Connect your Mac
The inseam app lives in your menu bar. It connects your Mac to your network and keeps the folders you choose searchable, even when the Mac is asleep.
Install
Section titled “Install”Download the app from app.inseam.io/downloads. Unzip it and move inseam to Applications. The app needs macOS 14 or newer and a Mac with Apple silicon.
The first time, macOS may say the app cannot be opened or is damaged, because the app is not yet notarized with Apple. Right-click inseam in Applications and choose Open, then Open again. You do this once. The downloads page has the other ways to allow it.
Connect this Mac
Section titled “Connect this Mac”- Click the inseam icon in the menu bar.
- Click Connect this Mac. The app shows a short code and opens a page in your browser.
- Sign in on that page, pick the network this Mac belongs to, and approve the device.
- The app shows Connected when it is done. You do this once.
The app makes a private key for this Mac and keeps it on the Mac. That key is the Mac’s identity in your network. No password is stored, and nothing is typed on the Mac.
Add a folder
Section titled “Add a folder”Click Add folder… and choose a folder. The app walks it once, then watches it for changes. Each folder is a
host in your network with its own address: inseam://{network}/{host}/{path}.
The row under each folder shows what is happening: how many files it has seen, how many are waiting to send, and when it is up to date.
What gets indexed is decided by the folder’s scope. By default: files changed in the last year are indexed with their text; older files get an address and metadata only; dependency folders, caches, build output, hidden files and logs are skipped; files over 25 MB get an address only. Change the scope from the web page or the API: see choose what is indexed.
Folders you add are private to you until you share them. Other members of your network do not see them in their results, and an agent sees them only if you include them when you grant it access.
Search
Section titled “Search”Type in the search field and press Return. Results come from the whole network, not only this Mac. Click a result that is on this Mac to show it in the Finder. Click any other result to copy its address.
When many files disappear
Section titled “When many files disappear”If a walk finds that a large part of a folder is gone (a drive was unplugged, a folder was moved), the app does not remove those items from your index on its own. It shows Confirm removing N items under the folder. Click it only if the files are really gone. Until then, the items stay searchable and their addresses keep working.
While the Mac is asleep or offline
Section titled “While the Mac is asleep or offline”The index lives in your network, so everything the Mac has sent stays searchable. Reading a file’s contents needs the Mac: a read while it is off answers that the device is offline, and works again when it wakes. Changes made while offline are sent when the Mac reconnects.
Stop indexing a folder
Section titled “Stop indexing a folder”Click the minus next to the folder. The host is removed from your network and its index is cleaned up later. Your files are not touched.
Forget this Mac
Section titled “Forget this Mac”The app keeps its key, its settings and a small database of what it has indexed in
~/Library/Application Support/inseam. Deleting that folder forgets the device. The network keeps the index, and
you can remove the device from your network page.