Adam Cottrell

Fast local file search. Open source. Private by default. Powered by ripgrep.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

Rebuilding old software is humbling.

Half the time I'm impressed by my younger self.

The other half I'm wondering what he was thinking.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

One thing 15 years taught me:

Users don't care how clever your architecture is.

They care whether they can find what they're looking for.

Fast.

Everything else is secondary.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

A useful engineering rule:

If adding a feature makes the core product worse, it's probably the wrong place for that feature.

That's how we ended up with plugins.

The search engine stays lean.

Additional capabilities stay separate.

Everybody wins.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

Most people think file search is solved.

Until they need to find:

- One line in 100,000 files
- A forgotten project
- An old invoice
- A configuration setting

Search is one of those problems that feels trivial...

Right up until it matters.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

Open source is about trust.

Your files stay on your machine.

No accounts.
No telemetry.
No subscriptions.
Just software.

[cookedbakedworked @cbw_aida]

your codebase search is embarrassingly slow 💀

ripgrep (rg) finds any pattern across every file in ~0.3s
faster than grep. smarter than your IDE.

7 steps to set it up 👇

[It's FOSS @Itsfoss]

The “Grep” command is an important command. Learn why:

https://t.co/cr0blLuIwV

#linux

[It's FOSS @Itsfoss]

Are you familiar with the “Grep” command?

https://t.co/cr0blLuIwV

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@nixcraft Searchmonkey ❤️ ripgrep

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@joseluisbz Maybe you need the new version of Searchmonkey??

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

I still don't know what thunar is?!

But brand new version of Searchmonkey is out!

[Ask Ubuntu Memes @askubuntumemes]

Add Searchmonkey to Thunar custom actions https://t.co/vdq8FfD5PU

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

Well.. it's back!

[ali imam @aliimam]

@yaypie Slightly reminiscent of searchMonkey

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@askubuntumemes Now there is a brand new version out.

https://t.co/ltr9PASjHV

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@31r1kur Just saw there is a new Searchmonkey and it's powered by ripgrep.

https://t.co/ayrgfKo8hK

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@FREEZE64UK @Lemuraym Oh wow - remember staying up late as a kid playing those isometric games! Lol

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@Nikokow Hi so... I'm working on quite a few projects.

Searchmonkey is just one of them. See https://t.co/ELqcuvX9HB for the full list.

Founder, builder, CTO - the usual! Feel free to dm me.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@Nikokow @mobileossfinds Hey, would you be able to help get my Searchmonkey some traction?

We've been around for 15+ years but I am terrible about marketing our open source software on X. 😢

Dm me to chat - I'm a founder of a few projects.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

The older I get, the more I appreciate boring technology.

SearchMonkey III is built on ripgrep.

Reliable beats clever almost every time.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

A surprising amount of software engineering is learning what NOT to build.

You don't need:

• A database
• An indexer
• A background service
• A cloud account

to search your own files.

Sometimes the simplest solution is also the fastest.

[Adam Cottrell @Searchmonkey_]

@DiamondEyesFox Stack makes this easy on Linux.