Everything Dhito can do

Install

Download Dhito from the download page, or install it with Homebrew:

brew tap dhito-app/tap
brew install --cask dhito

Dhito needs a Mac with Apple Silicon running macOS 13 or later.

First launch

1. Click Add Folders and choose the folders you want searchable.
2. Click Start Indexing.
3. Start searching — results fill in while indexing runs.

Two options on the first screen (both on by default)

• Start Dhito automatically on login — keeps it ready behind the shortcut.
• Include installed applications — lets Dhito work as an app launcher too.

You can change folders and both options anytime in ⚙️ Settings (top-right corner).

Change the shortcut

1. Open Settings → Summon Shortcut.
2. Click the button showing your current shortcut.
3. Press your new key combination. It must include ⌘, ⌥, ⌃ or ⇧.

• Press Esc while recording to cancel.
• Click Reset to go back to ⌥ Space.
• If another app already uses that combination, Dhito tells you and keeps your old one.

What you can search for

• Documents — by what's written inside them.
• Photos and screenshots — by what's in the picture, including any text in it.
• Videos and audio — by what's said or shown (see Timestamps).
• Apps — by name or by purpose. “messaging app” finds WhatsApp, Telegram and Messages.
• Notes — Apple Notes and Markdown/Obsidian notes, once you turn them on (see Your Notes).

Filter pills

Click a pill above the results to narrow them:

The 🧰 Tools tab on the right lights up when what you typed sounds like an action, such as “compress” or “heic to jpg” (see File Tools).

Lite vs Pro mode

The small LITE / PRO badge next to the filters switches modes:

• Pro — turns on the AI features: smarter search, chat, and AI rename.
• Lite — turns them off to save memory and battery. Normal search still works.

Moving around with the keyboard

You can also double-click a result to open it, or right-click for its menu. The side panel shows the file's path (with a copy button) and its match score.

One file

• Chat with File and Rename with AI (Pro mode)
• Open, Open With, Share…, Show in Folder
• Copy Name, Copy Path, Copy File
• Rename… to type a new name yourself
• Tools — conversions and edits that fit this file (see File Tools)

Several files

Select multiple results (⇧ + arrows or ⌘A) and right-click to Open With, Share, or copy all their paths, names or files at once. A bar also appears at the bottom with quick copy buttons and the file tools that apply to your whole selection.

Apps

Apps get a shorter menu: open, copy name or path, and show in Finder.

What's included

• Images — convert (e.g. HEIC → JPG), compress, resize, strip EXIF and GPS location data
• PDFs — merge, split, watermark, number pages, extract text, images → PDF
• Documents & data — Markdown or Word → PDF, CSV ↔ Excel ↔ JSON, render SVGs
• Files — zip, unzip, checksums
• AI tools (Pro mode) — Summarize, Compare

Four ways to open a tool

• Right-click a file → Tools. Only tools that fit that file are shown.
• Select several files — the bottom bar shows tools that work on all of them (like Merge PDFs or Zip).
• Open the 🧰 Tools tab (⌘T) and browse, or just type what you want — “merge pdf”, “make this smaller”, “remove location data”.
• Drag files onto Dhito, or press ⌘V with files copied. Dhito shows the tools that fit.

Running a tool

1. Pick the tool. Its settings (quality, size, watermark text…) are pre-filled with sensible defaults.
2. Adjust anything if you like, then press Enter or click Run ↵. Esc cancels.
3. The new file appears at the top of your results. Click Reveal to see it in Finder, or Undo (⌘Z) to move it to the Trash.

Good to know

• Chain tools — the new file is a normal result, so you can go HEIC → JPG → compress → zip without searching again.
• Bulk runs show one progress bar with a Cancel button. If a few files fail, Dhito tells you which and keeps the rest.
• More than 50 files? Dhito asks you to confirm first.
• Recent files — with nothing typed, the Tools tab lists files you recently ran a tool on, for one-click repeats.

Things you can type

Answers only appear when Dhito is sure, so a normal search like sales 2024 q3 won't be turned into a sum.

About currency rates

Exchange rates are the only thing Dhito downloads. It fetches one rate table a day — a plain request that carries nothing about you, your files or your searches. Offline, it uses the last table it has, and every answer shows the date of its rate.

Turn it on

Go to Settings → Personal data, or click the greyed-out 🗒️ Notes filter pill. Choose one or both sources:

• Notes folders — an Obsidian vault, Bear exports, or any folder of Markdown files. No special permission needed. Obsidian vaults are found automatically.
• Apple Notes — macOS requires Full Disk Access for this. If access is blocked, click Open System Settings, switch Dhito on, then quit and reopen Dhito.

Good to know

• Notes appear mixed in with your files, ranked by relevance. Use the 🗒️ Notes pill to see only notes.
• Dhito picks up changes automatically. Sync now in Settings forces an update.
• Turning a source off deletes those notes from the index, not just hides them.
• Chat, rename and tools work on Markdown notes (they're normal files) but not on Apple Notes.

Start a chat

• Right-click a result → Chat with File, or
• Click the 💬 button at the top of the window (⌘⇧C) and pick any file on your Mac, or
• Open the 🧰 Tools tab and click a recent file in the Chat with a file card.

Ask away

Type a question and press Enter. For videos, Dhito understands both what was said and what was on screen. Close the chat with the × in its header.

Free trial

The trial needs no account and no card. Near the end, a small card offers to take your email so Dhito can remind you before it ends and help you move your license to a new Mac later. That's the only thing it's used for.

Get Dhito

1. Click Get Dhito (on the first screen, or when your access has ended).
2. Enter your email.
3. Already bought it? Dhito emails you a 6-digit code and moves your license to this Mac. New? Choose Buy once (no renewals) or Subscribe monthly.
4. Pay in your browser. Dhito unlocks as soon as payment goes through.

Your index is kept the whole time, so everything is searchable again straight away.

From Settings

• On a trial? Buy Once or Subscribe Monthly from Settings — buying early doesn't cut your trial short.
• Bought on another Mac? Use Already bought Dhito? Bring it to this Mac.
• Subscribed? Manage Subscription ↗ handles payment methods, invoices, cancelling, or switching to a one-time purchase.

See current prices on the pricing page.