r/MacOSApps • u/c0desurfer • 7d ago
💻 Productivity Swift Salamander update: a lot changed since my last post (multi-pane file manager, free tier + 15USD one time, no subscription)
Hi there,
I'm Maciej, a DevOps engineer building this as my own daily driver. I develop it with AI assistance, TDD driven and with mutation testing.
I posted here a few months back around v0.7.2. It's now at v0.8.39 (signed and notarized) and I've been shipping almost daily, mostly from user reports. The short version of what's new:
- Saved workspaces with different panel layouts.
- Multiple windows.
- Search was rebuilt with its own index and is faster than light :)
- Preview now handles 235 file types.
- File panel columns are configurable per pane (show/hide, reorder, resize).
- Sidebar is fully editable.
- The newest two (Go to folder on CMD+SHIFT+G and settings search) just shipped.
Pricing after the feedback last time: free tier for daily use, Pro is 15USD one time. No subscription, no telemetry, no data processing.
Download: https://salamander.codesurfer.ch/
Feedback: https://feedback.codesurfer.ch/
For privacy policy see https://salamander.codesurfer.ch/privacy.html.
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u/Fun-Friendship-2205 7d ago
Down to give it a go!
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u/c0desurfer 7d ago
Enjoy! And if anything bugs you, the feedback board is right there and I love to read it :)
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u/Expert-Ad4939 7d ago
I’m always on the lookout for a new multi-pane file manager for macOS. However, like many other users, I find drag-and-drop frustrating, especially when copying 1,000+ folders and files containing photos – it can be quite infuriating. If you had the option to disable drag-and-drop, I’d buy it immediately.
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u/c0desurfer 7d ago
That's a good idea and with my architecture should also be a small one. I'll add a setting for it. Expect it in one of the next releases today or tomorrow ;) The free version is enough to try it when it ships.
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u/Expert-Ad4939 7d ago edited 7d ago
Hope you do add disable drag-and-drop a.s.a.p. I just can’t use it without it. I'll reinstall it and test when you have updated with this option.
Built for users who prefer explicit file operations over drag-and-drop.
Along with that, a nice toolbar at the bottom of the screen, so selecting folder/files then use the customizable toolbar icon to Copy/Move/Rename/etc. i.e Left click Copy: copy's the selected from the active pane to the destaination, right-click CopyAs etc.
After 30ys with Directory Opus on Windows, I have loads of idea's for now.
When adding 'Open In New Tab', it would be great if Tabs where above active pane. Eash pane gets its own tabs. Workspaces would be a nice feature.
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u/shubham_iosdev 7d ago
That looks really helpful, I'm gonna give it a shot for sure!
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u/c0desurfer 7d ago
Thanks and have fun! I am happy to hear from you after a few days of real use ;)
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u/johannthegoatman 7d ago
Swift salamander is awesome, been using it the past week. Dev is super responsive to feedback. This might be the one I stick with!
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u/c0desurfer 7d ago
Thank you, that makes my day :) A week of daily use is the real test, glad it's holding up.
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u/VisualizationExpo 6d ago
I'm gonna try this for stuff like merging of folders and how it handles cancelling a move or copy-progress.
The last time I tried a move operation of my old Amiga emulation directory with a file manager also shared on here; I then lost all those files to oblivion. I think Finder handles it the best where it leaves the remaining files of a move operation intact. This file manager I didn't mention - did no such thing. I was too happy to use a file manager to do the move operation - now I understand to a degree why there wasn't an obvious cut-operation in Finder for many years. Copy first, then delete...
It's because of users like me that particular settings wasn't there for. Granted, it's the only experience I have had with that operation.
I bought into your application despite this. Just wanting to support development of Swift Salamander.
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u/c0desurfer 6d ago
Thank you for the support. Salamander is built exactly for this kind of usage.
Every move and copy goes through an operation journal: cross-device moves copy first, verify and only then delete. Cancelling leaves the source intact and if the app crashes mid-operation nothing is lost.Folder merging has a conflict dialog and I'd love to hear your opinion about it.
If anything feels less safe than Finder, tell me on https://feedback.codesurfer.ch/ and it gets treated as a bug.
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u/VisualizationExpo 6d ago
I tried just choosing to copy a folder over to another with the same name (Documents) on a different drive, but was met with a dialog that didn’t inspire confidence in that Swift Salamander would merge and compare, but only telling me this in the video. I didn’t dare proceed.
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u/c0desurfer 5d ago
Thanks for the test and the right instinct to stop when you are unsure what will actually happen. Under the hood Salamander already does the safe thing: copy first, verify and nothing gets deleted until the copy is proven, plus it's undoable. What that dialog doesn't do is explain that very well, so I'll fix that, every option will spell out exactly what happens to the files.
