Strata is a native macOS file manager built in AppKit and Swift that indexes every file in your home folder and Applications for millisecond search, shows real folder sizes, and adds keyboard-first navigation, disk usage maps, and on-device document summaries.
What is Strata?
Strata is a free, MIT-licensed file manager for macOS 26 Tahoe on Apple silicon, distributed as a 7 MB download from GitHub. It takes your local filesystem as input and produces an indexed, searchable, keyboard-driven workspace: it indexes every file in your home folder and Applications, renders folder sizes as you open them, and generates document summaries via Apple Intelligence. It is developed by Cristi Pufu and ships as version 0.5.2.
What makes Strata stand out?
- Millisecond search — Every file in your home folder and Applications is indexed and searchable as you type, with results landing in milliseconds even across millions of files.
- Real folder sizes — Folders show their actual size the moment you open them and stay current as files change, replacing "Calculating…" placeholders.
- Command palette (⌘K) — One shortcut opens a palette listing your most-used folders, every indexed file, and all Strata commands; typing a path like
acme-web/ lists a project's contents without opening a window.
- Disk usage map — A visual map of where space went, with categories such as Videos, Design, Backups, Photos, and Audio ranked by size.
- Safe file operations — Pause and resume large copies, see conflicts side by side with a text diff before replacing, and undo past operations even after quitting.
- Git and previews — Git status badges on every file, the branch shown in the path bar, and previews for code, Markdown, JSON, CSV, SQLite, and archives.
- On-device summaries — PDF and document summaries written by Apple Intelligence in the inspector, or key sentences without it.
- Command line —
strata . opens the current folder and strata -s "invoice pdf" searches from the terminal.
Who should use Strata?
- Developers — Browse repositories with Git status badges, branch info in the path bar, syntax-highlighted code previews, and a project inspector showing changes, build artifacts to clean, and scripts to run.
- Mac users managing large drives — Find what is consuming disk space with the usage map and sort folders by real size instead of waiting on Finder calculations.
- Keyboard-driven power users — Jump anywhere with ⌘K, filter folders by typing, switch views with ⌘1–⌘5, and search shortcuts with ⌘/.
- Privacy-conscious users — Keep search, summaries, and AI features local, with the file index, content index, and history encrypted on disk using a keychain-held key.
What can you do with Strata?
- Clean up a full drive: Open the disk usage map, see Videos at 5.71 GB and Design at 3.33 GB, and delete or move the largest folders directly.
- Run bulk file operations: Queue large copies in the background with pause, resume, cancel, and optional byte-level verification, then undo mistakes later from History.
- Rename hundreds of files at once: Replace text or a regular expression, add numbering, or change case across hundreds of files with a live preview and one-step undo.
- Reopen a working setup: Save tabs and panes as Workspaces with their views, then reopen them together from the sidebar or ⌘K, reconnecting shares and servers.
How does Strata work?
Download the DMG from GitHub, install the app, and let it build its index of your home folder and Applications. After indexing, search results appear as you type, folder sizes render on open, and features like the command palette, disk usage map, and inspector are available immediately. AI summaries require Apple Intelligence; without it, Strata falls back to key sentences.
Pricing
Strata is free and MIT licensed. The download is 7 MB and requires macOS 26 Tahoe on Apple silicon.
FAQ
Is Strata free?
Yes. Strata is MIT l
