balooctl

Display the status of the indexer

$ balooctl status

$ balooctl [enable|disable]

$ balooctl purge

$ balooctl suspend

$ balooctl resume

$ balooctl indexSize

$ balooctl check

$ balooctl [[-h|--help]]

balooctl action [options]

check
    Check external metadata consistency against the index

disable
    Disable all file content indexing

disable-for <MIMETYPE>
    Disable indexing for specific MIME types

enable
    Enable file content indexing

enable-for <MIMETYPE>
    Enable indexing for specific MIME types

featured
    List featured (recently used) documents

follow
    Follow database size changes in real-time

index
    Trigger immediate indexing of files

monitor
    Monitor real-time indexing progress

purge
    Completely remove and rebuild the index database

search <query>
    Search the index for matching files

status
    Display detailed indexer status and statistics

suspend
    Suspend indexing temporarily (toggle with repeated use)

--help
    Show help for specific action

--version
    Print balooctl version

Baloo is the file content indexing and search framework for KDE Plasma desktop environments. The balooctl command provides a command-line interface to manage Baloo's indexing operations, monitor performance, and perform maintenance tasks. It allows users to enable or disable indexing globally or for specific file types, check the status of the indexer, suspend or resume operations, purge the index database, and even perform searches directly from the terminal.

Baloo indexes file contents and metadata to enable fast, full-text searches in applications like Dolphin file manager. However, indexing can consume significant CPU, RAM, and disk space, especially on large filesystems. balooctl helps mitigate this by offering fine-grained control, such as excluding directories or MIME types. It's particularly useful for troubleshooting issues like stalled indexing or corrupted databases, and for scripting Baloo management in automated setups.

Common workflows include checking status before enabling indexing on new systems, monitoring progress during initial scans, and purging indexes after major filesystem changes. The tool interacts with Baloo's daemon (baloo_file) and stores its database in ~/.local/share/baloo/.

Indexing is resource-intensive; monitor RAM/CPU usage. Database at ~/.local/share/baloo/ can grow to GBs. Purging is irreversible and re-indexing takes time. Not all filesystems (e.g., remote NFS) are fully supported.

Edit ~/.config/baloofilerc for exclusions like [Basic Settings]
includeFolders=/home/user/Documents

balooctl status
balooctl enable
balooctl monitor
balooctl search document.pdf

Introduced in KDE Frameworks 5 (2014) as part of Baloo 5. Evolved with KDE Plasma 5/6 releases; actions like monitor and featured added later for better usability. Replaced older baloo_control tool.

baloo(8), dolphin(1), locate(1), updatedb(8)