Binky
Binky sorts your files.
A Mac app that sorts your files into tidy folders, once or as they arrive. Free and open source.
v1.7.0 · macOS 14 Sonoma · Apple silicon & Intel ·
Turn on Watch to tidy new files, or run Sort Now. You can also drop files from your watch folder here.
Files mid-download wait until they settle.
Sorted folders
Images, PDFs, documents, archives, apps, and screenshots, each sorted into its own tidy folder.
Review folder
Unknowns land here first — nothing sketchy silently disappears. Activity and history spell out messy origins.
Menu bar mode
Hide the Dock icon and run Binky from the menu bar: status, Sort Now, pause watching, and what's in Review.
Routines
Sort it once,
or keep it sorted.
Turn on Watch to tidy new files, or run Sort Now. You can also drop files from your watch folder here.
Files mid-download wait until they settle.
Rule
When
delta.com
Runs before automatic destinations. Add extensions, sites, or size rules only if you need them.
Then
Rename
Routines
Name
When
Install from disk images
Rules
Know where it goes
before it moves.
Review suggestions
Apple Intelligence suggests a folder for each file in Review. One click moves it. When the same site keeps landing in one folder, Binky offers a rule.
Source-aware routing
Routes files by where they came from. A Dribbble download goes to Design. A bank email attachment goes to Finance. Done before you touch it.
Describe a rule
Speak loosely, then check what Binky heard before the rule snaps in. With Apple Intelligence on, the on-device model fills in the rule.
Sort preview
A dry run in Settings shows where each file would land. Nothing moves until you sort.
Still figuring these out.
Files in Review didn’t match a rule. Move them, teach Binky a new rule, or trash.
- 1099-INT-2025.pdfFrom chase.com. Looks like a tax form → Finance/Taxes
- brand-kit-v3.zipFrom dribbble.com. Looks like design assets → Design/Assets
- document (3).pdfFrom mail.google.com. Looks like a lease → Home/Lease
Nothing in Review. Binky’s on top of it.
Also in Binky
Quiets the mess right down.
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Smart names
Screenshots named by what's on screen. Turn on Smart names for PDFs and photos and “IMG_2041” becomes what it is. Names you typed stay put.
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Energy management
Backs off on Low Power Mode and thermal spikes. Large-batch pacing — Auto, Gentle, or Aggressive — keeps the Mac from sweating.
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Waits for downloads to finish
Sorts only after a file has fully landed. No half-copied regrets.
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Finder tags
Routine defaults plus per-rule tagging. Spotlight hues still rescue memory lapses — protected Finder tags keep chosen files politely frozen.
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Finder Quick Action
“Sort with Binky” from the right-click menu. The fussy stuff never needs a full app launch.
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Siri, Spotlight & Shortcuts
Sort a routine, undo the last sort, check Review, or tidy it. Ask Siri, find it in Spotlight, or chain it in Shortcuts.
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Receipt & invoice detection
Spots the total and the vendor. Routes financial documents automatically, no folder-watching required.
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Launch at login
Optional Login Item so Binky's already there when the folder starts fussing.
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Duplicate guard
Hashes everything — SHA-256 first; perceptual sniffing catches screenshot twins insisting they're unique.
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Stale file aging
Files that haven't been touched in ages get quietly archived. The watch folder stays clean.
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CLI
Sort, preview, and run Routines from Terminal — same rules and prefs as the app. Build from source with SwiftPM.
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On your Mac only
No sign-in, no upload step. Sorting runs locally. The site may use Fathom; the app doesn't phone home.
Who it's for
Fussy inbox. Meet Binky.
Less digging, more making.
Figma exports, client zips, video renders, PDFs — sorted when they finish landing. Quick Sort for a clean sweep; Routines plus source-aware rules push assets toward project disks without babysitting Downloads.
Find it in seconds, not on the third re-download.
Lecture slides, school forms, receipts, tickets, tax PDFs — out of the heap and into folders that make sense.
Give it to Binky.
Free, about 13 MB, and your files stay on your Mac.
Compare
The quiet one is Binky.
Hazel writes rules. Refolder asks AI. Dropzone wants a drag. Binky just watches, sorts, and parks the mess — no subscription, no setup tax.
Rough tradeoffs — features move. Full comparisons →
Binky |
Hazel
|
|
|---|---|---|
Price
|
Free | |
Watch folder
|
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Review folder
|
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Waits for downloads to finish
|
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Optional Finder tags
|
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Undo moves
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Where macOS agrees | |
Custom rules
|
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Sort preview
|
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Open source
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MIT | |
App size
|
13 MB |
People who popped in a Binky
Real quotes from GitHub Discussions. Want to share your take? Leave a review.
