Lantern

Search your Mac by what is inside.

Files, code, photos, recordings and apps, found by meaning in one panel. Everything runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

Try the demoInstall

Free and open source · macOS on Apple Silicon · English and Polish

when we talked about the match
Files
▶
vlog-october.mp4 · 1:48“…and then we talked about the match on Sunday…”
play ↩
txt
notes-sunday.md~/Documents · the match, tickets, who drives
Photos
img
IMG_2041.HEIC~/Pictures · stadium, evening

Ask the way you remember it

Lantern reads text, code, PDFs, photos and the sound of recordings, and matches what you mean as well as the exact words. These are real queries and what they find.

dog on the beachPhotoA photo, found by what is in it. No tags, no file name needed.
error 0x80070002ScreenshotThe screenshot that shows this error, read with the Mac's own text recognition.
when we talked about the matchRecording · 1:48The moment in a video where it is said. ↩ plays it from there.
def add_twoCode · line 200The definition itself, opened at its line in your editor.
electricity invoice octoberPDF · page 10The page of the PDF, scanned pages included.
24 hourSystem SettingsUse a 24-hour clock in the menu bar: the single setting, not just its pane.
dAppDiscord, because it is the one you use. One letter, ↩, done.

Private by design

Built to be used on company code and personal files alike.

On your Mac

The models download once and then run locally. The index is one file in Application Support, outside iCloud.

Read only

Lantern never changes, moves or deletes your files. Secrets such as .env files and keys are skipped.

Nothing sent

No telemetry, no accounts. The only connection, Spotify's library, is off until you switch it on.

Get started

Needs a Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 26.2 (Tahoe) or newer and 1.2 GB for the search model (about 3.8 GB with transcripts and photo search).

Install the app

Self-contained app with Python 3.12 and MLX inside — no Xcode, uv or Python setup needed.

brew install --cask misterekkk/tap/lantern

Or download the installer directly:

Download Lantern.dmgReleases
  1. Install via Homebrew above, or drag Lantern from the DMG to Applications.
  2. Allow the ad-hoc signed app once in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway (or run xattr -cr /Applications/Lantern.app; this also works after the Homebrew install).
  3. Click Download in the menu bar to fetch the search model.

Or build from source & CLI

git clone https://github.com/misterekkk/lantern.git
cd lantern
./install.sh

For the lantern command-line tool, man lantern and building with Xcode 26. Checks the Mac, installs what is missing, downloads the models and builds the app. Step by step

Questions

Does anything leave my Mac?

No. The models run on your Mac after a one-time download, Lantern sends no telemetry and only reads your files. The single exception is the Spotify library sync, which is off unless you switch it on with your own key.

Can it replace Spotlight?

Yes. It opens on ⌥Space or on ⌘Space instead of Spotlight, and finds apps, System Settings, quick answers, dictionary entries, shortcuts and your music next to your files.

Which languages does it understand?

Search is tested in English and Polish: a question in one finds documents in the other. The search model is multilingual, but other languages have not been tested yet. The app itself is in English and Polish and follows the language of macOS; on a Mac in another language it is in English.

What Mac do I need?

A Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 26.2 Tahoe or newer: the app is made for Liquid Glass, and the MLX libraries that run the models need 26.2. It is developed on an M4 with 16 GB of memory; the search model needs about half a gigabyte while it runs, and indexing pauses on battery and when the Mac is hot.

Can I use it on company code?

Yes, that is what it was built for: everything stays in one local file in Application Support, secrets such as .env and keys are skipped, and deleting a folder from the index really erases it.

Can I keep using Raycast or Alfred?

Yes. Raycast gets a “Search Lantern” command with Lantern's results, previews, thumbnails and filters, and Alfred a workflow. Lantern then runs in the background and hands its shortcut to the launcher. Settings → General → Search from.

Coming from Spotlight or Alfred?

Your habits come with you. From the first day Lantern ranks apps by how often and how recently you opened them, read from the usage macOS already records on your Mac, the same data Spotlight ranks by. If you used Alfred, Settings → Privacy imports the choices it learned, so a letter and ↩ open the same app as before. Both are read on your Mac and stay there.