Frustrated with the quality of macOS 27.0

See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode. That process performs some system cleanup and clears caches, and also disables 3rd party extensions that may cause problems.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

If that does not correct the issue, test in a new user account. A newly-created user account will have all settings at default, and if the issue does not occur in that new account then it provides guidance on what may need to be changed to correct the issue.

Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

Once the testing is complete, the new account can easily be deleted.

Delete a user or group on Mac – Apple Support

Those steps will help to isolate the problem.

It might help to download and run EtreCheck, written by a long-time forum member. The free version is fine. Post the full report using the Additional Text button. No personal information is revealed. 

This is an issue with your system, not Golden Gate in general. As others have pointed out, the behavior is certainly not universal. For example, here is the same Spotlight panel in your screenshot, looking normal for me.

If you have 3rd party ‘protection’ software installed, that may be the problem. That includes:

• Cleaners (software claiming to automatically free up space)
• Optimizers (software claiming to make your Mac run faster)
• Antivirus software
• VPN software (unless provided by a school/employer to enable access to internal resources from a remote location)

Such 3rd party system ‘helpers’, ‘cleaners’ and ‘protectors’ do more harm than good. In fact, such products are completely unnecessary for macOS and the only ‘good’ (if you want to call it that) they do is to put money in the developers’ pockets. Cleaners and protectors cause compatibility issues, often after macOS updates. Commercial VPNs claim to hide your browsing activity from websites, and while that may be true those VPN providers just sell your browsing data to others. For the user, all of these types of software offer only harm…and if that is limited to harm to your bank account, then count yourself lucky. If you have installed such software, follow the developer’s instructions to completely uninstall it (note that some developers fail to provide instructions and their software installs can be pervasive, meaning the only way to truly remove it is to erase your Mac, reinstall macOS then restore your user files from a backup).

Can’t say I've seen any of those issues on GG.

If Spotlight doesn’t finish indexing in a minute or two, there is something wrong with the index or some third-party metadata importer is incompatible.

You can attempt to delete the index entirely and have it start over from empty. Rebuilding the index does not delete it.

In Terminal, copy/paste the following.

sudo mdutil -X /; sudo mdutil -i on /; sudo mdutil -E /

The first part deletes the index folder. The second turns indexing on. The third is the standard Rebuild command. It should kickstart indexing again after deleting the index folder. If you don’t see it start indexing (when searching with Spotlight UI), restart.

The Spotlight indexing problem you describe is hardly new to GG.

A couple of ideas based on nothing more than it's what I'd do in your situation.

When you do your build and Spotlight sets about its re-indexing have a look at Activity Monitor sorted by CPU to see what might also be running - or start running - that might be causing the problem alongside Spotlight.

If you don't need it you could try disabling Siri/AI for one of your build cycles. My thinking is that GG has got a more integrated Siri/AI which might be doing something in the background as part of the AI learning process that it didn't do in Tahoe and kicking off thousands of new files might be a lot for it to chew on.

Spotlight is the basis for almost all native search - e.g. if you search in the Mail app then it uses the Spotlight index. Ditto Notes, Contacts, etc. If you leave it alone it should finish indexing eventually.

Not sure if you've done this, but it's often a good idea to do a full restart (from the Apple menu at the top left) after an OS update. If you've already tried that then try booting into safe mode for a while.

1 - turning off everything except Apps only set the results that Spotlight displays, not what it indexes. If you want to stop it indexing things then go into System Settings, search for Spotlight and then use the Privacy button at the bottom of the dialogue box to exclude directories from search. If you do this then you might see problems depending what you exclude. For example, Smart Mailboxes in the Mail app rely on Spotlight and if you stop Spotlight indexing mail then Smart mailboxes won't work.

2- I don't understand this. Your OP said you only want to search Apps in Spotlight but in your point 2 you complain that when you build a new app it starts indexing. Do you want your apps indexed or not?

