The Downloads folder that sorts itself

Everyone’s Downloads folder is the same folder. Four thousand items, invoice(3).pdf seven times, a screenshot from 2023 you’re afraid to delete.

This is the smallest useful wish there is: something that files it all away, that you run when you feel like it, that doesn’t need a subscription or a login or a menu bar icon.

Not filmed yet. This one is written and waiting for a slot on the show. The prompt below is complete either way — you don’t have to wait for us.

Before you start

• A laptop or desktop. Not a phone or a tablet.
• An AI agent that can write files — a coding assistant with access to your machine. Most of these cost money; check what yours charges before you start, not after.
• About ten minutes, most of it reading what it wrote.

The prompt

Paste this whole thing. It’s written to make the agent ask before it does anything permanent, because “sort my files” and “move four thousand files” are the same sentence to a computer.

I want a small script that tidies my Downloads folder. Please build it for me.

What it should do:
- Look at every file sitting loose in my Downloads folder.
- Work out a category from the file extension: Images, Documents, Video,
  Audio, Archives, Installers, Other.
- Move each file into  Downloads/<Category>/<YYYY-MM>/  based on the file's
  own modified date, creating those folders as needed.
- If a file with that name is already there, rename the incoming one by
  adding a number rather than overwriting anything. Never overwrite.
- Leave folders alone. Only loose files move.
- Skip anything still downloading (.part, .crdownload, .download) and skip
  hidden files.

How it must behave:
- DEFAULT TO A DRY RUN. With no arguments it prints exactly what it would
  move and moves nothing. It only acts when I pass --go.
- Print a one-line summary at the end: how many files, how many categories.
- Write a plain-text log of every move it makes, next to the script, so I can
  see afterwards what went where.

Before you write it:
1. Tell me which folder you think my Downloads folder is, and wait for me to
   confirm it.
2. Tell me how I undo a run — I want to know that before it runs, not after.

Then write the script, explain in plain English what each part does, and show
me the exact command to run the dry run first.

What you should see

The agent should come back and ask you which folder it’s about to touch. That question is the whole point — if it skips it and starts writing, stop it and tell it to ask.

Then run the dry run. Read the list. It’s the only chance to notice that it was about to file your tax return under “Other”.

The honest bits

• Moving files is not free to undo. The log tells you what went where, so a reversal is possible, but it’s manual. Run the dry run. Actually read it.
• Try it on a copy first if your Downloads folder has anything in it you’d be upset to lose. Copy the folder somewhere, point the script at the copy, see what happens.
• It will get some files wrong. Extensions lie, and “Other” is where the ambiguous ones land. That’s a category, not a bug.
• This is not a backup. Sorted files on one disk are still files on one disk.

Make it yours

The prompt is a starting point, not a rule. Ask for different categories. Ask it to leave anything from the last seven days alone. Ask it to delete empty folders afterwards. Changing the prompt and running it again is the cheapest thing in this entire process — that’s the part worth getting comfortable with.