You can also grab the latest packaged builds from GitHub Releases.
i18n support
Need a different language? Click the ⚙️ button in the status bar to switch instantly.
Search basics
Cardinal now speaks an Everything-compatible syntax layer on top of the classic substring/prefix tricks:
report draft – space acts as AND, so you only see files whose names contain both tokens.
*.pdf briefing – filter to PDF results whose names include “briefing”.
*.zip size:>100MB – search for ZIP files larger than 100MB.
in:/Users demo !.psd – restrict the search root to /Users, then search for files whose names contain demo but exclude .psd.
tag:ProjectA;ProjectB – match Finder tags (macOS); ; acts as OR.
*.md content:"Bearer " – filter to Markdown files containing the string Bearer .
"Application Support" – quote exact phrases.
brary/Applicat – use / as a path separator for sub-path searching, matching directories like Library/Application Support.
/report · draft/ · /report/ – wrap tokens with leading and/or trailing slashes to force prefix, suffix, or exact name matches when you need whole-word control beyond Everything syntax.
~/**/.DS_Store – globstar (**) dives through every subfolder under your home directory to find stray .DS_Store files anywhere in the tree.
For the supported operator catalog—including boolean grouping, folder scoping, extension filters, regex usage, and more examples—see doc/pub/search-syntax.md.
Keyboard shortcuts & previews
Cmd+Shift+Space – toggle the Cardinal window globally via the quick-launch hotkey.
Cmd+, – open Preferences.
Esc – hide the Cardinal window.
ArrowUp/ArrowDown – move the selection.
Shift+ArrowUp/Shift+ArrowDown – extend the selection.
Space – Quick Look the currently selected row without leaving Cardinal.
Cmd+O – open the highlighted result.
Cmd+R – reveal the highlighted result in Finder.
Cmd+C – copy the selected files to the clipboard.
Cmd+Shift+C – copy the selected paths to the clipboard.
Cmd+F – jump focus back to the search bar.
ArrowUp/ArrowDown (in search bar) – cycle search history.
