Show HN: DroidDock – Browse Android files on Mac with a Finder-like experience

DroidDock is a macOS app that allows you to browse files on your Android device via ADB. Built with Tauri (Rust + React).

Core features:

  - Browse files with Table, Grid, or Column views
  - Preview images/text without downloading (press Space)
  - Full keyboard navigation
  - Search, upload/download, multi-select
  - Dark mode support

What's New in v0.2.x

  - File Previews: Press Space to preview images/text without downloading
  - Minimalist UI: Clean 95% grayscale design with better readability
  - Clickable Sorting: Click column headers (Name, Size, Date) to sort
  - Kind Column: Shows file types at a glance (Image, Video, Document, etc.)
  - Better Keyboard Navigation: Arrow keys in preview, Cmd shortcuts for everything

Tech Details

Built with Tauri (Rust backend) + React/TypeScript frontend. Rust handles all ADB communication for good performance. Small bundle (~15MB DMG universal binary), lower memory than Electron.

Challenges

  1. ADB Path Detection: Different package managers install ADB in different locations. Had to check 5+ common paths on startup.
  2. Thumbnail Generation: Android doesn't expose a thumbnail API via ADB. I pull the first N bytes of image files and generate thumbnails on-the-fly with caching.
  3. File Preview: ADB doesn't stream files – you have to pull the entire file. For large images, I had to implement chunked reading to check dimensions first.
  4. Code Signing: Currently unsigned (requires $99/year Apple Developer membership). Users have to right-click → Open on first launch.

Open Source & Free

MIT licensed, no telemetry, no ads.

Website: https://rajivm1991.github.io/DroidDock/

Would love feedback!