Life as a developer doesn't need to be so hard
If you've developed for any amount of time you know how quickly barnacles (projects) attach to you. This app is there to help.
Barnacles is both a desktop application and command-line tool that helps developers manage all their coding projects and local development settings like terminal aliases and host file entries.
Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
If you're juggling multiple projects across different directories, Barnacles keeps everything organized:
- Find any project instantly with fuzzy search across all your development directories
- See what's happening with automatic Git status tracking and project analytics
- Launch faster with quick access to terminals, IDEs, and favorite projects
- Stay organized with automatic technology detection and filtering
- Work from anywhere with both a GUI app and command-line interface
- Let your LLM drive with an MCP server so Claude, Cursor, and other AI clients can find, start, stop, and debug any project on your machine
Scan your file system once and Barnacles catalogs all your projects. It recognizes:
- JavaScript/TypeScript (package.json)
- Python (requirements.txt, pyproject.toml)
- Rust (Cargo.toml)
- Go (go.mod)
- Java (pom.xml)
- And any Git repository
See at a glance:
- Lines of code and file statistics
- Language breakdown and technologies used
- Git branch, commits, and repository status
- Last modified date and activity
Launch what you need instantly:
- Open in your preferred IDE (VS Code, Cursor, WebStorm, etc.)
- Start integrated terminal in project directory
- Start and stop project processes with saved configurations
- Mark favorites for quick access
- Fuzzy search finds projects by name instantly
- Filter by technology, language, or framework
- Sort by last modified, name, or creation date
Press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux) to search every project, port, and command from one input:
- Jump to any project, or drill into its actions — open in your IDE or terminal, reveal in Finder, copy the path, view it on GitHub
- Start, stop, and restart a project's processes, or run any script from its
package.json - Open a running project's
localhostURL, or kill whatever is holding a port - Navigate anywhere in the app, switch between light and dark, or kick off a scan
Projects you're already running float to the top, so the thing you want is usually the first row.
Optionally, from anywhere on your computer. Turn on the global shortcut and the palette opens over whatever app you're in — no switching to Barnacles first. Kill a stuck port from your editor, restart a dev server from your browser, and carry on. It's off by default; enable it under Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts → "Global command palette shortcut" and record whatever combination you like. If Barnacles is already the app you're in, the same shortcut just opens the palette in place.
Prefer the terminal? Barnacles includes a full-featured CLI:
# Browse projects interactively
barnacles projects
# Check status
barnacles status
# Open the app
barnacles openBarnacles also ships an MCP server so LLM clients like Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Cursor can query your projects, ports, and processes directly.
Most AI coding assistants only know what's in the file it has open. With Barnacles' MCP server, your assistant knows about every project on your machine, and can start, stop, and read the output of any of them, without you ever opening a terminal. Ask it things like:
- "Start the
api-gatewayproject and tell me once it's up." - "Why is
marketing-sitecrashing on startup?" — the assistant starts it, reads the process output, and sees the stack trace itself. - "Stop whatever's running on port 5734."
- "What does
old-client-siteeven do?" — it reads the project's README, no need to go find the folder.
You don't have to remember which directory a project lives in or alt-tab to a terminal to launch it. The assistant already knows your projects and can run them itself, including watching the live output to debug what's actually happening.
Every tool call is logged locally, so you can see which tools your assistant actually reaches for, what it passed them, and what failed.
- Download the app for your platform from the Releases page or from the website Download page
- Install by opening the downloaded file and following the prompts
- Launch Barnacles from your Applications folder or Start menu
When you first open Barnacles:
-
Configure Settings
- Choose your default terminal application
- Select your preferred IDE
- Set project scan depth (how deep to search for projects)
-
Scan for Projects
- Navigate to the Projects page
- Click "Scan" to discover all your development projects
- Barnacles will automatically detect technologies and gather metadata
-
Start Managing
- Browse, search, and organize your projects
- Mark favorites for quick access
- Launch terminals, IDEs, and processes with one click
Barnacles runs locally on your machine and:
- Scans your chosen directories for development projects (non-intrusive, read-only)
- Stores project metadata in a local SQLite database
- Never uploads your code or data anywhere
- Updates project information when you rescan or refresh
All your data stays on your machine. Barnacles is a tool for organization, not cloud storage.
- CLI Guide: src/cli/README.md
- Developer Docs: docs/DEVELOPER.md
- Report Issues: GitHub Issues
Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to help improve Barnacles:
- Check out the Developer Documentation to get started
- Look at open issues or suggest new features
- Submit a pull request
Barnacles is open source under the MIT License.
Created by Joe Czubiak