Sorty

What Sorty does

Sorty is a native macOS SwiftUI application that uses AI to organize files into relevant, semantically named folders. The readme describes it as a smart folder organizer for macOS that understands file content and context for accurate categorization. A feature called the Learnings Profile is a passive learning system that trains from the user's existing folder structures, from manual corrections, and even from cancelled organizations, so future suggestions keep improving. Custom Personas let a user create and edit specialized profiles for different workflows, with examples such as Developer, Photographer, and Student. The app supports multiple AI providers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, Groq, OpenRouter, Ollama, and custom OpenAI compatible endpoints, plus Apple Foundation Models for on device, privacy focused analysis that requires macOS 26 or newer with Apple Intelligence. Vision support adds multimodal analysis for providers that handle images, so picture content can inform organization. A Finder extension lets the user right click any folder in Finder and start organizing immediately. The project reports 44 stars and 3 forks on GitHub. The product site carries the overview, privacy details, comparisons, and the latest release. The Finder extension means organization can start from anywhere in the file system without opening the app first.

Workflow, safety, and previews

The readme stresses that the user stays in control. An interactive preview lets the user review and tweak the proposed organization before any files are moved. An organization history tracks all operations with detailed analytics, the reasoning behind moves, and rollback support, so a mistaken sort can be undone. Safety features are described as dry run modes, comprehensive validation, duplicate protection settings, and exclusion rules. App wide deeplinks let the app be controlled externally through sorty:// URL schemes for automation and Shortcuts. Menu bar controls give quick access with keyboard shortcuts for common actions. HUD notifications provide non intrusive feedback during operations. Storage locations can be set so organized files land in a defined destination. Automatic updates check in the background on launch, once per twenty four hours, with a manual check available from the menu. The combination of preview before apply, history with rollback, and duplicate protection is meant to address the anxiety of letting software move personal files. The readme's screenshots show three states: the organization workspace, a preview of proposed moves, and a duplicate file review panel, reinforcing that nothing happens silently. This careful framing suits a tool that touches a user's real documents rather than a sandbox.

Install and licensing

Getting started has two paths. The easiest is downloading the latest .zip from the Releases page, unzipping, and dragging Sorty.app into the Applications folder, which the readme strongly recommends so security bookmarks for watched folders persist across restarts. Because the app is not notarized and has no Apple Developer certificate, the user must clear the quarantine attribute with a sudo xattr command on the Applications copy, a step the readme says changes extended attributes only on the downloaded app and is safe when used on a copy from this repository. The second path is building from source, either with make run or by opening Sorty.xcodeproj in Xcode and running the Sorty scheme on a Mac. Prerequisites are macOS 15.0 or newer, Xcode 16.0 or newer, and optionally an API key for OpenAI or a compatible provider. The readme notes that an optional API key unlocks the cloud providers while Apple Foundation Models work on device without one. Sorty is published under the GPL-3.0 license, so the full source is available for study and modification under the terms of that license. For macOS users who want AI assisted tidying without handing files to a cloud only service, the on device option and the local first design are the main draws. The repository's Swift workflow runs continuous integration on each commit.

Editorial conclusion

The repository is published under the GPL-3.0 license and its most recent commit was on 2026-08-26.