything else instead of ranking lower because they're in a hidden folder
• Getting the extension wrong still finds the file: a query ending in yml can turn up .toml
• Search terms match in any order, so you can narrow a search by adding a folder name after what you already typed

Features

• Dynamic text size for the search window: ⌘+ and ⌘- to change it, ⌘0 to reset

  Also in Settings > Interface > Window, adjustable from 80% to 200%

• Menu bar icon: click it to show Cling. Off by default in Settings > General

• Reset selection after starts a summon with no selection when Cling has been in the background for a while, so ↓ lands on the first result instead of the row you picked an hour ago

  Set the delay in Settings > General > Window: 1 min, 5 min, 15 min, 1 hour, or Never to keep the same selected files until a manual selection change

  Defaults to 5 min

Fixes

• Fixed a possible freeze when a volume or folder finished reindexing, caused by the old index being thrown away on the main thread

Fixes

• Fixed a possible freeze while the recent files list refreshed, caused by one file sitting on a stalled drive
• Fixed a possible freeze when opening the Open With menu for a selection it had not seen before
• Fixed a possible stall while the index was built, caused by one folder on a slow drive holding up the rest

Fixes

• Searching a disconnected drive or an off-network share returns its cached results again, instead of nothing at all
• Results from a disconnected volume show the size and date recorded at index time, instead of a blank row

Features

• Literal search matches each word as typed, instead of finding its letters scattered across the path

  Turn it on under Matching in Settings > Search

  'word flips a single word back to fuzzy matching

Fixes

• Files whose name matches what you typed no longer go missing from a big search because they sit deep in the folder tree
• Fixed a possible crash on launch from a half-written index, it now gets thrown away and rebuilt
• Fixed a possible crash when previewing a code file on a damaged app copy
• Fixed a possible freeze when the terminal, editor or shelf app you configured sits on a sleeping or unreachable drive
• Fixed a possible freeze in the Open With menu and the file preview, both were re-reading from disk on every redraw
• Fixed a possible freeze while the results list drew its file icons, they now load in the background

Fixes

• A slow filesystem-event startup step no longer risks freezing the app a few minutes after launch
• No more freeze when a selected file sits on a slow or disconnected drive, caused by the script action bar checking each file's type on the main thread
• No more freeze during the periodic background reindex, caused by a cache refresh that could stall behind the running scan
• Settings sidebar no longer collapses out of view with no way to reopen it

Improvements

• If the app ever quits unexpectedly, it now restarts itself and saves a crash report each time, so the cause can be tracked down
• Restyled settings sidebar

Fixes

• No more crash at launch when a slow external disk is connected (camera SD cards, USB drives), caused by a volume check that could time out and abort the app
• No more freeze at launch when a connected drive is slow to respond, caused by a mounted-volume check running on the main thread

Features

• Stash: press ⌘S to pin the selected files to a stash that stays above the results while you keep searching

  Fully editable: ⌘S again unstashes, right-click adds or removes files, and the red trash button in its header (or ⌘⇧S) empties it. The stash survives restarts.

  Stashed rows keep every file action: open, Quick Look, copy, send, drag out, trash

  Files can auto-clear after a chosen time, set in Settings -> Open with

• Sort shortcuts reorder results from the keyboard, rebindable in Settings, under Shortcuts

  ⌃N Name · ⌃P Path · ⌃S Size · ⌃D Date · ⌃0 Relevance

  Press the same key again to flip between ascending and descending

  Hold ⌘ to see each column's sort shortcut in its header

  Clicking the Size or Date Modified column header now sorts largest and newest first; Name and Path still start ascending

• Add files to an active room: select more files and press Add to this room in the Transfers panel to put them into a Send Securely link you already shared

• Hide toolbar rows: right-click the action, Open with, or script row for a quick hide option

  Double-tap a modifier key of your choice (set in Settings > Style > Rows) to hide or show all three rows at once

  With every row hidden, the results table takes over the freed space

Fixes

• No more freezes of 30+ seconds at launch when Spotlight is slow to return the recent files (on busy or slow disks)
• Files saved again by an editor or re-synced by a cloud service (Dropbox, iCloud) no longer disappear from search until the next restart; they reappear the moment they're written back to disk
• ⌘⌫ moves the selected files to the trash again, and the shortcut hints shown while holding ⌘ no longer disappear for good after trying to trash
• Files with Korean or accented names no longer go missing from multi-word searches or rank below less relevant results

Improvements

• Script shortcut hints use a warm amber in dark mode instead of the hard-to-read dark red

Fixes

• Multi-word searches for files with Korean, Japanese, or accented names now find the file even when extra text sits between your search terms
• A slow or unresponsive drive no longer freezes the app while showing search results or tidying up after indexing
• Loading the list of installed apps (used for the Open With menu) no longer risks a brief freeze

