Find what matters. Locally.
Your documents, code, photos, music and movies. One place to search.
You remember what was in the file. searchi helps you find it—even when you don't remember what it was called. Search a filename, a phrase, or describe what you're looking for in your own words. See the relevant passage or media preview alongside your results, then open the file. Your files stay on your device.  *One shortcut. One floating search bar. Results appear when you type.*  *“cancel the supplier partnership” finds the agreement and brings its termination passage into view.* Press **Ctrl + Shift + Space** on Windows to bring up a floating search bar. Type to reveal results and a preview; clear the query to return to the compact bar. Escape or closing the window hides it while search stays ready. Use the tray icon beside the clock to open searchi or quit it. ## Find it your way | What you remember | What to try | | --- | --- | | An application to open | `VS Code`, `vscode` or `Calculator` | | The file's name | `Supplier agreement.pdf` | | Words inside a document | `sixty days written notice` | | What a document is about | `cancel the supplier partnership` | | What a piece of code does | `retry failed requests with exponential backoff` | | An exact code symbol | `refreshAccessToken` | | A photo's subject | `mountains reflected in calm water` | | An artist or song title | `Nina Simone` or `Feeling Good`, if present in your music tags | | A scene or sound | Try `rain and thunder` or `a boat crossing a lake` in experimental media search | **Names, words and meaning work together.** Exact filenames help you get straight to a known file. Content search finds the words inside it. Google EmbeddingGemma 2 adds local semantic search for related meaning, images and sound. Use **All files** to narrow results by folder, file extension, modification date, file size or media duration. Choose a result to inspect it before opening. The current Windows app offers **Artist (exact)** and **Track title (exact)** filters for music. Enter the complete tag, with or without a text query. These filters ignore letter case and surrounding spaces; files without the matching music tag stay out of the results. Existing indexes need a media indexing pass before these filters can use their tags. They require Windows 0.1.5 or later. ### Search spoken passages Windows 0.1.6 adds experimental local speech recognition for audio and video. Describe a spoken topic, inspect the recognized passage, and jump to its estimated position. Google EmbeddingGemma 2 remains the search model; the additional speech models help turn spoken words into searchable passages. For example, try `someone talking about equal rights` in a recording that contains that topic. Use the current Windows installer below, or the Linux headless 0.1.6 archive. ### Find the implementation Choose **Code** in the **All files** filters to search source files. Look up a symbol you know, or describe the behavior you need. Local Google embeddings help connect your description to an implementation; the preview preserves code formatting and shows the source passage's starting line. Rust, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, C/C++, Go, Java, C#, Swift, SQL and many other source formats are supported, including named build files such as `Makefile` and `Dockerfile`. Add your project folder and let semantic indexing finish for meaning-based search. See [code search](docs/CODE-SEARCH.md) for details and agent integration. ## A little less searching. A little more finding. Matching words stand out in the results and document preview. PDF results retain their page number; text results show the relevant passage. If you'd like an explanation, expand the small **Why this result?** detail.  Light and dark themes follow your system preference. Keyboard navigation, short transitions and reduced-motion support keep the interface familiar and comfortable. In **Settings → Appearance**, choose a solid, glass or frosted-glass window background and adjust its opacity. Reading surfaces stay clear. Native glass currently requires **Windows 11 22H2 or later**. macOS, Linux, unsupported Windows versions and high-contrast mode currently use a solid background; your appearance preference is retained.  *“mountains reflected in calm water” searches the pictures themselves, so a useful filename isn't required.* The screenshots show the current compact and expanded interface, rendered against the real local search engine; native glass depends on the operating system. Images open in the preview. Audio and video have playback controls, and matching media segments can jump to their approximate location. Nothing autoplays when you select a result. ## Get searchi **Windows x64 version 0.1.8 is available.** - [Download the Windows installer](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.8/searchi_0.1.8_x64-setup.exe) — about 100 MB. - [Checksums](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.8/searchi_0.1.8_x64-setup.exe.sha256) · [Release notes](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/tag/v0.1.8). Already installed? Choose Quit from the tray before updating. Version 0.1.8 adds the floating launcher, installed-application search and automatic background file discovery. Explicit media requests no longer fall back to unrelated media channels. It retains local speech search, exact artist/title filters, isolated PDF/DOCX processing and bounded media previews. The installer creates a launcher and sets up WebView2 if needed. This initial release is unsigned. A Linux desktop preview is also available; macOS source build instructions are available now. You can also let your local AI agent handle setup. **Ubuntu 24.04 x64 desktop preview 0.1.8:** [Download the Debian package](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.8/searchi_0.1.8_amd64.deb) and install with `sudo apt install ./searchi_0.1.8_amd64.deb`. [Checksum](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.8/searchi_0.1.8_amd64.deb.sha256). Packaged startup was tested on WSLg using CPU; native graphical interaction and other distributions still need testing. [Compatibility and evidence](docs/LINUX-DESKTOP.md). **Running a Linux server?