Local browsing
Browse folders, disks, mounted volumes and Trash with native file metadata and change watching.
Deep by design.
Consistent in use.
Purser’s features share one location model, one operations system and one command registry. Power does not arrive as a collection of unrelated utilities.
Locations and navigation
Every destination enters the same tab-and-pane model.
Independent panes
Split a window horizontally or vertically; every pane owns its tabs, history, selection and view.
Tabs that work
Pin, reorder, reopen and spring-load tabs. Drag files onto a tab or through it into a deeper folder.
Four view modes
Switch between list, icon grid, gallery and Miller columns without losing selection or scroll position.
Workspaces
Save, update and switch complete layouts. Sessions restore across windows and relaunches.
Jump Anywhere
Use ⌘P to fuzzy-jump to folders ranked by how recently and frequently you used them.
Address completion
Type a path and press Tab for folder-only completion, including deliberate dotfile handling.
Favorites and Shelf
Keep destinations in the sidebar or menu bar, and collect file references before one final move or copy.
Remote, cloud and archive
Remote places stay explicit about protocol, trust and connection state.
Connect to Server
Save and browse SMB, AFP, NFS, WebDAV(S), FTP(S) and SFTP connections, with focused presets.
SFTP
Stream directory listings over libssh2 with bounded timeouts, ssh_config support and known-host verification.
Server shares
Discover available shares, test before saving, reconcile mounted volumes and disconnect honestly.
Cloud drives
Surface iCloud Drive, macOS CloudStorage providers and every available Synology Drive sync task.
Archives
Open ZIP, TAR and TAR.GZ as read-only folder trees without extracting everything first.
Keychain secrets
Keep authentication material out of connection files and inside the user’s macOS Keychain.
Transfer and recover
Long work remains visible, interruptible and recoverable.
Operations queue
Copy and move in the background with live progress, pause, resume and cancellation—never a modal progress wall.
Conflict decisions
Replace, Keep Both or Skip after comparing both paths, modification times and file sizes.
Checksum verification
Optionally read each copy back and compare SHA-256 values before declaring success.
Batch rename
Stack replacement, regex, token and sequence rules with live preview, conflict detection and presets.
Trash
Browse deleted items, recover their original paths, empty Trash or explicitly choose secure deletion.
Cut and paste
Move selections through the system pasteboard while pending cuts remain visibly dimmed.
The Shelf
Collect file references from different folders, then copy or move them together into one destination.
Find and understand
Search names, content, structure and storage without leaving the workspace.
Three levels of search
Filter the visible folder, query Purser’s FTS5 index or scan content with ripgrep-style semantics.
Saved searches
Keep useful result sets as read-only locations that can be opened like any other place.
Quick Look and preview
Use Space for Quick Look and inspect Markdown, JSON, CSV and hexadecimal content with format-aware views.
Inspector
Read metadata, permissions, extended attributes, quarantine, signatures and hashes from one following panel.
Duplicate finder
Narrow candidates by size and sample hashes before reading full content; identify hard links correctly.
Disk space analyzer
Drill into a streaming treemap, compare apparent and allocated size and count hard links once.
Finder tags
Display and edit macOS tags, browse tag destinations and retain their native colour mapping.
Git status
Add bounded, cached Git state to file rows without letting repository work stall navigation.
Command and automate
Everything powerful remains visible and approval-aware.
Command palette
Find actions by name and rely on one command registry for palette, menus and shortcut documentation.
Keymaps
Choose Finder-compatible or Commander bindings and inspect the generated shortcut cheat sheet.
Rules and watch folders
Run ordered conditions and actions with dry-run previews, run logs and per-rule destructive opt-in.
AppleScript and Shortcuts
Open folders, reveal or select items, inspect windows and tabs, and run trusted custom actions.
Custom actions
Review the exact process and arguments before trusting imported or newly created automation.
MCP server
Keep assistant access off by default, limit it to granted folders and approve every mutating request.
Menu-bar favorites
Reach saved places through an optional global hotkey that reports conflicts rather than silently failing.
Continuity and release
The app follows macOS conventions all the way through installation and updates.
Session continuity
Restore saved windows, pane layouts, tabs and workspaces without a Purser account.
Device-local grants
Keep Full Disk Access, automation roots and security-scoped folder permission tied to the Mac that granted them.
Signed automatic updates
Check one HTTPS appcast, verify EdDSA signatures and install only after the user agrees.
Developer ID distribution
Ship an arm64 DMG with Hardened Runtime, Apple notarization and a stapled offline ticket.
No product analytics
No Purser account, telemetry, crash reporting or upload of file activity.
English and Dutch
Ship app strings in both languages with system-native localization resources.
See the model in motion.
Return to the product story for a visual walkthrough of locations, spring-loaded tabs and safe operations.
How Purser works