If this sounds like your week
When Windows Search gets in the way
students need PDFs and notes from Documents or Downloads while a lecture-hall laptop is near shutdown. Windows Search can continue broad background work while Search Sentinel has explicit pause_on_battery thresholds. a small battery, spinning fan, and missing charger make indexing bursts visible.
Where tooling usually breaks
Why local-first matters
index.db, config.json, and logs stay under %APPDATA%\SearchSentinel instead of a vendor-hosted workspace. Search queries are not uploaded for AI enhancement, analytics, or ad targeting. You buy the app once and keep the search index as a local workstation asset.
Technical proof points
- GetSystemPowerStatus - pause_on_battery - 20% threshold - Existing FTS5 index - Win32 Power API - Battery-aware indexing - Tray status