Everyone has the folder. It started as a place for one PDF and became years of installers, screenshots, boarding passes and files called final-final-2.
Tidying it by hand never happens, because it is boring and because deleting the wrong thing is a real worry. An AI team can do the boring part. The worry is solved by one rule: you approve the plan first.
The rule that makes this work
Don't ask a bot to "clean up my downloads". Ask it to show you what it would do.
In the downloads cleanup use case, the bot reads the folder and writes a plan: every move, every rename, every duplicate and every old file it flagged. At that point nothing has changed. You read the plan, edit it if you like, and say go. Only then does it move anything.
Deleting is a separate step. Any file that would be deleted waits for your yes, one by one if you prefer.
Step 1: pick the folder and the rule
Give the bot the folder as its working folder, so the job stays focused on it.
Then say how you want things sorted and named. Here is a brief you can paste and adjust:
Go through my Downloads folder. Sort files by type, rename them by date and vendor, and flag duplicates. Show me the plan first and move nothing until I say yes. Delete nothing without asking.
If you would rather sort by project or by year, say so. A rule you write in plain words is a rule it can follow.
Step 2: read the plan
The plan comes back as a list. Read it like a proofreader, not a reader:
- Moves. Which files go into which folders.
- Renames. The new names, so you can see whether the pattern makes sense.
- Duplicates. Which copies it found, and why it thinks they match.
- Old files. Things untouched for a long time, each with the reason it was flagged.
Say you spot an installer you still need. Tell the bot to leave it where it is, and ask for the plan again. This back and forth is the point. You are editing a list, not undoing a mess.
Step 3: say go
When the plan looks right, approve it. The team sorts and renames, then writes a short before and after report so you can see what changed.
The deletions come last, and they ask again. Duplicates are flagged for you to decide on, not removed on its own.
Why a plan beats a promise
A tool that says "trust me, I sorted it" gives you nothing to check. A plan gives you a list you can read in a couple of minutes, and you stay in charge of every change. If the pattern for renaming is wrong, you find out on paper, before a single file has moved. That is a much calmer way to tidy a folder you have been avoiding.
A word on backups
The plan-first step is your main protection, because you approve every move before it happens. Murage also snapshots a bot's working folder before each turn, kept apart from your own files and your own Git. Think of that as a quiet fallback, and keep your own backup of anything you care about too. See checkpoints for how it works.
Step 4: keep it tidy with a routine
A tidy folder drifts back into a mess. A weekly pass keeps it small.
Ask your Chief of Staff:
Every Friday afternoon, look at my Downloads folder, make a plan for anything new, and show it to me before moving anything.
Nothing is scheduled until you Confirm it. You can pause or change it later on the Routines page, and every run is recorded as completed, failed or missed. The routines page has the details.
Two honest limits to know about:
- Routines need your computer on. They run while Murage is open. A run up to 12 hours late still happens, and after that it is marked missed.
- The plan still waits for you. A routine can write the plan on schedule, but moving files still needs your yes.
Where else to point it
Once the Downloads folder is done, the same approach works anywhere:
- Your Desktop. The same rule applies, and screenshots are usually the bulk.
- A shared project folder. Name files the same way for everyone.
- A folder of paperwork. The paperwork to spreadsheet use case turns scans and PDFs into rows, and the tax-time folder sorts a year of receipts for your accountant.
For more everyday jobs like this one, see life admin.
Rules to put in your brief
- Move or rename nothing before I approve the plan.
- Delete nothing without asking.
- Work only in the folder I gave you.
New bots also start in Ask mode, which asks before changes on Claude Code and Codex. If you want to understand the asking in more depth, the stop line is the place to start, and approvals and the stop line has the details.
Try it
Start small. Download Murage, give a bot your Downloads folder, paste the brief above and read the plan before you say a word about go. If the plan looks wrong, change it. If it looks right, say go and let the team carry out the plan you approved.