I understand macOS may still index those files in the background. My main complaint is that while it does, Spotlight stops showing the installed applications I do want to find. Building a project shouldn’t make the app launcher go empty.

It’s not the indexing that’s the problem. If it takes a half an hour for it to finish indexing, something is causing it to jam up and it can’t do the job properly. If you understand how to use the logging system, you may find a file where it hangs up, but I don’t know how to do that. Haven’t really had any desire to learn.

I doubt that it’s the build files, even at 12,000 some odd files. However, you can tell Spotlight to exclude your build folder, and it won’t index them at all.

I wish "leave it alone" solved it. Here’s what’s happening:

1. I’ve turned off every Spotlight category and app integration except Applications, including file search. I’m not syncing Mail, Photos, Books, Contacts, Music, Notes, or iPhone content on this Mac. I use Spotlight to launch apps. That is the ONLY thing I’ve left enabled.
2. When I build my apps, macOS starts indexing the generated files anyway. Then every application disappears from Spotlight. I can’t launch anything through it until I reboot. This happens several times a day. How am I supposed to "let it finish" when the next build triggers it again?

Around the same time, fullscreen stops working across apps, and I have to run killall Dock to get it back.

I’ve switched off everything I don’t use, yet the background indexing keeps running and breaks the one Spotlight function I do use. This isn’t a slow search result. My app launcher stops working in the middle of my workday, over and over again.

And to be clear, I’m already rebooting five to ten times a day because of this. A reboot brings spotlight back temporarily, but the next build can break it again. Rebooting is the workaround I’m stuck with, not a fix.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve already tried deleting and rebuilding the index with the command you've provided. Spotlight finished indexing after about half an hour. Then I ran another build, and the problem came back. I only started experiencing this after upgrading to macOS 27.0.

My swift build -c release generates roughly 12000 files under .build. macOS uses filesystem change events to keep Spotlight’s index up to date, so I suspect the build is creating a lot of work for mds and its import workers.

I’ve turned off every Spotlight results category and app integration except Applications. That includes files, mail, photos, books, contacts, music, notes, phone, and everything else. I only use spotlight to launch apps. I now understand those settings filter results rather than stop filesystem indexing, but that’s exactly what frustrates me. Build appears to trigger indexing activity, and then the one category I left enabled goes completely empty.

Waiting for indexing to finish isn’t a practical answer when I build throughout the day. Rebooting gets app search working again temporarily, but I’ve had to do that 5–10 times a day. During these episodes, fullscreen also stops working in every app until I run killall Dock.

Even if macOS needs to index build files, why does that make it impossible to find and launch an application? I shouldn’t have to manage spotlight exclusions for every build directory just to keep an app launcher working.

dgarifullin wrote:

I wish "leave it alone" solved it.

It may. I suspect there are details you're leaving out. Sometimes people get used to doing things a certain way and it becomes second nature. Then, some OS update breaks that workflow. But if you can identify exactly what's breaking, then you can make some adjustments for a better experience.

I’ve turned off every Spotlight category and app integration except Applications, including file search. I’m not syncing Mail, Photos, Books, Contacts, Music, Notes, or iPhone content on this Mac. I use Spotlight to launch apps. That is the ONLY1. thing I’ve left enabled.

But you've already discovered that this only controls the UI. There are two Spotlights. One if the UI. You can control that one. The other is a fundamental technology that the entire operating system is built on. You can't disable that one.

2. When I build my apps, macOS starts indexing the generated files anyway. Then every application disappears from Spotlight. I can’t launch anything through it until I reboot. This happens several times a day. How am I supposed to "let it finish" when the next build triggers it again?

What do you mean by "build your apps" and "next build"? Please clarify. I think this is the sticking point.

One thing to note is that apps are special. They won't be integrated into Spotlight until after they pass quarantine. Normally, this happens immediately after download when you launch them for the first time. But sometimes, the database can get corrupted and all apps become excluded from Spotlight. You can fix that by manually launching each.

