Filesnake

The modern, native macOS archive manager.
Browse, preview, and extract — without the bloat.

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Why Filesnake?

Most archive tools on macOS either extract blindly (The Unarchiver) or cost money and feel outdated (BetterZip at $24.95). Filesnake gives you the best of both worlds — a free, beautifully native archive manager that lets you see what's inside before extracting.

Filesnake vs. the competition

Feature	Filesnake	BetterZip	The Unarchiver
Price	🟢 Free	🔴 $24.95	🟢 Free
Browse before extracting	✅	✅	❌
Quick Look preview	✅ Images, text, PDFs, audio, video	✅	❌
Selective extraction	✅ Pick individual files	✅	❌
Extract Here (in-place)	✅ Right-click → Extract Here	⚠️ Via presets	❌
Batch extract	✅ Check & extract multiple	✅	✅ All-or-nothing
Delete from archive	✅ ZIP	✅	❌
Native macOS UI	✅ SwiftUI + AppKit	⚠️ Dated AppKit	❌ Invisible
Single-instance app	✅ Reuses window	❌ Multiple windows	N/A
Folder navigation	✅ Breadcrumb + drill-in	✅	❌
Drag & drop	✅	✅	✅
Search / filter	✅ Real-time	✅	❌
Sort by column	✅ Name, size, compressed, date	✅	❌
Open With integration	✅ Finder "Open With"	✅	✅
Three-pane layout	✅ Sidebar + list + preview	✅	❌
Resizable panels	✅ Smooth dividers	✅	N/A
Open source	✅ MIT	❌ Proprietary	❌ Proprietary
Lightweight	✅ ~5 MB	❌ ~30 MB	✅ ~15 MB

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What’s new in 1.2.5

• A redesigned welcome experience with recent archives and clearer drag-and-drop guidance
• A focused toolbar that groups selection and extraction actions
• Refined archive chrome, breadcrumbs, dirty-state feedback, and keyboard shortcuts
• A completely new, simplified Filesnake logo and macOS app icon
• Safer archive extraction with path-traversal protection
• Reliable save-before-open, save-before-close, and save-before-quit behavior
• Robust RAR metadata parsing and large-output process handling

Features

• Browse before extracting — see every file inside an archive in a native table view with file icons, sizes, compressed sizes, and dates
• Quick Look preview — select any file and instantly preview it: images, PDFs, text, code, audio, video, and anything else Quick Look supports
• Selective extraction — right-click to extract individual files or check multiple files and extract them all at once into a single folder
• Extract Here — extract selected files directly next to the archive, no dialog needed
• Delete from ZIP — remove entries from ZIP archives in-place (rewrites the archive)
• Folder navigation — double-click folders to drill in, with a breadcrumb bar to jump back
• Full-text search — filter entries by name or path as you type
• Sort by any column — click column headers to sort by name, size, compressed size, or modified date
• Drag & drop — drop any supported archive onto the window to open it
• Single-instance — double-clicking a file while Filesnake is open reuses the existing window
• Finder-style selection — blue accent-color highlights with clean white separators
• Responsive preview — file info footer adapts to panel width
• Three-pane layout — sidebar, file list, and preview pane with smooth resizable dividers
• Native macOS — built with SwiftUI + AppKit, feels right at home on macOS 13+

Format Support

Format	Browse	Extract	Delete	Preview
.zip	✅	✅	✅	✅
.tar	✅	✅	—	✅
.tar.gz	✅	✅	—	✅
.gz	✅	✅	—	✅
.rar	✅	✅	—	✅

Note: RAR support requires unar — install with brew install unar.

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Install

Download (recommended)

1. Grab Filesnake.zip from the latest release
2. Unzip and move Filesnake.app to /Applications
3. Done — open any archive from Finder or drag it onto the app

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/Djozman/Filesnake.git
cd Filesnake
make install    # builds release + installs to /Applications

Or run in dev mode:

swift run Filesnake

Requires Xcode 15+ / macOS 13+.

Dependencies

• ZIPFoundation — pure-Swift ZIP read/write (MIT)
• SWCompression — pure-Swift TAR/GZIP/XZ/7z (MIT)
• unar — for RAR support (LGPL, installed separately via Homebrew)

Project Layout

Sources/Filesnake/
├── FilesnakeApp.swift          # @main, single-instance, AppDelegate
├── Archive/
│   ├── ArchiveFormat.swift     # format detection + UTI mapping
│   ├── ArchiveHandler.swift    # protocol + factory
│   ├── ZipHandler.swift        # ZIPFoundation-backed
│   ├── TarHandler.swift        # SWCompression TAR / TAR.GZ
│   ├── GzipHandler.swift       # single-file .gz
│   └── RarHandler.swift        # unar/lsar-backed
├── Models/
│   ├── ArchiveEntry.swift      # file entry model
│   └── ArchiveDocument.swift   # observable app state
├── Views/
│   ├── ContentView.swift       # three-pane split view
│   ├── SidebarView.swift       # archive info sidebar
│   ├── ArchiveListView.swift   # NSTableView file list
│   ├── ArchiveToolbar.swift    # toolbar actions
│   ├── PreviewPane.swift       # QLPreviewView wrapper
│   ├── SearchBarView.swift     # search field
│   └── EmptyStateView.swift    # drop target landing
└── Utils/
    └── Formatters.swift        # bytes, dates, file icons

Roadmap

• v1.2 — Password-protected ZIP support; content search (grep inside archive)
• v1.3 — 7z, bz2, xz format support; nested archive drill-in
• v1.4 — Create new archives (drag files → build ZIP); progress bars
• v2.0 — Sandbox, notarization, and Mac App Store release

License

MIT — see LICENSE.