Free
Added on Nov 06,2026
Codiclens is a free, open-source keyboard launcher for the Mac that uses local AI to find apps, files and things you copied by what is inside them, not just by their names.
It opens with Command and Space like Spotlight. You type to find something, press Tab to pick an action and press Return to run it, so your hands stay on the keyboard.
Key features include search by meaning, so you can describe a file you have forgotten the name of, and it can even find a video and open it at the moment a phrase is spoken. Search by meaning is an optional download of 310 MB for text or 865 MB to also cover pictures, voice memos and videos.
It also keeps a clipboard history so you can find and paste something you copied earlier or turn a link into a QR code, and it offers emoji search by name, with a shortcut that goes straight to emoji.
File actions let you read the text in a screenshot, rotate a photo, and move, share or compress files without opening Finder.
It integrates with Codictate, the same maker's dictation app, to turn a voice memo or video into text using the speech model chosen there.
Search, file actions and search by meaning all run on your Mac, your files never leave it and the app collects no data. It requires Apple Silicon and macOS 26.4 or later.
Pricing: free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence, with the code on GitHub. It is suited to Mac users and developers who want a private, keyboard-first launcher and file finder.
By the PowerfulAI.tools Editorial Team · Updated 6 November 2026 · Researched with AI assistance and checked against the official Codiclens website · How we review tools
Codiclens is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
Pricing checked against the official Codiclens website in November 2026. Prices can change, so confirm before you buy.
Mac users who want a Spotlight-style launcher that finds files by what is inside them rather than by filename.
Yes. Codiclens is free under the Apache-2.0 licence, and you can read the code, report bugs or build it yourself from GitHub.
No. Search, file actions and meaning search run on your Mac, and the developer says the app collects nothing.
Popular alternatives to Codiclens include Voilà, Hiding AI and Flowith. Compare their pricing and what each is best for below.
| Tool | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Voilà | Freemium | Professionals who read and write a lot online and want an AI assistant for email, summaries and rewrites inside the brow... |
| Hiding AI | Free Trial | Job seekers and remote workers who want discreet AI notes, transcripts and answers on their desktop during video calls. |
| Flowith | Freemium | Creators and knowledge workers who prefer a visual canvas over a linear chat for working with several AI models. |
| NotebookLM | Freemium | Researchers, students and analysts who want to question and summarise a set of their own sources. |
| SaveDay | Freemium | Researchers, students and heavy readers who save lots of articles and videos and want to find them later by describing w... |
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