The launcher

Find and preview files

Find any file by describing it, not just by name: a photo by what it shows, a PDF page by what it says, a video by the moment you remember.

FreeMacWindows

Choose an example to copy it, then try it in Jevie.

Use it How it works Limits Where it's kept

Use it

Find by what is in it

find the photo of the dog on the beachA picture from a description
find photos of me in Goa with the boatphotos of Harish from March 2025Your Photos library, by who is in them, where and when they were taken and what they show
find photos of me in goa in google photosGoogle Photos' own search, read in the background and listed in Jevie
the pdf about the lease's pet clausethe clause about pets in the leaseThe right PDF page
the video with a zebrawhere they talk about sleepThe matching moment in a video or recording
find where apiKey is used in this repowhich notes mention the dentistWords inside files
kind:pdf invoicekind:image in:downloadsmodified:todayinvoice ext:zipkind:video size:>1gbFilters typed with the words, as in Spotlight: kind: (pdf, image, video, audio, doc, sheet, slides, code, archive, or any extension), ext:, modified: (today, yesterday, week, month, year, 7d, or a date), in: (downloads, desktop, documents, repos, or a path such as ~/Repos/jevie) and size: (>10mb, <500kb). What they keep leads the list; a date or size alone looks through your own files, not code folders. On the name: invoice -zip (or !zip) leaves out names with zip, and "\"q3 budget\"" keeps those letters together
With an Open or Save panel up in the app you were in (Safari's Choose File, an editor's Save As), ↵ on a file or folder puts it into that panel: it opens there with the file selected, and the panel's own button is left for you
what I downloaded from github yesterdaythe pdf I got from gmailfrom:github kind:dmgFiles by the site they were downloaded from, newest first, read from Chrome's own record of downloads (files since moved or deleted are not listed)
repos jeviedownloads invoiceWords typed as a path, folders then the name: ~/Repos/jevie, an invoice in Downloads; the folder whose path is exactly the words comes first
As you type anything of four letters or more, files found by what is in them follow the files named by it. The same words always list the same files: what was found is kept for a few minutes, a search still running when the list is drawn is asked for once more, and the same file in two folders (or a download's (1) copy) is listed once.

Find by kind or newness

show me my latest pdfsThe newest of a kind from every folder, to preview and open
.png.img.mp4imagesvideospdfsscreenshotsTyped alone, the newest files of that kind come first as you type, newest first, each with its folder and how long ago it changed, the same list as kind:png; scrolling brings more of it; ↵ lists them. With a Finder window in front, only that folder and the folders inside it
screenshotssearch screenshotsYour screenshots, newest first
which folders are indexedindex ~/Notesstop indexing DownloadsThe folders file search covers, changed by saying so
show me the latest videos, then summarize this oneA video answered from what is said in it
what's my newest spreadsheetYour Mac's and Google Drive's side by side
open downloadsA folder listed in Jevie, walked and previewed with the keys

