Automation · Espresso Help

Pro · Automation is part of Espresso Pro. Set it up in Espresso › Settings › Automation.

Command line

Click Install… next to Command line; macOS asks for your password the first time. The tool is installed as /usr/local/bin/espresso. Then:

espresso 'ext:pdf invoice dm:thisyear'
espresso -n 20 -s size -r 'video: size:>1gb'       # the 20 largest videos over 1 GB
espresso -l 'offline: raw'                         # with size, date and disk
espresso --json 'camera:iphone gps:'               # JSON, with extended details
espresso ask 'PDF bills over 2 MB from last month' # Ask the Barista, in plain words
espresso saved                                     # your saved searches (Your Usual)
espresso disks                                     # every disk, connected or offline
espresso info ~/Documents/report.pdf

The query is exactly what you’d type in the app (search syntax). Put it in single quotes so the shell leaves |, !, < and > alone. espresso --help lists every option.

Your macros work here too.
espresso ask prints the search it ran (ext:pdf size:>2mb dm:lastmonth about:"bills"), so you can reuse it.
about: searches by meaning while Espresso is open and Ask the Barista is set up; otherwise it matches words in names.

While Espresso is open, results are live. When it’s closed, the tool reads the saved indexes and says how old they are.

AI assistants

Espresso includes an MCP server, so assistants can search your disks for you: “where’s the contract I signed in March?”, “what’s on the blue backup disk?”.

Claude Desktop: click Add to Claude Desktop, then restart Claude.
Claude Code: click Copy Command and paste it in Terminal.
Other apps (Cursor, VS Code, LM Studio…): click Copy Configuration and paste it into the app’s MCP settings.

Assistants can search and read details. They can never open, move or delete files. The names and paths they find are sent to the assistant’s provider, like anything else you share in a chat.

Raycast

Install the command-line tool first, then the Espresso extension from the Raycast Store (Get the Extension in Settings › Automation). It has four commands:

Command	What it does
Search Files	Espresso’s search syntax as you type. The menu next to the search bar picks a Blend; `⌘D` shows details (size, dates, dimensions, camera, codecs, tags…). Works as a fallback command.
Ask the Barista	A question in plain words; the section title shows the search it became.
Saved Searches	Your Usual, ready to run.
Disks	Connected and offline disks, with items, capacity and where offline disks are kept. Search This Disk searches only that one.

Actions: open, Show in Finder, Quick Look (⌘Y), Open With, copy the path, the name or the file, Show in Espresso (⌘⇧E), Open Search in Espresso (⌘⌥E), Sort Results (⌘⌥S). The extension’s preferences set the number of results, typo tolerance, hidden files and the tool’s path. Files on disconnected disks are listed too, with the disk to connect.

Alfred

Requires the Alfred Powerpack and the command-line tool. Download the workflow from Settings › Automation and double-click it.

Type	To
`esp` and a search	search with Espresso’s syntax: `esp ext:pdf invoice`
`esp` alone	see your saved searches; `⇥` or `↩` runs one
`esa` and a question	Ask the Barista: `esa photos of the beach from last summer`

↩ opens the file, ⌘↩ shows it in Finder, ⌥↩ copies the path, ⌃↩ shows it in Espresso; ⇧ is Quick Look and ⌘L Large Type. When there are more matches than Alfred lists, the last row opens them all in Espresso. Configure Workflow… in Alfred changes both keywords and the number of results.

Shortcuts

In the Shortcuts app, search for Espresso:

Search Files with Espresso returns the matching files on connected disks, ready for other actions. For example: move every ext:heic dm:lastmonth to a folder.
Search in Espresso opens a window with the search.