FSMonitor

About

FSMonitor is a macOS app that monitors all changes to the file system in realtime. It records file creation, deletion, changes of content, renames, and changes of attributes. FSMonitor 2.0 runs on macOS 10.15 Catalina or later, and a 14-day free trial is available.

You can examine the changed files in any of three display modes and filter the list by path, event category, or process. Sort and inspect events, check the inspector to see the exact kind of change, and search and copy events as text. Save changes as an FSMonitor document for later examination, or export them as JSON or plain text. A command-line tool supports automation and real-time processing.

FSMonitor is made for developers debugging app side effects, generated files, caches, databases, helper tools, installers, and cleanup behavior. It also suits Mac admins and IT teams inspecting what installers, scripts, updaters, and managed software change, and QA and support engineers recording filesystem activity during reproductions. Security-minded users can observe suspicious or unknown apps to see which filesystem locations they touch, and power users can investigate unexpected disk activity or find where applications store their data.