Walk a folder with the keys

Type a name: the folder narrows to the entries whose names hold every word, the first in hand; ↵ opens it. Words no name holds (zip these) leave it whole and are done to the folder on ↵
⌘L into the folder in hand, ⌘H up one; ⌘1 – ⌘4 icons, list, columns, gallery, as in Finder
Space marks a file and moves on; ⌘A marks them all; ⌘-click marks one, ⇧-click a run of them; Esc clears the marks
⌘R · Rename: rename … to starts in the field, for the file in hand or the marked ones; finish it in words (to vacation, to lowercase, replace IMG_ with trip-)
⌘D duplicate · ⌘⌫ (or ⇧D) to the Bin, asked first · ⌘X or ⌘⇧C, then ⌘V in another folder, to move or copy · ⌘Z undo
⌘↩ · A coding session in the folder in hand; ⇧⌘↩ to pick the agent first
⌘. · Every action of the row in hand, in a list that rises from the palette's bottom-right corner, its own set for each kind of row in sections, keys on the right, a filter at its foot. A file: Open with (its default app first, each with its icon), Quick Look ⌘Y, Show in Finder ⌥⌘R, Get Info ⌘I, Copy File, Copy Name ⇧⌘., Copy Path ⌥⌘C, Rename ⌘R, Duplicate ⌘D, Zip, Reset Ranking, Move to Trash ⌘⌫. A folder: Open in Terminal, Open with your editors, then the same. An app: Show in Finder, Show Package Contents ⌥⌘I (its Contents folder listed here in the palette, not in Finder), Copy Name, Copy Path; while it runs Quit ⌘Q, Force Quit ⌥⌘Q, Restart, Hide; Reset Ranking; Uninstall last. A tab: Copy URL, Copy Title, Copy as Markdown Link, Close Tab. A bookmark or a page from history: Open in Jevie's browser, Open in Chrome, Copy URL, Copy as Markdown Link, Reset Ranking, Delete Bookmark or Delete from History ⌘D (taken out of Chrome itself, as Surfingkeys' omnibar does; the row leaves the list). ⌘J ⌘K move, typing filters (and only filters: the field keeps what it had), ↵ or an action's keys run it, ⌘. or Esc closes
⌘. on a search hit that names its line (a grep or where do we call … row) · Open at Line N in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf or Zed, first in the list, for each of them this Mac has: the file opens at that line, not its top
With the list closed, the row in hand still takes ⌥⌘R (Show in Finder), ⌥⌘C (Copy Path, or a page's URL), ⇧⌘. (Copy Name), ⌘I (Get Info), ⌘Y (Quick Look) and ⌥⌘I (an app's package contents)
Reset Ranking (in ⌘.) forgets what Jevie learned from you picking that row, so it ranks as it did before
Tab, or Esc in a folder · Lf's keys, nothing held (the field says Vim keys): j k move, h l up and in (l on a file opens it; here ⌘L grows the preview, zoomed then the whole screen, and ⌘H takes it back a step, while h l keep the size), gg G the ends, H M L the top, middle and bottom in sight, ⌃D ⌃U ten rows, ⌃F ⌃B a page, [ ] the folders walked back and forward, gh home, ⌃R read the folder again, q close, f and a letter the next name starting with it (F back, ; , or n N again)
In those keys: s and a letter sorts · St newest first, so oldest, sn by name, ss biggest, sS smallest, sc by when made, se by kind
In those keys: space marks, v turns the marks round, u clears them; r rename, D to the Bin, d cut, y copy, p paste here (where you copied, a duplicate beside each, named as lf names one: name.~1~); y and d take the row in hand and move on as space does (y y y copies three), or everything marked first (v y copies the whole folder); c lets go of what they took
In those keys: m and a letter marks the folder, ' and the letter goes back to it ('' the folder before), " and the letter forgets it. They are lf's own marks file, so a mark made in lf is here too
The same keys work on a search's files (.png): the sorts, space to mark, d cut or y copy (then open a folder and p), r rename, D to the Bin
In those keys: / or i types a filter, Esc back to the keys; ? lists every key, and a letter that waits for another (g s m ') shows what can follow, where ⌘. opens its actions; Tab leaves, Esc in a folder closes the palette

Work with files

convert these pngs to jpgunzip the thing i just downloadedDone to the files in hand
set up search by meaningsearch files by meaningOn a Mac, the search model (865 MB) downloaded once and your usual folders read; nothing downloads before you say it or press Return on the offer a search makes. On Windows, its engine installed for you alone (no admin), its model fetched once, then your usual folders read
organize my downloadsorganize this folder by monthGrouped into subfolders, shown before anything moves
any duplicates in here? over a Finder window in list viewThe exact copies (same contents, not just a copy in the name) circled where the window shows them; moving them to the Trash waits for your yes, and Finder's Put Back brings them back
rename the files in this folder to vacationRenamed together: numbered, prefixed, dated or re-cased
can you fill out the pdf with my infoA PDF form filled from what Jevie knows about you
find my resumeOpened when one is far ahead, else the likeliest few to pick from; then how should I improve it · do it — advice, then a revised copy beside it
pdf toolsimage toolsRotate, merge and extract pages; resize and export images
undoput them backJevie's last change to files taken back

How it works

Files are found the way you remember them: by name, by kind and newness, by the words inside, or by a description of what they show. Every result previews in Jevie first, opened at the matching page, line or moment.

