Search that keeps up with you
Every file in your home folder and Applications, indexed and searchable as you type. Once the index is built, results land in milliseconds, even across millions of files.
New
Document summaries by Apple Intelligence, right on your Mac
The file manager
The file manager
your Mac deserves.
Strata finds anything in milliseconds, shows exactly where your space went, and lets you fly through your files from the keyboard. Native, private, and free.
Millisecondsto search every file in your home folder, as you type
100% nativeAppKit and Swift. No Electron, no web views
Zero serversNo accounts, no tracking, no cloud. Your files stay yours
MIT licensedFree to use, and every line is open to read
Why Strata
Everything you know from Finder. Everything you wished it did.
Strata is a Finder alternative that keeps what you know: the look, the shortcuts, drag and drop, Quick Look and tabs. Then it adds the things Finder has been missing for years.
Sizes you can trust
Folders show their real size the moment you open them, and stay current as files change. No more “Calculating…”.
Keyboard first
Jump anywhere with ⌘K, type to filter any folder, and switch views with ⌘1 to ⌘4. The Finder shortcuts you know still work.
File operations without fear
Pause and resume big copies. See conflicts side by side, with a diff for text files, before anything is replaced. Undo past operations, even after you quit.
Search
Find anything, instantly.
Type a name, use precise filters, or just say what you mean. Strata understands plain English, shows you how it read your search, and answers before you finish typing.
Command palette
Jump anywhere with ⌘K
One shortcut opens a palette that knows your most-used folders, every file in the index, and all of Strata’s commands. Type acme-web/ to list a project’s contents without opening a single window.
- The folders you use most come first
- Type a path to list a folder’s contents
- Every command, searchable by name
Disk usage
See where your space went.
Switch any folder to Disk Usage and see it as a map, sized by what’s inside. Then use Large Files and Duplicates in the sidebar to find big and duplicate files and reclaim gigabytes in minutes.
Views
Four views. Two panes.
Icons, List, Columns and Disk Usage, one keystroke apart, just like Finder. Turn on Dual Pane for a classic dual-pane file manager: two folders side by side, with copy and move a keystroke away.
For developers
It knows your projects.
Every file shows its git status, and the current branch sits in the path bar. The inspector recognizes Node, Rust, Swift, .NET, Python, Go and more, lists a project’s scripts, and frees the space taken by build folders like node_modules in a click. They go to the Trash, so nothing is lost.
And more
Everything else you’d expect, done right.
Copy queue
Big copies run in the background with progress you can pause, resume or cancel. Turn on Verify copies to check every byte arrived.
History
Renames, moves, copies and deletions are recorded. Undo them later, even days later and after a restart.
Recents
Files you changed in the last 7 days, across your home folder, in one place.
Shelf
Collect files from anywhere, then drop them all at once wherever they need to go.
Your sidebar
Drag folders into Favorites, reorder them, eject disks. Windows and tabs come back where you left them.
Workspaces
Save a set of tabs and panes, and reopen them together with one click.
Ask Strata
Describe a bulk change, like “rename these photos by date taken”, and review the plan before anything happens.
Summaries
The gist of a PDF or document in the inspector, written by Apple Intelligence, or its key sentences without it.
Command line
strata . opens the current folder, and strata -s "invoice pdf" searches, right from your terminal.
Keyboard first
Hands on the keys.
Most actions have a shortcut, and the ones you know from Finder work the same way. Can’t remember one? Press ⌘/ and search them.
⌘KCommand palette
⌘LType a path
⌘1–4Switch views
SpaceQuick Look
a–zFilter this folder
⇧⌘FRecents
Privacy
Private by design.
Strata runs entirely on your Mac. There’s no account to create, nothing to sign in to, and nothing phoning home.
On your Mac, only
Search, summaries and AI features run locally. No accounts, no tracking, no cloud. Your files and your searches never leave the machine.
Encrypted at rest
Strata’s file index, content index and history are encrypted on disk, with a key kept in your keychain.
Safe with code you didn’t write
A folder can’t run its own code just because you looked at it. Strata switches off the git features a downloaded repository could use to do that.
Pricing
Free. Open source.
Made for the Mac.
Strata is MIT licensed. Download it, use it every day, read every line of it, and help shape what comes next.
$0every feature included
- Search, sizes, Disk Usage and Duplicates
- Four views, dual pane, workspaces and tabs
- Copy queue, History and undo
- Git, project inspector and rich previews
- On-device summaries and Ask Strata
- Signed and notarized by Apple
FAQ
Questions, answered.
What do I need to run Strata?
A Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 26 Tahoe. Apple Intelligence is optional: without it, summaries fall back to a document’s key sentences and Ask Strata to its built-in rules.
Is Strata a Finder replacement?
Strata is a Finder alternative that works alongside Finder, so you can try it without giving anything up. If you like it, turn on Open “Reveal in Finder” in Strata in Settings, and apps that show files in Finder open Strata instead.
Why does it ask for Full Disk Access?
So it can search and measure everything without macOS asking you folder by folder. It’s optional, and Strata walks you through it on first launch. Without it, Strata still works with the folders you open.
Is it safe to download?
Every release is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without warnings. The source is public, and each release lists SHA-256 checksums.
Does Strata collect any data?
No. There are no accounts, no analytics and no servers. The search index and history stay on your Mac, encrypted.
How do I update?
Download the latest version from this page or from GitHub Releases and replace the app in your Applications folder. Strata doesn’t check for updates on its own, because it doesn’t connect to anything.
