grrclone

A free, open-source macOS menu bar app that connects rclone remotes as Finder volumes. No licence key, no phone-home, no kernel extension, no root.

grrclone runs one bundled rclone daemon, starts an NFS server on loopback for each connection, and mounts it with options that turn a dead backend into an error instead of a hung Finder. How it works on mlaify.io explains the design.

Install#

Apple Silicon, macOS 14 or later.

brew install --cask mlaify/tap/grrclone

Or download the latest DMG from Releases and drag it to Applications. It’s signed and notarised. Homebrew owns updates (brew update && brew upgrade --cask grrclone); grrclone can check for new releases if you ask it to, but never replaces its own bundle.

First run#

grrclone appears in the menu bar, with no Dock icon. It finds the remotes already in your rclone.conf and lists them. Connect one and it appears in Finder, under ~/grrclone by default or any folder you choose. It reads rclone.conf but never writes it, so your command-line setup keeps working as before.

Where to go next#

• Limitations: what NFSv3 and the macOS NFS client can’t do, and what to expect when storage goes away.
• Benchmarks: the throughput numbers and the crash test behind the mount options.
• The usage document: let your storage server report how much space a remote uses.
• Changelog and source.