Features

• cling explain tells you whether a path is in the index, and if it isn't, which rule is keeping it out (a disabled scope, the blocklist, or an ignore file)

Fixes

• Big searches no longer freeze the app; result lists with thousands of matches now show up instantly and stay smooth to scroll
• Connecting or ejecting a drive no longer risks a freeze while the app refreshes its list of volumes
• Quick filters that combine several file types (Config, Images, Documents, Code, and the other multi-type filters) showed no results; they now match files of any of the listed types
• Renaming a quick filter is reliable now; the name field no longer loses your edits as you type
• Fixed a crash that could happen when searching with a quick filter active while the index was being rebuilt in the background
• Quick filter results now stay accurate right after a background reindex, instead of going briefly stale

Fixes

• No more long freezes (beachball) while refreshing recent files, loading app icons, or finishing indexing; that work now runs in the background so the window stays responsive
• The filter menu shows each filter's ⌥ shortcut on the right again

Improvements

• Filters with long extension or folder lists no longer stretch the filter menu; the detail line shortens to the first few with +N more, and the full list shows when you hover

Improvements

• Searching by file type alone (like .m4a) ranks your own music, movies, and photos above system and app files, and stops large libraries from being cut off before your file shows up

Features

• Search operators to filter and exclude results as you type

  Exclude: !word hides matches · !.png hides a file type · !/ shows files only

  Exact: 'word matches the text exactly, not loosely

  Anchor: ^word (name starts with it) · word$ (name ends with it)

  Tap ? in the search bar for the full list, including .png, in:~/Downloads, and depth:1

• Step into folders: select a folder in the results, press → to search inside it and ← to step back out

• Opt-in indexing for new volumes: a drive or share you connect stays unindexed until you switch it on yourself

  Turn on Don't index new volumes automatically in Settings, under Drives & Volumes. It's off by default, so volumes keep indexing on connection unless you change it.

  Switch volumes on one at a time; volumes you've already indexed keep refreshing on their own.

• Fine-tune index rules before applying them, both when you add an excluded path back and when you exclude files

  Click a folder name to match any folder in that spot, or click a file like clip.mp4 to match *.mp4 (any file of that type), then * for anything.

  Edit any rule as plain text, and switch individual rules on or off so only the ones you want apply.

  A live check confirms your edited rule still covers the path you picked, and the exclude dialog estimates how many indexed items it would affect.

Fixes

• License and purchase dialogs open as a sheet inside Settings, fixing a case where that window couldn't be clicked
• Searches with accented letters (like é or ñ) match file names that use those accents

Improvements

• in: searches list only what's inside the folder, not the folder itself
• A folder name typed with a trailing slash (photos/) turns up the folder itself, not only its contents
• The per-volume reindex interval slider snaps to clean values like 1 hour, 1 day, or 1 week, so it no longer settles on odd intervals like 6 days 23 hours

Features

• Send securely shares the selected files over an encrypted (peer-to-peer, auto-expiring) link

  Files transfer straight from your Mac, so a link only works while you're sharing it.

  Send the selected files without touching the mouse: ⌘U, then Return

  Transfers panel on the Send button shows each active link's download count, a live countdown to expiry, and lets you copy, reschedule, or stop it

  A notification tells you when someone finishes downloading a file you sent

• Redesigned action toolbar: actions are grouped into sections with the less-used ones moved into a ⋯ menu, so the row stays clean and glanceable

  Restyle the toolbar to taste: icon-and-text, text-only, or icon-only buttons, regular or compact spacing, optional dividers and background

  Decide where each action lives, in the Action bar, the ⋯ Action menu, or hidden

  Each app is keyed by the first letter of its name; when several apps share a letter, that key opens an app picker

  Hold ⌘ to reveal every action's shortcut right on its button, or ⌘⌥ and ⌘⌃ for the Open With and Scripts rows

• Custom shortcuts: rebind any toolbar action's keyboard shortcut in Settings, under Shortcuts

Improvements

• The results table, preview panel, and action row corners match the window's rounding

Features

• Group toggles turn whole sets of exclusion rules on or off without writing any gitignore syntax
• Exclude from Index in the right-click menu allows selecting a smarter ignore rule
  • Smart suggestions recognize common layouts so one rule can cover many files: clear out an app's Contents/MacOS subfolders while keeping the executables, skip every node_modules or build folder, skip the contents of a Photos or Final Cut library, drop a hidden config or secrets folder wherever it shows up
• Reindex excluded path appears in the results when a file you searched for is being hidden

  It names the ignore rule or blocklist entry hiding the file and offers to lift it or add an exception, with no ignore syntax to write by hand

