For people who type faster than Spotlight indexes.
CmdSpace is the local-only macOS Spotlight alternative that opens what you actually typed. Sub-25ms search, no mdworker storms, no web results — and it kills stuck ports.
macOS Sequoia and Tahoe didn't fix any of them. CmdSpace replaces the launcher people actually use — so you stop debugging the search bar.
After every macOS upgrade, Spotlight rebuilds its index for hours — sometimes overnight, sometimes for days — while mds_stores pegs the CPU and System Data balloons.
→ CmdSpace CmdSpace's index runs in a sandboxed Rust process. 100MB cap, sub-second incremental rebuilds.
Files that obviously exist return “No Results”. Content search inside PDFs and code files silently stops working until you wipe `.Spotlight-V100` and reindex.
→ CmdSpace CmdSpace indexes file names AND content (PDF, Markdown, source) with deterministic ranking — what you typed wins.
Type three letters and Spotlight serves up Bing results, Mail messages, and App Store apps before the local file you actually wanted.
→ CmdSpace CmdSpace is local-only. No web results, no Siri Suggestions, no telemetry — ever.
No clipboard history. No snippet expansion. No way to kill the process on port 3000. No window management. Power users end up installing five separate apps to fill the gaps.
→ CmdSpace CmdSpace ships clipboard history, custom commands, `port:3000` to free stuck ports, and inline translation — all keyboard-driven.
Ventura → Sonoma → Sequoia → Tahoe. Every cycle brings fresh regressions: blank search bar, Cmd+Space stolen by input sources, content search quietly disabled.
→ CmdSpace CmdSpace's schema is versioned. We test against Sequoia and Tahoe betas; Sparkle ships fixes in days, not OS releases.
Run `npm install` or `git checkout` on a large repo and Spotlight crawls 80k new files. mdworker spikes, fans spin, Xcode stalls — and you didn't ask for any of it.
→ CmdSpace CmdSpace ignores `.gitignore`-style patterns by default. node_modules, DerivedData, and build/ are silent unless you opt in.
CmdSpace runs locally — no cloud sync, no signup, no telemetry. Just speed.
Spotlight forgets where your file is. CmdSpace fuzzy-matches across every indexed folder in sub-25ms.
Spotlight's calc closes the moment you click away. CmdSpace keeps the result, ready to copy.
Spotlight can't run a shell command. CmdSpace runs zsh, AppleScript, and Shortcuts from the same bar.
No more switching to a browser tab. Highlight, ⌘ Space, translate inline in any app.
macOS still ships zero clipboard memory in 2025. CmdSpace keeps the last 200 entries, local-only.
Spotlight: not possible. CmdSpace: type `port:3000` and the stuck process is gone.
CmdSpace indexes locally with a sandboxed Core Data store. No accounts, no cloud sync, no opt-out telemetry.
Summon with ⌘ Space (configurable). Navigate with arrows. Confirm with Return. Close with Escape. That's it.
Same hotkey. Different decade of engineering.
No subscription. 60-day trial — only charged once if you stay.
CmdSpace's index is fully separate from Spotlight's `mds`. You can disable Spotlight indexing entirely (`sudo mdutil -a -i off`) and rely on CmdSpace — the migration guide walks you through it without breaking Mail, Finder, or Siri.
Usually a corrupted `.Spotlight-V100` folder or a forgotten Privacy exclusion. CmdSpace rebuilds its own index in seconds and shows you exactly which folders are covered.
CmdSpace's index schema is versioned and we test against Sequoia and Tahoe betas. If Apple ships a regression, our Sparkle update fixes it in days — not on Apple's release cadence.
No — it's a system service. But you can disable indexing per volume and remove its hotkey, then bind ⌘ Space to CmdSpace. Step-by-step guide in our migrate-from-Spotlight blog post.
No. Pay $29 once. The 60-day trial is free — we only charge if you keep using CmdSpace after.
Yes. CmdSpace is local-only by design. No internet required after install.
60-day no-questions refund. Just email us.
macOS 13 Ventura and later, on Apple Silicon and Intel.
No card required. One-time $29 if you stay. Cancel anytime — it's yours forever.
macOS 13+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · 12 MB download