Free while we’re in preview

Get FindPilot

Find a file by name or by what's inside it, with no index to build first.

The Mac button is for Apple Silicon. On an older Intel Mac, get this one instead.

One file, both ways. Double-click it for the window. Run the same file from a command prompt with arguments and it behaves as the command-line tool, because the engine is inside it. Nothing else to download and nothing to keep beside it.

Early preview. The window has been built and run, but not yet on a real Windows PC or Mac, so expect rough edges. The engine underneath it is fully tested.

One file — no installer
Runs on your machine, offline
Source code published below

Free while in preview. It isn’t signed yet, so Windows or macOS will ask you to confirm the first time you open it. At launch, FindPilot is included in every plan along with the rest of the range.

No index, nothing to wait for

FindPilot walks the tree when you ask it to. Nothing to build in advance, no background service, no index file quietly going stale while you’re not looking. On a project directory that’s the right trade. On a million-file archive you’ll feel every one of them.

Two filters that stack

--name takes a glob like *.go. --content searches inside files line by line, plain substring by default or a regular expression with --regex. Set both and only the files matching the name get read for content, which is the quick way to ask which of your YAML files mentions a particular hostname.

Binary files are skipped without being asked. --max N stops after N hits so a broad pattern doesn’t flood the terminal.

A persistent index, OCR over scanned documents and semantic search are all planned and none of them exist yet. This build is a live scan. For something you index once and query repeatedly, see IndexDesk.

Reading on the job itself

How to search your files by what is inside them Two approaches, and the right one depends on how often you will search. Reading the disk each time is alway...

The rest of Search Intelligence

Finding a file or a phrase on your own machine, with no index to go stale, or with one that narrows as you type.

IndexDesk

Vertical Ready

Index a tree once, then ask which of the hits are .go files under 100 KB.

SearchForge

Pro Ready

Index your files once, then get results back with no disk scan at all.

LocalLens

Team Ready

Search every teammate's index at once and find out who else has the same file.

Advanced & technical details Command-line builds, source code, checksums and a recorded session — for developers and IT teams

A working CLI prototype of the core engine: live filename-glob and regex/content search across a directory tree, with automatic binary-file skipping. A persistent index, OCR index, and local-embeddings semantic search are still on the roadmap.

Naming status

Working name only — brand verdict **RENAME** (High). Collision: FindPilot / FindaPilot. Rename before launch.

What it draws on

Existing paid software whose best ideas shaped this program: dtSearch Desktop, FileLocator Pro, Listary Pro, Copernic Desktop Search.

Command line

There is nothing extra to install. The program you download is the command-line tool as well: give it arguments instead of double-clicking it and it runs as one, with its output on your terminal. The standalone builds below are the same engine on its own, for machines where you would rather not ship a window at all.

FindPilot — fast filename + content search

Usage:
  findpilot search <root> [--name GLOB] [--content PATTERN] [--regex] [--ignore-case] [--max N]

At least one of --name / --content is required.

Recorded from the shipped binary, not written by hand.

Windows (amd64) macOS (Apple Silicon) macOS (Intel) Linux (amd64)

Source

Every file the program is built from:

console.go · console_test.go · guided.go · main.go

SHA-256 checksums · build instructions & scope notes · full build plan

FindPilot

Preview