However, I still think there's something else going on that's causing this. So let's try to find the cause before jumping to the fixes. Otherwise, you'll likely have to keep repeating the fixes.

And to be clear, I’m already rebooting five to ten times a day because of this.

You definitely need to stop that. One aspect of "modern" macOS is that, after a major version upgrade, you'll need to let it sit for at least a day, if not two days, to settle down. If you don't do that, it will never function correctly.

Update: I went into Spotlight settings and turned off every category except Applications. I wanted it to index apps and leave the rest of my files alone. Instead, it turns out those switches only change what appears in search results. Spotlight keeps indexing files anyway.

And while it does that, applications sometimes disappear from search entirely. So I’m left with the indexing I tried to turn off, while the one thing I actually use Spotlight for stops working.

There’s also the fullscreen issue: Messages and other apps sometimes won’t enter fullscreen until I run killall Dock. I don’t know if it’s related to Spotlight. I’m just tired of having to troubleshoot basic macOS functions to get through the day.

What do you mean by "build your apps" and "next build"? Please clarify. I think this is the sticking point.

When I say "build," I mean that I run swift build -c release to compile a Swift project I'm working on. It creates around 12,000 files in the project's .build directory. I'm not installing new applications.

The apps I'm trying to find are already installed in /Applications or ~/Applications, and I've launched them before. When this happens, they all disappear from Spotlight. A reboot brings them back without me having to open each app manually.

You definitely need to stop that. One aspect of "modern" macOS is that, after a major version upgrade, you'll need to let it sit for at least a day, if not two days, to settle down. If you don't do that, it will never function correctly.

I've had macOS 27.0 installed for over a week. I also rebuilt the spotlight index with mdutil and waited for it to finish, which took about half an hour. The problem came back after another build.

I understand that we don't know the exact cause yet. What I'm trying to explain is that waiting another day or two hasn't fixed it. I build throughout the day, and I need Spotlight to keep finding my installed apps while that's happening.

One thing to note is that apps are special. They won't be integrated into Spotlight until after they pass quarantine. Normally, this happens immediately after download when you launch them for the first time. But sometimes, the database can get corrupted and all apps become excluded from Spotlight. You can fix that by manually launching each.

These aren't newly downloaded apps waiting for a first launch. They're apps I've had in /Applications and ~/Applications for a long time, and I've opened them before. They all disappear from Spotlight at once when this happens.

If the application database is getting corrupted, that's a serious problem in itself. Manually opening every installed app each time isn't a workable fix, especially when the problem comes back after another build. I need to be able to search for and launch my installed apps while macOS is indexing other files.

2- I don't understand this. Your OP said you only want to search Apps in Spotlight but in your point 2 you complain that when you build a new app it starts indexing. Do you want your apps indexed or not?

I want Spotlight to find installed applications in /Applications and ~/Applications.

I understand macOS may still index those files in the background. My main complaint is that while it does, Spotlight stops showing the installed applications I do want to find. Building a project shouldn’t make the app launcher go empty.

Can’t say I've seen any of those issues on GG.

I understand you haven’t seen these issues on your Mac. But problems with indexing, quarantine, or my build workflow don’t explain the screenshot of the new Spotlight onboarding screen. Its text is cut off at the edge of the window. That’s a separate UI bug, and it’s part of why I’m frustrated with the quality of this release.

dgarifullin wrote:

When I say "build," I mean that I run swift build -c release to compile a Swift project I'm working on. It creates around 12,000 files in the project's .build directory. I'm not installing new applications.

No. You're creating new ones, which is infinitely worse.

You'll need to find out exactly what that "build" is really doing. There is not a single reported instance of a single problem with macOS 27 or any other version that is going to help. You're building software. You need to find out exactly what is happening there and why it's destabilizing your system.

I tried to report the broken UI on Apple Discussions, but the site got stuck generating a title for the report.