FuzzyIdeas/Cling v2.8.0

on GitHub

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