Getting started

Download

Every link below points at the newest build.

Platform	Download
macOS, Apple Silicon	ObjectExplorer-mac-arm64.dmg
macOS, Intel	ObjectExplorer-mac-x64.dmg
Windows, x64	ObjectExplorer-windows-x64.msix
Windows, ARM	ObjectExplorer-windows-arm64.msix
Linux, x64	ObjectExplorer-linux-x64.AppImage
Linux, ARM	ObjectExplorer-linux-arm64.AppImage

Older versions, and the release notes for each one, are on the releases page.

macOS

Open the .dmg and drag ObjectExplorer to Applications. The app is signed with a Developer ID and notarized, so it opens on the first double-click.

Windows

The download is a signed .msix. Double-click it and Windows does the rest — a Start menu entry, an icon, and an entry in Add or remove programs that uninstalls cleanly. It is signed with the company's certificate; SmartScreen may still show a notice the first time.

ObjectExplorer will also be published on the Microsoft Store.

Linux

One AppImage:

chmod +x ObjectExplorer-linux-x64.AppImage
./ObjectExplorer-linux-x64.AppImage

The window is drawn with the WebKitGTK your distribution ships, and ObjectExplorer opens in your default browser on a machine that has none. To get the native window, install it:

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0        # Debian, Ubuntu
sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1              # Fedora, RHEL
sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1               # Arch
sudo zypper install libwebkit2gtk-4_1-0     # openSUSE

On an older release without a 4.1 package, the 4.0 one (libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37, webkit2gtk3) works too.

Run it with npx

No install at all, if you already have Node 20+ on your machine:

npx @knockdata/objectexplorer

It starts a local server, opens a browser tab, and shows the folder you ran it from. Both arguments are optional:

npx @knockdata/objectexplorer ~/data port=9421

If PowerShell refuses to run npx, see troubleshooting.

Or open it in a browser

objectexplorer.com/app runs the same app with nothing installed. It reads what you give it — a local folder you pick, or a share link somebody sent you — and the parsers still run in your browser rather than on a server.

First run

1. The tree starts with a demo folder of sample objects: parquet, Delta, Iceberg, Hudi, SPSS, SAS, csv, json.
2. Press + in the sidebar header, or open Settings → Connections, to add your own storage — see connecting storage.
3. Double-click a table and it opens as a notebook, already queried and plotted.

Next: connecting storage.