• Per-scope ignore rules for Applications, System, and the rest of the disk, editable in Settings
• Respect each project's .gitignore, an opt-in toggle in Settings

  While indexing your Home folder, each project's own .gitignore and .ignore files are applied, so build output like node_modules, target, or dist drops out wherever it appears

Fixes

• Dropping files into Finder with ⌥⏎ copies them instead of leaving aliases behind
• Installing the command-line tool checks its symlink and no longer overwrites a symlinked shell config

Improvements

• Volumes settings moved into their own section
• App binaries are searchable by default

  Indexing an app bundle keeps the executable in Contents/MacOS and the embedded framework binaries, while skipping the rest of the bundle's clutter

• Cleaner results out of the box across photo, video, audio, and developer tools

  Default exclusions cover more cache and build junk: media caches (Adobe, Lightroom, Final Cut), dependency and build folders, simulator runtimes, device backups, and large machine-learning and virtual-machine files

• DEVONthink documents are searchable

  Files kept inside DEVONthink databases, stored in a folder normally hidden from search, now show up in results

• Reset to Default on every ignore list and the blocklist, plus a single Reset All to Default that restores Cling's built-in rules everywhere at once

Raycast extension

Cling's fuzzy search extension is now generally available in the Raycast store!

Features

• Script Editor in Settings → Scripts
  • Edit a script's code, name, and description in place, with create and delete built in
  • Configure how each script behaves (file types, file-count limits, confirmation, running once per file, output) with toggles instead of editing comment settings by hand
  • Each script has its own hotkey, pre-filled with an automatically assigned letter and changeable on the spot

• File preview panel alongside the results, on by default and toggled with ⌘⇧P
  • Play and scrub video and audio, scroll PDFs, and pinch to zoom images, all inline
  • Text and code files are syntax highlighted with line numbers
  • Folders show their contents; archives and disk images (.dmg, .iso, .zip, .rar, and more) list their entries without unpacking or mounting
  • Select several files and step through their previews with the ← → keys or the arrows in its header

• Search autocomplete suggests a completion from your history as you type
  • Tab accepts it in full, → takes it one word at a time
  • ⌘↓ opens the full list of matching past searches

Improvements

• The Filter Editor is now reachable from Settings → Filters (previously it was only accessible by Option-clicking the filter button)
• The Settings window is resizable
• The show/hide hotkey can be set to Space, Return, Tab, or an arrow key, so combos like ⌥Space work

Fixes

• Return, arrows, tab and Esc are no longer intercepted while a CJK input method (Pinyin, Japanese, Korean, etc.) is composing text, so the IME can commit or navigate candidates as expected (#25)
• The Search placeholder hides while a CJK input method is composing so the marked pinyin/kana text is visible

Improvements

• The right-click menu on results is now grouped by intent and implements some more useful actions:
  • Open, Show in Finder, Quick Look
  • Open in Terminal, Edit in [Editor], Open with Frontmost App
  • Rename, Duplicate, Compress (zip)
  • Copy files to the pasteboard, plus the existing Copy Paths, Copy Filenames and Export Results List submenus
  • Move to Trash
• The Hotkey trigger key picker no longer shows fn and caps lock since they are not supported by the register hotkey API

Features

• Press ⌥ Option - Enter to have Cling automatically drag and drop selected files into the last focused field or window

• New depth:N query operator caps results to entries at most N folders below the search root
  • Combine with a folder filter or in: token, e.g. depth:1 in:~ .png to find ~/Temp/cling.png but exclude ~/Temp/subfolder/x.png
  • Quick filters and Folder filters can now define a Max depth that's applied automatically when the filter is active
• Allow hiding specific action buttons from the interface in Settings

Improvements

• The Filter Editor now has a hierarchical sidebar lets you jump straight to an individual filter
• New filters added with the New Quick Filter and New Folder Filter buttons now appear at the top of their section
• Hidden Cling window in Instant Mode no longer shows up in Mission Control
• Improved fuzzy scoring algorithm for path segments

Features

• Instant mode keeps the main window alive in the background, so the hotkey brings it back without the usual launch and animation delay
  • Turn it off in Settings → Window if you prefer the old animated behavior
• Remove disconnected volumes from the cached index when you don't need them anymore
  • Can be found in the "Disconnected Volumes" section in Settings → Volumes and in the Filter Editor

Improvements

• The window now opens noticeably faster after the first launch
• The OTP autofill bubble no longer pops over the search bar by explicitly opting out of the autofill heuristic controller introduced in macOS 26

Fixes

• Typing in the Filter Editor no longer kicks focus out of the text field after every keystroke

Improvements

• Search results now automatically refresh after Apply & Reindex or volume reindexing finishes
• Ignored files in volume .fsignore files are now properly excluded from the recents engine, both during reindex and live indexing

