whereismyai
Shlexball
Shlexball is a Mac utility that performs file searches using plain-English descriptions of document contents and names.
Shlexball is a file search application for macOS that interprets plain-English descriptions to locate files. It operates by analyzing file names and the internal text of PDFs and Word documents. The tool utilizes an AI model that executes entirely on the user's computer, ensuring that no files are uploaded to external servers. It is designed for macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon machines with 16 GB of memory. The application performs read-only operations, meaning it does not modify or delete user data.
Shlexball at a glance
- Best for: Software engineer, Writer
- Runs on: macOS
- Pricing: 30 free searches; Unlimited $9/month or $59/year for two Macs
- Released: October 2026
- Category: AI search engine
- Website: shlexball.com
Key features
- Local AI model execution
- Full-text search within PDFs and Word documents
- Privacy-focused operation with no file uploads
- Support for natural language search queries
- Read-only design to prevent file modification
- Offline capability after initial setup
Use it for
- Locating specific documents by describing their contents
- Retrieving 2FA recovery codes or specific PDF contracts
- Searching file folders directly without relying on system indexes
- Finding files when the exact file name is unknown
Alternatives to Shlexball
- DigUp — It searches local files by content and meaning without sending data to the cloud.
- XERJ — It answers agent questions from an index instead of wasting tokens on context windows.
- Gsearch — Runs a real browser over MCP to fetch genuine Google results with zero API keys.
- Meilisearch — It returns answers in less than 50 milliseconds with out-of-the-box relevancy.
- Undersheet App — Inspect what search engines, bots, crawlers, and LLMs see on your website.
- Anygrep — Runs locally on the CPU using EmbeddingGemma 2 without sending data away.
- zvec-grep — Unifies ripgrep, BM25, and vector search behind one local-first interface.
- Hister — Protects privacy with a self-hosted search index for your pages and files.
- SCM — Runs 100% locally on Apple Silicon Mac with no cloud uploads.
- MemFree — It combines hybrid web search with AI summarization and page generation.
- Examples — Runs entirely in your browser for fast semantic image search.
- Jev Doc Search — It uses hierarchical tree search without vector databases or embeddings.
All Shlexball alternatives