Beta 0.3.0 · macOS 26 · Apple silicon

Your Mac
hoards

now.

Google Drive and Microsoft 365 as real Finder volumes. You decide per folder: hoarded — kept fully offline and synced both ways — or only on demand. No macFUSE, no system driver, no gigabyte sitting in the background.

41 MB
memory per
mounted volume
0.0 %
CPU when there is
nothing to do
1.4 GB
the same, measured
with Mountain Duck
The cheeks fill up
as you scroll.

Just like the original.
What it does

Two decisions,
then nothing but Finder.

Connect an account, pick your folders. From then on you work in column and list view as always — all Hamster ever is, is a mark on the folder corner and an icon in the menu bar.

Accounts as volumes

Several Google Drive and Microsoft 365 accounts at once, each with its own sign-in, each its own entry in the Finder sidebar. Personal and work no longer have to take turns.

Per folder: hoard it or don’t

Right-click, “Hoard folder” — the folder then sits fully on disk and is synced both ways. Everything else stays online and arrives when you open it. Subfolders inherit the decision.

State as a mark, not a number

Three statements, three marks — and the same marks everywhere: on the folder, in the menu bar, in the window. No percentage bar to interpret.

hoardedsits fully offline
runningtransfer in progress
look hereconflict, error or queue
Menu bar during a transfer
Take a look

A window you rarely need.

Accounts on the left, the folder tree with each folder’s mode in the middle, everything about the selection on the right. If all you want is to hoard, you will not come back here after setup.

Personal (Google Drive)Google Drive · 3 accounts connected
Accounts
Personal (Google Drive)Connected
Work (Microsoft 365)Connected
Club (Google Drive)Needs signing in again
Add account …Overview
Conflicts2
Activity
My Drive
Accountinghoarded
Documentshoarded
Contractsinherits
Reports62 %
Photo archiveonline only
Raw data 2019–20242 conflicts
Musiconline only
Templateshoarded
Archive 2015–2018online only
DocumentsPersonal (Google Drive) · /Documents
Availability
HoardedOnly on demand
StatusUp to date
Last synced4 minutes agoLocal size3.42 GBFiles1,284
Conflict strategyKeep both (default)
Sync now
Rebuilt from the project’s reference mockups (docs/design/mockups/). Real screenshots will replace this once the beta build is ready.
Comparison

Why another program
for this at all?

Because the rest either wants a lot of machine or is not Finder. Every number below was measured on a MacBook with an M4, not estimated — same data set, same rclone build.

HamsterMountain Duckrclone in the terminalMemory per volume, idle41–42 MB1,322–2,088 MB52.6 MBCPU when idle0.0–0.1 %10.0–24.7 %0.0 %Kernel extension / macFUSE requiredno, NFSown file system driverno, NFS possibleState shown on the folder in Finderthree marksyesnoSeveral accounts per provideryesyesyes, via config fileSetup without the terminalyesyesno

Test setup: Mac16,12 · Apple M4 · 32 GB · macOS 26.5.2, rclone 1.74.4 on both paths, data set of 4,000 files × 512 KB. A note on fairness: Mountain Duck was running with the machine’s real configuration (connected accounts, active volumes) and was deliberately not restarted or reconfigured — the number shows the everyday steady state, not the theoretical minimum. Even with that caveat, the gap in memory stays at a factor of 10–15.

For you if …
you have several cloud accounts and want to work in Finder, not in a browser.your current program makes the fan spin or the memory usage stand out.you work on particular folders while travelling and want them there beforehand.you are willing to report a bug now and then during a beta.
Not for you yet if …
your Mac has an Intel processor or is older than macOS 26.you need Dropbox, Box or S3 — the beta covers Google Drive and Microsoft 365 only.the cloud is the only copy of your data. A beta plus a single copy is a poor combination.you are looking for a Windows or Linux build. There is none and none is planned.
Beta

What “beta” means here.

Not a marketing word. Hamster is at version 0.3 — it works, but it has not been in other people’s hands long enough.

Please not as your only copyA sync that runs both ways can, when it fails, fail both ways. During the beta, keep a backup that Hamster does not touch.
Your files do not pass through usHamster talks to Google and Microsoft directly. Your credentials live in your Mac’s keychain, not on our server — we have no technical access to your content.
No system driver, no restartThe volumes are created via NFS and the Finder integration built into macOS. No kernel extension, no macFUSE, no security dialog during installation.
Updates arrive on their ownHamster reports new beta builds itself and installs them if you want. Crash reports are anonymised on the device before they touch the network — and only if you agree.
Price

Free during the beta.
Not afterwards.

Hamster is meant to cost money eventually — whether once or as a subscription is not settled. Anyone in the beta tests for free and keeps their build; we will name a price only once we can stand behind it. No credit card, no trial period, no automatic slide into some subscription.

€0for beta testers
Back up to the sign-up