Changes

• Time Machine backup volumes are no longer enabled for indexing by default

Fixes

• Apply & Reindex now ensures the ignore file is saved to disk before starting the reindex

Improvements

• Copy to... and Move to... now remember the last destination path per file extension
  • e.g. if you usually copy PDFs to ~/Documents/Invoices, that path will be pre-filled next time
• Open With panel now uses fuzzy matching for filtering apps

Fixes

• Copy to... and Move to... no longer create a directory when copying/moving a single file to a path without a trailing slash
• Recents list no longer gets wiped out when reindexing a volume
• Volume .fsignore patterns now work correctly
• Home scope no longer indexes files inside enabled volume mount points (e.g. ~/filen)
  • Volumes mounted under the home directory were being walked twice: once by the home scope and once by the volume indexer
• cling reindex --scope <name> now resolves volume names, not just scope names

Fixes

• cling reindex --wait actually waits for indexing to finish again
• Reindexing the Home scope no longer crashes when /Users/Shared is present
• Running cling reindex while another reindex is already in progress now gives a clear message instead of silently doing nothing

CLI improvements

• cling status --json outputs structured status for scripting, including per-scope and per-volume progress
• cling reindex --wait shows live per-scope progress so you can tell exactly which scope is being worked on
• cling reindex --scope <name> --wait can safely attach to an in-progress reindex of that scope instead of hanging

Features

• Onboarding window on first launch to choose window mode, style, hotkey, volumes, and grant Full Disk Access
• Volume and folder filter indexing status shown in the filter picker (Not indexed / Indexing...)
• Selecting an unindexed volume starts indexing automatically
• Parallel volume indexing with per-volume cancel support
• Reindex All / Cancel All buttons for scopes and volumes in Settings
• cling reindex --cancel to cancel indexing from the CLI
• cling status now shows per-scope and per-volume entry counts and indexing progress
• Super fast SMB indexing and metadata caching for network volumes
• Faster indexing for non-network volumes using FTS_NOSTAT

Changes

• Shelve shortcut changed from ⌘F to ⌘S to match the Raycast extension and avoid conflicts with the common Find shortcut
• Settings sections are now collapsible
• Settings reorganized: window settings grouped together, default apps in their own section
• Enabled volumes are now indexed automatically on launch
• Selecting a volume filter deselects folder filters and vice versa

Fixes

• CLI installation now preserves symlinked shell configs (.zshrc, .bashrc, config.fish) instead of replacing them with regular files
• Indexing progress stays visible in the status bar during filter changes
• Empty volume indexes are no longer saved to disk

Features

• Copy to folder (⌘⌥C)
• Move to folder (⌘M)
• Copy filenames (⌘⌥⇧C)
• Hold Option to see alternate actions in the toolbar

Fixes

• Ignoring a folder in the ignore file now properly removes all its contents from search results
• Ignoring a specific file now works correctly after reindexing

Improvements

• Library scope is now available in the free version
• Reindex button for each search scope in Settings
• CLI reindex command now accepts volume paths (e.g. cling reindex --scope /Volumes/MyDrive)
• Option to use ~/ or full home dir path when copying paths
• Folder search accepts trailing slashes

Cling 2.0: New Search Engine

The search engine has been completely rewritten from scratch. Cling no longer depends on any external tools, everything runs natively inside the app.

Improvements

• Update to fzf 0.64.0

Fixes

• Fix Full Disk Access not being detected correctly when SIP is disabled
• Relaunch the app periodically every 12 hours to avoid search not working because of PTY leaks (workaround until a proper fix is implemented)

Fixes

• Fix Execute script hotkey being shown as the wrong key

Features

• External Volumes support: index and search external volumes like USB drives, network shares, etc.

Fixes

• Fix search not ignoring Library files after disabling Library indexing
• Don’t launch Clop when checking if the integration is available

Improvements

• Add "Launch at login" option in Preferences
• Show indexing progress in the status bar
• Hide QuickLook on Esc key press
• Show Space as a shortcut for QuickLook when the results list is focused
• Restart fzf with a more limited scope when Folder/Volume filters are used to make search faster
• Sort by kind

Fixes

• Fix search not showing any results when typing
• Fix double query sending
• Make gitignore syntax help text fit window width

Improvements

• Show summon hotkey on the indexing screen
• Pause indexing on low battery (< 30%)
• Show when Full Disk Access is not granted

Features

• Add Copy paths and Copy filenames to the right click menu
• Add Faster search, with less optimal results option
• Add Keep window open when the app is in background option
• Add Exclude from index option to the right click menu
• Add Quit button
• Add default scripts to serve as examples:
  • Copy to temporary folder
  • Archive
  • List archive contents (this one exemplifies how to limit the extensions on which the script appears and how to show output)