As you type, the palette ranks every kind together: a folder, a file, an app or a tab you chose for these letters before comes first, then anything named exactly what you typed (jevie is your jevie folder and the Jevie app before Jevie Terminal), then apps whose names start with it, then the rest by how often and how lately you use them. Google's rows never go above something you've opened before. An app's Quit, Restart and Uninstall are in its actions (⌘.), not separate rows.

Photos are found with the index Photos already keeps on your Mac: the people you named in People, the places, what each picture shows and when it was taken. Nothing is read from the pictures and nothing is downloaded; a photo kept in iCloud shows from the preview Photos stores on the Mac. Say me once you have named yourself in People.

Google Photos is searched by Google: Jevie loads its results in a background tab, signed in with your Chrome logins once you allow them (use my Chrome logins on the wall), keeps only the small previews and closes the tab.

What you just found is what it, this one and these mean next. Every change Jevie makes to files is recorded, so undo moves, renames and restores it back, and a revised document never replaces the original.

Limits

Search by meaning answers from what has been indexed so far; a missing result is not proof a file is absent.
Photos finds only words its own index has: a person you named, a place, a scene it recognises, a date. Other words (a colour, say) are named under the results as not indexed.
Google Photos needs your Chrome logins allowed once; it lists up to 24 results, previews only, and reads Google's page as it is drawn, so a redesign can stop it until Jevie is updated.
Undo covers what Jevie changed, not what you changed yourself in Finder.
Duplicates are circled in Finder's list view, read through Accessibility alone. In icon, column or gallery view they are found by sight instead, which needs Screen Recording (computer use). Only the files the folder itself shows are compared, not its subfolders'.
Search by what is in a file reads text, PDFs and pictures it can read; not every format.
On a Mac, file names and the words inside files are answered from one index of the folders searched, kept as files change: hidden folders are in it, but not the insides of node_modules, .git, build caches or an app bundle, and not the words of files in your settings and agents' folders. Copies are left out of searches inside files: another checkout of the same repository (a worktree), a coding agent's work folder, large JSON. Windows and Linux search as before.
Searching the words inside files from the index, a word without accents can miss the same word with them (cafe and café); a direct read finds both. A word of one or two letters, or one with a space in it, is slower to look up.
The index answers from what it last saw, so a search from it is never proof that a word is nowhere; ask for every match to have the folder read now.
On Windows, search by meaning is DigUp's own Windows build (a beta, 0.7.0-beta.3, pinned and checked), installed by set up search by meaning into %LOCALAPPDATA%DigUp, unsigned, so Windows may show it as unrecognised if you open DigUp itself. Until its model is in and your files are read, and without it, Windows Search's own index answers instead, by words, and the answer says so. Jevie reads only your usual folders into it (not OneDrive, whose online-only files would download, nor other drives); once DigUp's own app is set up, its folders and index are DigUp's. Memory by meaning stays the Mac's: DigUp's Windows helper searches, it hands out no vectors.
A revision rewrites the whole document, so only one short enough to read whole (a resume, a letter); its layout is not kept, only its words. On Windows and Linux the copy is HTML.

Where it's kept

The undo record in ~/.jevie; file indexes in Jevie's local state. Photos' own index is read where it is, in your Photos library.

In Jevie, help file answers from this page as you type.

Updated 9 November 2026 · Something wrong or missing? Tell us