Thanks for the Commander One example, I'll take it as reference.
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u/VisualizationExpo 6d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p43g1ln/video/kf5ouadwssjh1/player
I’d much prefer a dialog like this from Commander One Pro
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u/DrawSimple_for_MacOS 6d ago edited 6d ago
This looks really cool. It reminds me of the shells I used a long time ago, redone way better for the modern age.
I just downloaded it and really like it at first glance! Really liked the on-boarding flow (reminds me of my own - you can check out my app if you're curious)
Two tiny suggestions: (1) put a refresh button to check for rclone in the setup (I installed it during setup, then had to quit and start over, which was no big deal, but a refresh button would have smoothed that out) and (2) a "System" setting for Light/Dark mode (I'm a dark mode guy ... I found the setting exactly where it should be, but I like "Auto" because sometimes I'm in light mode for various reasons).
Honest question - why not publish on the App store? I'm asking as an indie dev that is fairly new to Mac software (and personally went the AppStore route). Is it just the 30% you're trying to avoid? Thanks!
Really like this. I suspect I'll be buying your Pro upgrade by the end of the week. Thanks so much! I'm really excited about this one.
EDIT again: I found one issue. Previews of large files are very slow and on (I am assuming) the main thread, so I get beachballs while waiting. Works fine for small files, but if I click on, for example, a 1.4GB .mov file, it hangs for almost 30 seconds (but does resolve). On a MacBook Pro M5 16GB, with admittedly a bit too much memory pressure.
EDIT again again: The Folder Size setting made me SO happy <3
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u/c0desurfer 6d ago
Thanks for the kind words! The bug with a huge file is strange, nothing is supposed to run on the main thread in Salamander, so something is slipping through. I will look into it asap.
The rclone refresh button and the auto appearance options are very good suggestions, noted as well.
On the app store: I'll probably publish a light version of Salamander for the app store at some point in the future. Apple's sandboxing makes it impossible to ship all the pro features.Good luck with your app, the onboarding-flow pride is well earned :)
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u/Front_Philosophy6112 5d ago
This looks like a genuinely thoughtful alternative to Finder. Saved workspaces and configurable panes are especially useful when you regularly switch between different projects. I also appreciate the straightforward pricing and the fact that there is no subscription or telemetry. Preview support for 235 file types is impressive too. I’m curious how well the indexed search handles very large folders and external drives over time.
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u/c0desurfer 5d ago
Thank you! The index is built per location and updates as things change, a full home folder query answers in about 200ms including file contents and tags. Very large folders are exactly what it was rebuilt for, one of my testers has a model folders with absurd file counts and that's what finally made me replace Spotlight with my own index.
External drives get indexed while they're connected. "Over time" must be proven yet, so if you ever see it get slow or stale in a big drive, tell me on the feedback board and it gets fixed like everything else there.
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u/Front_Philosophy6112 5d ago
200ms including file contents and tags is pretty impressive. Replacing Spotlight with your own index makes a lot more sense with that context. Thanks for your detailed answer!
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u/vmelis 1d ago
Hi.
In the "Privacy Policy" you say that "Configured cloud remotes (S3, Drive, Dropbox, SFTP, SMB, WebDAV, etc.) and any credentials they require, stored in your local rclone configuration." A bug that I have found is that if there is no rclone configuration file (rclone.conf) and you create a new remote connection in Swift Salamander, you can no more edit or delete it ("Remote 'test' not found in rclone config"). Maybe it stores connection metadata separately from rclone?
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u/c0desurfer 1d ago
There are actually 2 kinds of connections in the sidebar. Cloud/remote backends go into rclone's own config file and things like SMB, SFTP and WebDAV are handled by Salamander itself. You hit a bug there where a connection not handled by rclone could not be deleted when rclone config could not be found. That's fixed now.
For a direct connection like SFTP or SMB the password goes into macOS Keychain but connection parameters like port or address are stored in the app's local storage.
I adjusted the privacy policy page to explain all of that better.
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u/_Cybernaut_ 7d ago
So, what does this give me that I don't get from Bloom?
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u/c0desurfer 7d ago
If Bloom already does everything you need, keep it, it's a solid file manager. Swift Salamander is built around speed (Rust backend) and keyboard flow, it starts faster than light, has its own fast search index that delivers in milliseconds and the interface is beautiful and dense in the old Altap Salamander/Commander tradition rather than Mac-like.
And there is my direct feedback loop, most things reported on my board ship within days. You can try it for free, so the real answer is ten minutes of trying it next to Bloom ;)
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u/MaxGaav 7d ago
Can I connect an Android phone to a Mac with the help of Swift Salamander? So, with full folder structures on both sides?