Your data, in plain English
Binky isn't from the App Store, and the build isn't notarized today. That's a distribution choice, not a data choice. The source is on GitHub under MIT so you can read what it does.
Sorting stays on your Mac. No Binky cloud, no upload step, no account.
What leaves the machine
- Once a day, Binky asks GitHub if a newer release exists. That's the only automatic outbound request (see UpdateChecker.swift).
- Crash sharing is off by default. When you turn it on, Apple's MetricKit delivers diagnostics on your Mac. Nothing is sent until you choose Email or a prefilled GitHub issue.
Questions
Good to know
Do I need to be technical to use this?
Nope. Open the app, stay on Quick Sort, hit Sort when you want a folder calmed — Downloads stays the polite default. Add Routines when you want the same routing to run on its own. Reach for Describe a rule once you crave specifics.
What’s the difference between Quick Sort and Routines?
Quick Sort is a one-shot sweep — pick a folder, hit Sort, done (⌘1 jumps there). Routines are named, persistent watchers: each one has its own source folder, rule stack, and tag defaults that run automatically (⌘2). Start with Quick Sort; graduate to Routines when the same folder keeps yelling.
Does Binky upload my files?
No. Sorting stays on your Mac — no Binky cloud, no account. Once a day the app checks GitHub for a newer release (that's the only automatic outbound request). Details: Your data, in plain English.
Does it move originals or make copies?
Moves originals. Nothing duplicated, nothing left behind in Downloads. That's why the stable-file gate and the Review folder exist — Binky won't touch a file it isn't sure about.
macOS says Binky can't be opened — what do I do?
Binky isn’t notarized yet, so macOS stops the first launch. Click Open Anyway in System Settings › Privacy & Security.
Is Binky notarized? Why isn't it on the App Store?
It isn't Apple-notarized or Mac App Store today. That's distribution — the binary ships straight from GitHub as free MIT open source. For what the app actually talks to over the network, read Your data, in plain English. First-launch Gatekeeper pain is separate:
Mac only? Which Mac and macOS?
Yes. SwiftUI, native frameworks, no cross-platform runtime. Apple Silicon or Intel: one universal app for both, from the DMG or the Homebrew cask. macOS 14 Sonoma or later. On macOS 26 Tahoe, the UI uses Liquid Glass where available. On macOS 27, the menu bar icon opens a glass panel.
What about Dinky (compression)?
Dinky shrinks images, video, audio, and PDFs. Its current releases need Apple Silicon and macOS 15 Sequoia or later — see dinkyfiles.com for download and install help.
Where do files land after sorting?
Each routine declares its sorted destinations and downstream actions — rename tokens, archive extraction, Finder-only DMG installs, Finder tag spreads, Trash when warranted.
What file types go in which destination?
Images (jpg, png, gif, webp, svg, heic…), PDFs, Media (mp4, mov, mp3, m4a…), Documents (doc, txt, md, xls…), Archives (zip, rar, 7z, tar…), Apps (dmg, pkg, app), Screenshots (matched by name pattern), Misc (everything else). Unknowns or ambiguous types go to Review.
What about watching Downloads or synced folders?
Binky watches the folder you pick (Downloads by default). For Dropbox, Drive, iCloud, etc., it reacts after the sync client finishes laying bytes on disk — same idea as catching a fussy saver.
Can I set custom routing rules?
Yep — names, extensions, kinds, sizes, sheltered Finder tags, download origins, OCR hints, or what a file looks like (a screenshot, a photo, a scanned page, a ticket or pass) — then reroute, rename, tag, unpack archives, install DMGs quietly, trash when you swear it's junk.
Does Binky use Apple Intelligence?
Where your Mac has it turned on (macOS 26 or later), yes, and only on-device. It suggests a folder for each file in Review, turns a plain-English phrase into a rule, and, if you turn on Smart names for PDFs and photos, renames files like “IMG_2041” or “document (3)”. On macOS 27 it can also tell a scanned page or a ticket from a photo. Without it, Binky sorts the same way it always has.
Can I use Binky with Siri or Shortcuts?
Yes. Ask Siri to sort a routine, undo the last sort (Binky asks first), check what's in Review, or open Review to tidy it. The same actions show up in Spotlight and the Shortcuts app.
What if Binky isn't running when files land?
The watch folder only acts while Binky is running. Files that arrived while it was off sit untouched — run Sort Now when you're ready and it'll sweep them up.
Who made this and why?
Derek Castelli builds client sites in Figma and Webflow. He wanted a Downloads workflow that behaved without acting sneaky.