A native macOS file manager built with Swift and AppKit.
Scout replaces Finder for power users who want true cut-and-paste, tabbed browsing with session memory, and keyboard-first navigation.
- True cut/copy/move (Cmd+X/C/V) with undo support
- Tabbed browsing with per-tab selection and scroll memory
- Inline preview pane for images, text, audio, video, PDFs, and archives
- Persistent per-folder view settings (list, icon grid, column browser)
- Command palette (Cmd+Shift+P)
- Named workspaces -- save and restore window layouts
- Session restore -- tabs, selections, and scroll positions on relaunch
- Scoped search with searchfs(2) for instant filename matching
- Batch rename
- Get Info panel with permissions editor
- Connect to Server for network volumes
- Global hotkey (Opt+Space) to summon Scout from anywhere
brew install --cask jackspirou/tap/scout
To update to the latest version:
brew update && brew upgrade --cask jackspirou/tap/scout
To reinstall (useful if the app isn't launching correctly):
brew reinstall --cask jackspirou/tap/scout
Grab the latest .dmg or .app.zip from
GitHub Releases.
git clone https://github.com/jackspirou/scout.git
cd scout
make app
make install
- macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
- Apple Silicon or Intel
For building from source:
- Xcode Command Line Tools (
xcode-select --install) - XcodeGen (
brew install xcodegen) -- required formake app
make build # Debug build (SPM)
make run # Build and launch Scout
make test # Run the test suite
make lint # Run swiftformat --lint + build
make release # Optimised release build (SPM)
make app # Build .app bundle via xcodebuild
make dmg # Create distributable .dmg
make install # Copy .app to /Applications
make clean # Remove all build artifacts
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle preview pane | Cmd+Shift+Space |
| Cut | Cmd+X |
| Copy | Cmd+C |
| Paste / Move | Cmd+V |
| Command palette | Cmd+Shift+P |
| Search | Cmd+F |
| New tab | Cmd+T |
| Close tab | Cmd+W |
| Next tab | Ctrl+Tab |
| Previous tab | Ctrl+Shift+Tab |
| Go to parent directory | Cmd+Up |
| Open selected item | Enter |
| Quick Look preview | Space |
| Toggle hidden files | Cmd+Shift+. |
| Rename | F2 |
| Delete | Cmd+Backspace |
| New folder | Cmd+Shift+N |
| Path bar editing | Cmd+L |
| Save workspace | Ctrl+Cmd+S |
| Summon Scout | Opt+Space |
Scout is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.
Contributions welcome! Please open an issue to discuss before submitting a PR.