# cardisoft/cardinal

Fastest file searching tool for macOS

Repository: https://github.com/cardisoft/cardinal
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/cardisoft-cardinal
Language: Rust
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: everything, file-search, mac, macos, rust, tauri
Last push: 2026-07-23T20:38:40+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 89/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 94, release rhythm 76, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1717, "days_push": 41, "days_rel": 162, "gap_med": 1, "n_releases_24m": 24}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1681, forks 66 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:21.559340+00:00)

## What it is
Cardinal is a fast, accurate file search application for macOS built with Rust and Tauri, supporting an Everything-compatible search syntax with filters, globs, regex, and Finder tag matching. It offers a global hotkey, Quick Look previews, and multilingual UI.

## Use cases
- instantly find files by name on macOS
- search files larger than 100MB
- find PDFs containing specific text
- search files by Finder tags
- find .DS_Store files anywhere under home directory
- Everything-style file search on Mac
- Spotlight alternative for fast filename search

## When to choose
- you need instant filename search on macOS faster than Spotlight
- you want Everything-compatible search syntax on a Mac
- you need content, size, tag, and glob filters in one search box

## When to avoid
- you need file search on Windows or Linux
- you need full-text indexing of file contents rather than name-focused search
- you need a CLI-only search tool

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: search-engine, gui, file-system
- domain: developer-tools, files, operating-systems
- platform: rust
- tags: file-search, everything-syntax, tauri, spotlight-alternative, quick-look, finder-tags, macos, desktop

## Member repositories
- cardisoft/cardinal (main) score 89

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:21.559340+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:41:25.111256+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/cardisoft/cardinal (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:21.559340+00:00, sha 64dfcfc54e7b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.