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Installing Peach Commander

This page walks you through getting Peach Commander running on your Mac: checking that your system is supported, downloading the current build, getting past the first-launch security check while the app is still a preview, and granting the one system permission a file manager needs. It finishes with how to keep the app up to date.

Peach Commander is still pre-1.0. The steps below reflect that: the download is a preview build, and a couple of the polish items that make installation seamless on a shipping app (Developer-ID signing and automatic updates) are being finalized. Everything works today — you just do one or two things by hand that a 1.0 release will handle for you.

System requirements

  • macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. Earlier versions are not supported.
  • Any Mac from the last several years. The app is a universal build, so it runs natively on both Apple Silicon (M-series) and Intel Macs — there is nothing to choose at download time.
  • About 15 MB of disk space for the app itself, plus room for anything you copy or download with it.

To check your macOS version, choose the Apple menu ▸ About This Mac.

Download the preview build

  1. Go to the Peach Commander downloads page and download the latest disk image (a .dmg file).
  2. When the download finishes, double-click the .dmg in your Downloads folder. A window opens showing the Peach Commander app next to a shortcut to your Applications folder.
  3. Drag the Peach Commander icon onto the Applications shortcut. This installs the app.
  4. Eject the disk image (click the eject arrow next to it in a Finder sidebar), and, if you like, move the downloaded .dmg to the Trash.

You now have Peach Commander in your Applications folder like any other app.

First launch: allowing the app through Gatekeeper

The beta builds are not signed or notarized with Apple, so macOS Gatekeeper does not recognize the app and will refuse to open it on a normal double-click, showing a message like "Peach Commander cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified." This is expected for a beta build and does not mean anything is wrong with the download.

How you allow it depends on your macOS version, because Apple changed this in macOS 15.

macOS 15 Sequoia and later (including macOS 26)

Control-clicking no longer works here — Apple removed that shortcut for software that is not signed or notarized. Use System Settings instead:

  1. Double-click Peach Commander once and dismiss the warning. This is what makes macOS offer the override in the next step.
  2. Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Security section.
  3. Next to the note about "Peach Commander" was blocked, click Open Anyway.
  4. Confirm with your password or Touch ID, then click Open in the final dialog.

macOS 13 Ventura and macOS 14 Sonoma

  1. In your Applications folder, right-click (or Control-click) the Peach Commander icon.
  2. Choose Open from the menu.
  3. In the dialog that appears, click Open again to confirm.

You only need to do this once, on either version. After the first successful launch, macOS remembers your choice and you can open the app normally from then on — a double-click, Launchpad, or Spotlight all work.

Why the extra step? Developer-ID signing and notarization — the process that lets macOS vouch for the app automatically — are deliberately left out of the beta. Once they are in place, this step disappears and Peach Commander opens on a plain double-click like any other app.

Folder permissions on first use

The first time Peach Commander looks at your Desktop, Documents or Downloads, macOS asks whether to allow it — once for each. Allow them and it stays quiet from then on, including after a restart. A panel does not have to be sitting in one of those folders for the question to come up; listing your home folder is enough to touch all three.

If the same question keeps returning no matter how often you answer it, you are on a build older than 0.9.2. Those bundles carried no code seal, and macOS 27 will not store a permission for a bundle without one — the answer was taken and discarded every time (#3). Updating fixes it; Full Disk Access does not, and never did.

Grant Full Disk Access

A file manager is only useful if it can reach your files, and macOS keeps some locations private (other apps' data inside your Library folder, Mail and Messages storage, and similar) until you explicitly allow an app to see them. So that Peach Commander can browse everywhere Finder can, grant it Full Disk Access.

The app keeps working right away with reduced access — you'll browse and manage everything you can normally see. Only system-protected folders stay hidden until you turn this on.

  1. In Peach Commander, choose Commands ▸ Full Disk Access…. (On first launch the app may also offer to take you straight there.)
  2. macOS opens System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Full Disk Access.
  3. Turn on the switch next to Peach Commander. If it isn't listed yet, click the + button and add it from your Applications folder.
  4. If prompted, quit and reopen Peach Commander so the new permission takes effect.

This is separate from the folder prompts above, and it is the one permission that may not stick while the app is unsigned: macOS binds it to a code identity, and a build without a Developer ID does not always satisfy the check. If protected locations stay out of reach after granting it, that is the reason, and there is no workaround short of signing.

For more on why this permission matters and where your data lives, see Privacy & security.

The local-network question on first launch

Shortly after the first launch, macOS may ask whether Peach Commander may find devices on your local network. The wording is Apple's and sounds broader than what is happening: the throughput figures in the title bar (Net ↓ ↑) are read from your Mac's own network interface counters, and macOS asks for this permission the moment any app looks at those counters at all.

Peach Commander does not search for, list, or connect to anything on your network to draw them.

You can decline. Nothing else changes: every other feature works exactly as before, and the two throughput numbers stop updating. Connections you make yourself — FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, a mounted network share — are unaffected either way, because those go to a server you named rather than to a search of the network. You can change the answer later in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network.

Keeping Peach Commander up to date

For now, updates are manual. When a new preview build is available, download the new .dmg from the downloads page and repeat the install: drag the new Peach Commander onto your Applications folder and choose to replace the older copy. Your settings, saved connections, and Keychain-stored passwords are kept separately from the app, so they carry over to the new build.

Automatic updates are planned. A built-in "Check for Updates" feature (with your choice of how often to check) is on the roadmap for a future release but is not enabled yet. Until it ships, checking the downloads page from time to time is the way to stay current.

Ready to go

That's it — Peach Commander is installed and can reach your files. New to a dual-panel file manager? Head to Welcome to Peach Commander for a two-minute tour of the two-panel layout and the first shortcuts worth learning.