No. 15 of 59 ·Desktop Search Software

monkeSearch

Windows · Mac · Linux

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Freedom report

Two barsScore 5.5

Free tierNo free tier on record
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely3 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

monkeSearch is ranked #15 of 59 in desktop search software on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.

Compared on desktop search software

Supported platforms: macOS
Index locations: local
Content search: No

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The record

Product: monkeSearch is an open-source, offline-first desktop tool for searching local files with natural-language queries.
Search inputs: The maker describes queries as combining file type, temporal context, and other keywords.
Local processing: The maker says both approaches work fully offline and that nothing leaves the machine.
macOS approach: The main/dev approach uses a local LLM to turn queries into macOS Spotlight search arguments.
Vector database approach: The vectordb branch uses vector databases instead of a live LLM at query time and is described as cross-platform.
Platform architecture: The maker describes vectordb support for macOS, Windows, and Linux; the repository says the main branch is currently macOS-only.
macOS integration: The main/dev branch uses Spotlight’s existing index and the NSMetadataQuery API for file discovery.
Windows integration: The vectordb Windows architecture uses an os.walk filesystem crawl and ChromaDB for vector storage and retrieval.
Security: The maker describes the Spotlight-based approach as read-only and scoped through Spotlight’s access controls.
Agent use: The maker says the LLM-based implementation can serve as a natural-language file-discovery bridge for AI agents and orchestration systems.
Performance tradeoff: On macOS, the maker says disabling LEANN recompute makes searches faster at the cost of disk space; recompute is enabled by default.
Requirements: The main branch requires macOS, Python 3.8 or later, llama-server, and a GGUF model; the stated default model is about 700 MB.
Limitations: The repository lists Spotlight-indexed files only, metadata-only search, possible small-model misunderstandings, and simple temporal expressions as limitations.
License and support: The project is open source under the Apache-2.0 license, and its site asks users to support it by starring the repository.

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Desktop Search Software in 2026#15 of 59

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Sources

monkesearch.github.io· checked 5 Oct 2026
github.com/monkesearch/monkeSearch· checked 5 Oct 2026