** The optional [Linux x64 headless preview 0.1.6](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.7/searchi-headless_0.1.6_linux-x86_64.tar.xz) includes the CLI, read-only MCP server, Google runtime, media helpers and experimental local speech search. Follow the archive's `START-HERE.txt` to download recognition models and index spoken passages. It was tested on Ubuntu 24.04 and requires GLIBC 2.39 and a compatible C++ runtime. [Checksum](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.7/searchi-headless_0.1.6_linux-x86_64.tar.xz.sha256) · [Headless setup](docs/LINUX-HEADLESS.md). No desktop dependencies are required. ### Install with your agent — copy and paste Paste this into an agent that can run commands on your computer: ```text Install searchi on this computer and get it ready for my first search. Official repository: https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi Detect my operating system and processor architecture. Use a suitable official release from the README or releases page: choose the newest compatible artifact for my platform, even if it is attached to an older release. Use the Windows installer, compatible Ubuntu desktop package or Linux headless archive. Check its documented system requirements and verify its published checksum. Otherwise, set up the current source version using the repository's installation/build instructions. Handle the required tools and dependencies for me; don't just give me a list of commands to run. Keep the installation in a dedicated folder and preserve any existing searchi settings and index. Use the public download URLs; no private Gitea token is needed. If Cloudflare returns HTTP 403 to a command-line downloader, use a browser download or retry the same official URL with User-Agent Mozilla/5.0, then verify the checksum. Install the desktop app by default. On headless Linux, install the command-line version instead, without desktop dependencies. Set up the genuine local Google EmbeddingGemma 2 runtime and model, and the media helpers available for my platform. Use supported hardware acceleration with CPU fallback. Explain any large downloads or platform limitations before proceeding with those steps. On desktop, launch searchi and verify that its window opens and its local search model is ready. Create a launcher or shortcut; on Windows, show me the tray icon and Ctrl + Shift + Space shortcut. On headless Linux, verify the CLI and its bundled workers instead, then provide a repeatable search command or MCP setup. On Windows, configure a per-user login launcher with --background so the global shortcut is ready after sign-in; keep the app accessible through its tray menu. If a prerequisite, platform component or permission prevents setup, explain precisely what is missing; don't report a working installation until it is verified. Ask for my help only when a password, system approval or other manual action is required. On desktop, let automatic local file discovery run in the background. Show me the floating search bar, an application search and the indexing setting. Keep search local and optional cloud summaries disabled. On headless Linux, ask which folder to prepare through the CLI. Finish with a filename search followed by a search in my own words. Do not claim every file is ready while indexing runs. ``` Your agent needs internet access and permission to install software locally. Windows x64 setup can use the published installer; Ubuntu 24.04 x64 can use the desktop preview, and compatible headless Linux systems can use the preview archive. Other platforms currently build from source. The local search model downloads approximately **865 MB** once. The current Windows speech feature automatically downloads about **149 MB** of additional local assets afterward. Cached assets are reused; filename and keyword search remain available while models prepare. Your agent should report any platform limitation it encounters. Prefer to set it up yourself? See the [build and launch instructions](docs/BUILDING.md). ### Your first search Once searchi is running: 1. Press **Ctrl + Shift + Space** on Windows. A compact search bar floats in the center of your screen; results and previews appear when you type. 2. Try `VS Code` to find and launch an installed application. App search is available independently of file indexing and the local model download. 3. searchi automatically discovers accessible local files in the background. System folders, caches, build outputs, common credential stores and its own data are excluded. Common personal folders are prepared first; a large collection takes longer. 4. Search a filename or words you remember as files become available. The local Google model prepares in the background for searches by meaning. First setup downloads approximately **865 MB**; the smaller text model becomes usable before the larger media assets finish downloading. 5. Select a result to inspect its passage or media preview, then press **Enter** to open it. Escape hides the launcher; the tray keeps it available. In **Settings**, you can turn automatic discovery off or add a specific folder, including a network folder. Existing indexed results remain searchable when automatic discovery is off; an already running scan may finish. Files are updated in the background, and **Reindex** checks a selected folder again. The desktop keeps the real Google query model warm for subsequent searches. searchi automatically chooses supported graphics acceleration when available and falls back to CPU when it cannot use it. You do not need a graphics development toolkit. Hardware and release validation are still in progress. ## Private by design Desktop file discovery runs automatically across accessible local storage. You can change it in Settings. File contents, previews and ordinary search processing stay local; searches are not sent to a cloud AI service. If you enable optional AI answers, an explicit **Summarize** or **Ask** action sends the previewed document excerpt to the endpoint you choose. Ordinary searches continue to run locally. The model download happens during setup. Once it's ready, semantic inference runs on your device. The local search index contains information from your files, so protect it as you would the files themselves. ## Documents and media | Files | Current support | | --- | --- | | Documents | PDF, DOCX, plain text, Markdown and source code | | Photos | JPEG, PNG, WebP and BMP | | Music and audio | MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4A, OGG, Opus, AAC and AIFF | | Movies and video | MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, WebM, M4V and MPEG | **Media search is experimental.** Image, audio and video search are implemented, but relevance still needs improvement. Music descriptions can produce broad matches; use exact artist/title filters when you know the tags. Video sampling can miss a brief scene. In speech search, recognized text can contain errors or miss words, and timestamps are estimates rather than verified word positions. When your files contain no suitable match, semantic search may still show the closest results; a returned result does not prove the requested content exists. Inspect the passage or preview before relying on it. Playback also depends on the formats your system supports; you can open a file in its usual player if the preview cannot play it. ## Fast should feel fast Each search shows a compact result count and timing summary. Want to look closer? Enable **Performance details** in settings for a breakdown of where the time went. Copied timing reports exclude your search text and file paths.