What is Orange used for?

Orange is a free, GPL-licensed, cross-platform desktop application for fast local file search, built in Rust with Tauri and the Tantivy search engine. It is a good fit for fast desktop file search across platforms and replacing slow built-in OS search.

Is Orange open source?

Yes. Orange is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at naaive/orange and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. Orange is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Orange?

Yes. Orange can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Orange an alternative to?

Orange is an open-source alternative to Everything and Listary. Other open-source alternatives to Everything include Klipper, Rowy and NocoBase.

Is Orange actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Orange was on 15 October 2023. The project has 1.8k stars on GitHub.

Orange: open-source alternative to Everything, Listary

About Orange

Orange is a desktop application dedicated to searching local files quickly. It is aimed at users who want a fast, lightweight alternative to operating-system file search, especially on machines where built-in search tools feel slow or resource-heavy.

It offers fast search response times with low memory and CPU usage, built-in tokenization and auto-completion for queries, real-time monitoring of file system changes so the index stays current, and a simple, elegant interface, all packaged in a lightweight installer. Internally it combines Tauri for the lightweight desktop shell, the notify library for watching file system changes, React for the UI, Tantivy as the full-text search engine, and a small key-value store for data persistence.

Orange is written in Rust, documented in both English and Chinese, and released under the GPL license. Prebuilt downloads are available from the project's GitHub releases page, and developers can build it themselves after setting up a Tauri development environment.

Key features

Fast local file search with low resource usage
Real-time file system change monitoring
Query tokenization and auto-completion
Lightweight Tauri-based desktop app
Tantivy full-text search engine

Good fit for

→Fast desktop file search across platforms
→Replacing slow built-in OS search

Built with: Rust
Tags: file-search; search-engine; rust; tauri; desktop-app; productivity; cross-platform

Orange: questions and answers

What is Orange used for?: Orange is a free, GPL-licensed, cross-platform desktop application for fast local file search, built in Rust with Tauri and the Tantivy search engine. It is a good fit for fast desktop file search across platforms and replacing slow built-in OS search.
Is Orange open source?: Yes. Orange is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at naaive/orange and is written mainly in Rust.
Is Orange free?: Yes. Orange is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Orange?: Yes. Orange can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Orange an alternative to?: Orange is an open-source alternative to Everything and Listary. Other open-source alternatives to Everything include Klipper, Rowy and NocoBase.
Is Orange actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Orange was on 15 October 2023. The project has 1.8k stars on GitHub.