Find Any File

Find Any File is a macOS file search app. Protocol Launcher allows you to generate Find Any File URL scheme links.

Usage

There are two ways to use this library:

• On-Demand import from subpaths enables tree-shaking and keeps bundles small.
• Full Import from the root package is convenient but includes all app modules.

Pick On-Demand for production builds; Full Import is fine for quick scripts or demos.

Select Installation Method

On-Demand

Recommended. Optimized for production.

Full Import

Convenient. Good for quick scripts.

Notes

Find Any File's official URL scheme documentation defines fafapp://find?... for query-parameter searches and fafapp://findjson/jsondata or fafapp://findjson/jsondata/wmode for JSON search rules. This module exposes only those documented forms.

For find(), findInLocation(), and findWithTemplate(), the payload uses FAF's documented parameter names: inp, loc, win, root, run, norun, and tpl. A string inp is serialized as inp; an array is serialized as inp1, inp2, and so on. A string loc is serialized as loc; an array is serialized as loc1, loc2, and so on.

Find

Open Find Any File and search with the first input field.

On-Demand

import { find } from 'protocol-launcher/find-any-file'

const url = find({
  inp: 'invoice',
})

Find

Find In Location

Search inside a specific Find Any File location such as ~, a POSIX path, a file URL, an HFS path, or one of FAF's documented special # locations.

On-Demand

import { findInLocation } from 'protocol-launcher/find-any-file'

const url = findInLocation({
  loc: '~',
  inp: 'invoice',
})

Find In Location

Find With Template

Use a saved Search Template name without the .faf extension.

On-Demand

import { findWithTemplate } from 'protocol-launcher/find-any-file'

const url = findWithTemplate({
  tpl: 'LastWeek',
  inp: 'invoice',
})

Find With Template

Find JSON

Use JSON search rules copied from a saved Find Any File search. When jsondata is an object, string values are percent-encoded and the JSON punctuation is kept in the same form as FAF's official example. When jsondata is a string, it is used unchanged. wmode appends the optional documented window-mode path segment.

On-Demand

import { findJson } from 'protocol-launcher/find-any-file'

const url = findJson({
  jsondata: {
    specs: [{ verb: 9, val: 'report 2021', subj: 0 }],
    title: 'Name contains report 2021',
    autoStart: true,
    sources: ['/'],
  },
})

Find JSON

Generated URLs

find({ inp: 'invoice' })
// => 'fafapp://find?inp=invoice'

findInLocation({
  loc: '~',
  inp: 'invoice',
})
// => 'fafapp://find?inp=invoice&loc=~'

findWithTemplate({
  tpl: 'LastWeek',
  inp: 'invoice',
})
// => 'fafapp://find?inp=invoice&tpl=LastWeek'

findJson({
  jsondata: {
    specs: [{ verb: 9, val: 'report 2021', subj: 0 }],
    title: 'Name contains report 2021',
    autoStart: true,
    sources: ['/'],
  },
})
// => 'fafapp://findjson/{"specs":[{"verb":9,"val":"report%202021","subj":0}],"title":"Name%20contains%20report%202021","autoStart":true,"sources":["%2F"]}'

Official Documentation

• Find Any File URL scheme