REVIEW · LAUNCHER
Verdict: For finding files by name, the free plan is enough: Raycast's File Search is fast, keeps its index on your Mac and matches file names out of the box. Pro is worth paying for if you want Raycast AI, including asking for files in plain language, and the other Pro extras; it is not needed for plain file search.
15 October 2026 · By Ishtiaque Hossain · 5 minute read
Looking for a file you can describe but not name? Try Shlexball. The first 30 searches are free and need no account.
| Price | Free for personal use; Pro 10 USD a month or 96 USD a year; Plus and Max cost more |
| File search on Free | Included; matches file names by default |
| Search inside files | Optional Content Search, which relies on the Spotlight index |
| Ask in plain language | AI Extensions in Raycast AI, part of the paid plans |
| Where the index lives | On your device; never synced or uploaded to Raycast servers |
| Best for | Keyboard users who want one launcher for apps, files and everyday tools |
Raycast is a launcher for the Mac: one search box for your apps, commands and files, plus built-in extensions such as Clipboard History, Calendar and Window Management.
File search works from Root Search, the main Raycast box. Start typing a file or folder name and matches appear alongside your apps. Press Return to open one, or Command-K for the Action Panel with more actions.
For more detail, the Search Files command shows a wider list with a panel of file metadata (facts about the file, such as its dates). With the search field empty, it lists your recently used files.
From a result you can preview with Quick Look, copy the name, the path or the whole file, open it in the Finder, or delete it.
Raycast keeps its own file index, a list of your files it builds ahead of time so search is instant. By default it covers your home folder and the Applications folder.
It skips hidden files and common clutter such as node_modules, temporary files and system caches, and it respects ignore files like .gitignore. You can add folders, add ignore patterns, include hidden files, and index network or removable drives in Settings, File Search.
To search files on external drives, Raycast needs the standard Full Disk Access permission.
If you prefer, you can give Raycast access to a few folders instead of your whole home folder. Raycast warns you once that results will then be limited to those folders.
Raycast is free for personal use, and the free plan covers all built-in extensions and public community extensions. The Free and Team plans can also be used inside companies.
Pro costs 10 USD a month or 96 USD a year. Plus is 20 USD a month and Max is 50 USD a month, with more AI credits (the units Raycast uses to measure AI use): 500 a month on Pro, 3,000 on Plus and 7,500 on Max.
The paid plans add Raycast AI, Cloud Sync, unlimited clipboard history (Free keeps 3 months), custom themes and more. Raycast does not sell Pro without AI, but you can switch AI off completely in Settings.
Verified students get 50% off the Pro plan, and eligible new accounts can try Pro for free.
For plain file search, Raycast's manual is clear: your file index is stored locally on your device and is never synced or uploaded to Raycast servers.
AI is a separate decision. AI features are not available on the Free plan, and organizations on the Enterprise plan get an AI Control Center with an organization-wide toggle and an allow-list of AI providers. If you care where AI requests go, read Raycast's AI documentation before you turn it on.
Out of the box, Raycast's File Search matches on file names alone. That makes it quick and tidy for files you can name, and less helpful for a document you only remember by its subject.
Content Search widens it to the text inside files, but it uses the Mac's own Spotlight index. Raycast says it only works when that index is healthy and covers your File Search folders; if Spotlight is excluded from a folder, the toggle stays greyed out until you fix Spotlight's settings.
With Raycast AI, the AI Extensions let you ask in AI Chat or Quick AI with an @ mention, for example asking for the PDF you downloaded last week, without knowing the exact file name.
Shlexball is a Mac app that finds files from a plain-English description of what you remember. It searches file and folder names and the text inside files, including PDFs and Word documents, and it searches your folders directly, not only through the Spotlight index.
Its 1.5B-parameter language model runs on your Mac and files are never uploaded. There are 30 free searches with no account, then 9 USD a month or 59 USD a year.
Keep Raycast for launching. For the file you can only describe, Shlexball searches by meaning on your Mac: 30 free searches.
▶ DOWNLOAD SHLEXBALLmacOS 15 or later. Apple silicon. 16 GB memory. On a phone? Email yourself the link.
Yes, for personal use. The free plan includes the built-in extensions, File Search and public community extensions. Raycast AI and some extras need a paid plan.
Not for name search, which is free. Pro makes sense if you want Raycast AI, including AI Extensions that find files from a plain-language request, or extras such as Cloud Sync and unlimited clipboard history.
Yes, with Content Search turned on in Settings, File Search. It relies on the Spotlight index, so your File Search folders must not be excluded from Spotlight.
Raycast's manual says the file index is stored locally on your device and is never synced or uploaded to Raycast servers.
This review is based on Raycast's own pages, read on 14 October 2026. Every claim links to the page it came from. We are the makers of Shlexball, so we say plainly where Raycast does better.