Guides
Getting StartedWorking with FilesFile PreviewsDeployment TopologiesVersion ControlBranches & MergingRunner (Headless CI)Sharing & CollaborationRFIs & SubmittalsNotifications & InboxSearchTrash, History & RollbackMigrating Existing Data
Admin & IT
Organizations, Projects & MembersIdentityPermissionsSelf-Hosted Seed NodesSecuritySecurity Architecture (Whitepaper)End-to-End Encryption SetupBilling & PlansOperationsDeploying to Your TeamData Portability & Offboarding
Reference
Filesystem Compatibility & ConformanceEngine Config File (config.json)Network Requirements
CLI Reference
swarmfileswarmfile-doctorswarmfile-migrateswarmfile-searchswarmfile-seedswarmfile-brlock
Browse docs
Guides
Getting StartedWorking with FilesFile PreviewsDeployment TopologiesVersion ControlBranches & MergingRunner (Headless CI)Sharing & CollaborationRFIs & SubmittalsNotifications & InboxSearchTrash, History & RollbackMigrating Existing Data
Admin & IT
Organizations, Projects & MembersIdentityPermissionsSelf-Hosted Seed NodesSecuritySecurity Architecture (Whitepaper)End-to-End Encryption SetupBilling & PlansOperationsDeploying to Your TeamData Portability & Offboarding
Reference
Filesystem Compatibility & ConformanceEngine Config File (config.json)Network Requirements
CLI Reference
swarmfileswarmfile-doctorswarmfile-migrateswarmfile-searchswarmfile-seedswarmfile-brlock
Docs / Guides / Getting Started

Getting Started

Swarmfile mounts your team's project storage as a real local drive. It is not a sync folder - nothing downloads to your machine until you actually open a file. Browsing a folder with 10,000 files costs zero disk space. Opening a 200GB file streams only the bytes your app reads.

Installing the client#

Download the installer for your platform from Downloads.

  • macOS - a signed and notarized universal .dmg/.pkg that runs on Apple Silicon and Intel. The client uses FUSE-T, so there is no kernel extension: no Recovery-mode "Reduced Security" step, no rebooting to approve a kext, no security prompts beyond the normal Gatekeeper install.
  • Windows - a Setup bundle that chains the required dependencies (WinFsp, the VC++ Redistributable, and WebView2) automatically, so you don't need to install them separately. Both ARM64 and x64 builds are supported.
  • Linux - a .deb package.

Signing in#

Open the client and sign in with your email and password, or with your organization's SSO if your IT team has configured an identity provider. The login screen auto-detects which method applies to your account - you don't need to know in advance whether your org uses SSO.

Mounting a project#

Once signed in, the tray shows the projects you have access to. Pick one and it appears as a drive on your machine - a drive letter on Windows, a mount point on macOS and Linux. Check the tray's Status tab for the exact location; it's assigned at mount time and can vary between machines (for example, if a default drive letter is already taken, Swarmfile picks the next free one).

From here, the mount behaves like any other local filesystem. Open it in Finder, Explorer, or your file manager, or point a native app directly at a file inside it.

First open#

The first time you open a file, only the bytes your application actually reads are streamed down. Scrubbing 30 seconds into a 200GB video timeline streams roughly 30 seconds of footage, not the whole file. Browsing folders, previewing thumbnails, and listing directories don't trigger downloads at all - that metadata is served directly.

Where to go next#