Vestigo is a search bar for files, folders and apps. It finds them as you type, and it also works where you usually need a file: inside Explorer windows and in Open and Save dialogs. The name is Latin for "I track down".

It's fast because it never crawls the disk. It reads the NTFS file table (the MFT) once and then follows the change journal, so a file you just saved is already in the results. On my drive with 1.1 million files and folders the first scan takes about 2.3 seconds, every later start loads a cache in under 0.1 s, and a search takes 3–5 ms.

Vestigo is written in Rust with GPUI, the UI framework of the Zed editor, and draws with DirectX. There is no Electron or WebView inside.

Install

Grab a file from the latest release:

• Vestigo-…-setup.exe is the installer for 64-bit and 32-bit Windows. It picks the right build on its own.
• Vestigo-…-portable.zip is the same thing without an installer.
• The files with arm64 in the name are for Windows on ARM.

You need Windows 10 or 11. The builds aren't signed, so SmartScreen may complain on the first run: click More info, then Run anyway.

Once it's running, press Ctrl twice or Alt+Space.

Updates: Vestigo checks GitHub at startup and once a day and tells you when a new version is out (a tray notification and Settings → About). Nothing is installed until you click Update: the installed copy runs the new installer silently, the portable one replaces its files in place; both restart on their own. Turn the check off in About.

What it can do

Typos are fine You don't have to type a name exactly. Initials work (vsc), so do a few letters in the right order (ntpd), and so does a query typed in the wrong keyboard layout. Misspellings like noetpad are forgiven for apps and for files in the current folder. Exact matches still come first.	Filters in the query Narrow the results without leaving the bar: pic: highlands\ for pictures in a folder, ext:md date:week for this week's Markdown files, size:>10mb for the big ones. Kinds like pic: can be edited, and you can add your own.
Folders from the keyboard Type a path like \pictures\ and you get what's in the folder instead of search results. Alt+L goes into the selected folder, Alt+H goes back.	Search inside documents full:cherry blossom looks inside PDF, Office, text and source files and shows the line it found. This index is off by default. Turn it on in Settings → Index → File contents.

Preview

Alt+P opens a card next to the bar with the picture or the first lines of a text file, plus the size and dates. It follows the selection as you move through the list.

Actions Ctrl+O lists everything you can do with the selected result, the regular Windows context menu included. Any action can get its own shortcut, and you can add your own programs to the list.

Vestigo window When the bar gets too small, it grows into a full window: kinds with live counts on the side, a date filter, sortable columns and a preview pane.

Themes

Light, Dark, Catppuccin Mocha, Dracula and Soft Sand come built in. Accent, background, font, corners, transparency, blur and shadows each have a single control, and Fine-tuning below them gets you to every palette color, window and element. A theme is a JSON file in %APPDATA%\Vestigo\themes; base.json shows everything one can contain.

A few more things

• Start typing in an Explorer window or on the desktop, and the bar opens with that folder's files on top.
• In Open and Save dialogs the bar sits right under the dialog. Enter takes the dialog to the folder you picked, Ctrl+G to the folder of the last Explorer window.
• Double-click an empty spot in a folder to get a menu with favorites, recent and open folders, and commands.
• The bar runs commands: cmd, psh, mkdir Name, touch name.txt, shutdown, and any you add yourself.
• It searches the web too: g weather, wiki, gh, youtube, and again any you add.
• Scripts can use the local HTTP API, which is off by default: GET http://127.0.0.1:38431/api/v1/search?q=report&limit=50.

Shortcuts

Key	Action
Double Ctrl, Alt+Space	open search; press again to expand it into the Vestigo window
↑ / ↓, Tab, Alt+J / Alt+K	select a result
Ctrl+1…9	choose result N
Enter	open
Ctrl+Enter	show in folder
Ctrl+Shift+Enter	run as administrator
Ctrl+O, →	actions
Ctrl+C / Ctrl+X	copy / cut the file
Ctrl+Shift+C	copy the path
Alt+L / Alt+H	step into a folder / back
Alt+M, letter / Alt+', letter	set a folder mark / jump to it
Alt+P	preview
Ctrl+click, Shift+click	select several results
Esc	close

Query syntax

Syntax	Meaning
tray main	every word in the name or in a parent folder's name
"q3 plan"	exact phrase
-draft	exclude a word
tray\ main	path: folder parts before \, name after
\src\, D:\work, ~\Desktop\	list a folder; add words to search inside it
ext:pdf;docx, *.pdf	extensions
doc:, pic:, audio:, video:, zip:, app:, folder:, file:	kinds
date:today, date:2026-05, date:>2026-01	modification date
size:>10mb, size:10mb..1gb	size
full:contract -draft	text inside files

Administrator rights

Vestigo shows a UAC prompt when it starts, because Windows only lets administrators read the MFT. If you decline, it still works: it walks the folders the ordinary way, which is slower and has no live updates. Files and programs you open from Vestigo run with your normal rights unless you pick Run as administrator.

Build

You need Windows 10 or 11, Rust and the Visual Studio C++ build tools.

cargo build --release

The result is target\release\vestigo.exe. Run it with --window to open the Vestigo window, --settings to open settings, or --quit to close the running copy. CONTRIBUTING.md has the rest.

Settings and logs live in %APPDATA%\Vestigo, the index and icon caches in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Vestigo.

License

MIT