MOUNTPOINT

menu bar app  macOS 13+  free · GPL-3.0

☕ If you use Mountpoint and like it, I would be glad if you bought me a coffee.

A small macOS menu bar app that mounts any folder as its own volume – from a local disk, an archive drive or a NAS.

Built for Avid Media Composer: Media Composer only finds media in an Avid MediaFiles folder at the root of a volume. With Mountpoint, a folder like /Volumes/Archive/2024/Documentary/AI_Media becomes the volume AI_Media, with Avid MediaFiles right at its top.

Deutsch · Français · Español: Einstellungen (Zahnrad) → Sprache · Réglages → Langue · Ajustes → Idioma.

Please report problems in Issues.

Features

• Workspaces – folders that are mounted as volumes. The volume name is the folder name.
• Projects – group workspaces, mount or eject a whole project with one click, and mount projects automatically when the app starts.
• NAS without Finder – Mountpoint remembers the network share of a workspace and connects it itself when needed (credentials from the Keychain). The folder picker can also connect to a share directly (smb://nas/Archive).
• Create folders – create new workspace folders, with Avid MediaFiles/MXF inside, directly from the folder picker.
• Media Composer Enterprise collaboration – by default workspaces are mounted as network drives. Media Composer Enterprise (from version 2026.8 on) then creates a <computer name>.1 media folder instead of 1, like on shared storage, so several systems (e.g. synced with Syncthing) never write into the same folder. Turn off filter network drives in Media Composer's Media Creation settings. Can be switched off in the settings.
• Protected volumes – get an alert as soon as Media Composer creates Avid MediaFiles on a volume where it should never write (e.g. LucidLink), or – per volume – only when your own Media Composer creates its folder there. The Mac's system volume can be protected too. Alerts can be snoozed per volume (5 min … rest of the day).
• Warning about a 1 folder on network drives – a setting: on every connected network drive with Avid MediaFiles, an alert as soon as a folder 1 appears in Avid MediaFiles/MXF – a sign that someone works without the bin locking of Media Composer Enterprise.
• Warning about big MXF folders – a setting: an alert as soon as a folder in Avid MediaFiles/MXF holds more than 5000 files – or the limit you set, 100 to 50000 – (a first warning at 90 %, so you can start a new folder in time), on every connected drive, the system volume and your workspaces. Checked once a minute in the background; unchanged folders are not counted again.
• Updates from within the app: Mountpoint checks GitHub for new versions, shows a notice and installs the update with one click – it replaces itself, restarts and mounts your workspaces again. You can also check by hand under Settings → Updates. Every update is signed; Mountpoint installs only updates with a valid signature.
• Finder sidebar – mounted workspaces appear under Locations, like other drives, and disappear when ejected (can be switched off in the settings). macOS keeps ejected volumes in that list; a small helper, Mountpoint Cleanup, deletes Mountpoint's own old entries at every start. Only this helper needs Full Disk Access – Mountpoint itself never gets it.
• Own volume icon in the Finder and plain-language error messages that say what went wrong and what to do. A drive that stops responding never freezes Mountpoint. Settings → Show log file shows what happened – send it along when you report a problem.
• Safe – Mountpoint never deletes, moves or overwrites files. It never force-ejects: if Media Composer still has files open, the volume stays mounted. A workspace never leads outside its folder (symbolic links are not followed), and folders inside ~/Library cannot be mounted.
• English, German, French and Spanish, light and dark appearance, launch at login.

Good to know

• Deleting is permanent – there is no Trash on Mountpoint volumes, even if the folder lies on a local drive. What you delete there – in the Finder, Media Composer or any other app – is gone immediately; the Finder’s warning “This item will be deleted immediately” is right. Always keep a backup of your media. (macOS gives network drives no Trash, and Mountpoint mounts workspaces as network drives so that Media Composer Enterprise creates <computer name>.1 folders.)

• Changing settings applies to volumes the next time they are mounted – eject and mount them once. Updates installed from within the app do this for you (from 1.0.0 beta 8 on).
• Use at your own risk: Mountpoint comes without any warranty; the author is not liable for data loss or other damage. Always keep a backup of your media.
• Full Disk Access after updates: Mountpoint is not signed with a paid Apple certificate, so macOS switches the access of Mountpoint Cleanup off after every update. Mountpoint then asks again – switch it on once more, or choose Don’t show in the sidebar.
• Media Composer’s drive filter: turn off filter network drives under Media Creation → Drive Filtering on every system, otherwise Media Composer hides the workspaces.

Requirements

• macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple Silicon or Intel
• macFUSE – often already installed by other tools (e.g. Mimiq)

Install

1. Download Mountpoint-<version>.dmg from Releases and open it.
2. Drag Mountpoint.app onto the Applications folder in the window that opens.
3. Open it once as described below.

First launch: “Apple could not verify …”

Mountpoint is open source and is not signed with a paid Apple Developer certificate. macOS therefore blocks the first launch. You only need to allow it once:

1. Double-click Mountpoint.app. macOS shows a warning – click Done (or OK).
2. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
3. Scroll down to “Mountpoint” was blocked … and click Open Anyway.
4. Confirm with your password and click Open Anyway again.

Alternatively, in Terminal:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Mountpoint.app

The menu bar icon (a drive with a folder tab) appears at the top right. It is filled while at least one workspace is mounted, and a dot appears when something needs your attention.

On the very first launch Mountpoint guides you through a few windows in the middle of the screen:

1. macFUSE – if it is missing, Mountpoint links to its website and waits; it continues by itself once macFUSE is installed.
2. Welcome – deleting on Mountpoint volumes is permanent, and you use Mountpoint at your own risk. Appears until you click I understand.
3. Recommended settings – launch at login, Finder sidebar and network drive, all preselected; change them any time in the settings.
4. Finder sidebar – Open System Settings and switch on Mountpoint Cleanup under Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access; the window closes by itself once the access is there. Or choose Don’t show in the sidebar.
5. Self-test – may Mountpoint run a short self-test and send the result anonymously? Not now asks again with the next version.

Usage

• Add… → Add workspace… – pick the folder that contains Avid MediaFiles (folders that do are marked AVID). If it is missing, Mountpoint offers to create Avid MediaFiles/MXF. The picker remembers where you were last.
• Mount / Eject – per workspace or per project. Status dots: filled green = mounted, grey ring = not mounted, half-filled orange = partly mounted or a problem.
• ⋯ menus – move a workspace to a project, show it in Finder, remove it; rename or delete a project, mount it at app launch, clear all its error messages (a single one goes with its ×). Removing a workspace or deleting a project never touches any files.
• Settings (gear icon or ⌘,) – opens Mountpoint Settings, a small app of its own inside Mountpoint (with its Dock icon while it is open), with tabs: launch at login, mount as network drive, appearance (light/dark switch), language, protected volumes, version and Check for updates. About Mountpoint is at the bottom of the settings. New workspaces and projects are added with Add… at the bottom left of the panel. Settings are saved right away; the panel always reopens on its main page. Changing the language takes effect immediately.

Protected volumes

Choose per volume what to watch:

• Avid MediaFiles (default) – any Avid MediaFiles folder at the top level of the volume.
• Workstation folder (always for the system volume, which has no choice: the Media Composer installation always creates Avid MediaFiles there) – only the folder your own Media Composer writes into in Avid MediaFiles/MXF: 1 on local drives, <computer name>.1 on network drives. Folders other systems write (e.g. on a shared cloud drive) don't alert.

The system volume (e.g. Macintosh HD) is listed under its Finder name; there Media Composer uses /Users/Shared/AvidMediaComposer/Avid MediaFiles, so that is the folder Mountpoint watches.

Mountpoint does not scan your drives. macOS notifies it when something changes at the top level of a protected volume, so it uses no CPU while nothing happens; a single check per minute acts as a safety net. Mountpoint cannot prevent the write – it tells you within seconds so you can stop the import or render. It never deletes the folder.

Testing and reporting problems

• Self-test: Settings → Run self-test… checks mounting, files, warnings and updates on a test disk of its own (your workspaces are not touched) and sends an anonymous report. Takes a few minutes, needs macFUSE.
• Report a problem: Settings → Report… – describe what happened, optionally with your email and the anonymized log file. No GitHub account needed.
• Test versions: Settings → Get test versions also offers versions that are still being tested.

Build

Requires the Xcode Command Line Tools and macFUSE.

scripts/build-app.sh            # → dist/Mountpoint.app (universal), dist/Mountpoint-<version>.dmg (download), dist/Mountpoint-<version>.zip (+ .sig, for the updater)
swift test                      # unit tests
MOUNTPOINT_IT=1 swift test      # also real mounts (after build-app.sh)
MOUNTPOINT_STRESS=1 swift test --filter StressTests   # stress test before a release

Updates are signed with an Ed25519 key that lives only in the release Mac's Keychain (swift scripts/update-key.swift new once; its public key goes into Updater.publicKey). The build signs the zip automatically; a release needs both the zip and its .sig. Builds from forks need their own key. If the key is ever lost, a release that also carries an empty Mountpoint-<version>.manual makes older versions show a notice to install the update by hand.

Layout: Sources/Mountpoint (SwiftUI menu bar app), helper/mirror.c (pass-through file system for macFUSE), Resources/<code>.lproj (translations), assets (icon and design drafts).

Translate

The UI is written in English (the default). To add a language:

1. Create Resources/<code>.lproj/Localizable.strings (copy Resources/de.lproj/…)
2. Add the language to languages in Sources/Mountpoint/Model.swift
3. Add the code to CFBundleLocalizations in scripts/build-app.sh

LocalizationTests checks that every language has every text with the same placeholders.

License

Copyright © 2026 Moritz Poth. Mountpoint is free software under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later – see LICENSE. It comes with no warranty. Font: JetBrains Mono (SIL Open Font License, Resources/fonts/OFL.txt). macFUSE is a separate product with its own license and is not included.

Sister project of MediaFiles Ferry.

Avid and Media Composer are trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. LucidLink is a trademark of LucidLink Corp. This project is not affiliated with either.