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what is folderbase fr?

paolosturbini/folderbase — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

0SwiftAudience · generalComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

tl;dr

A macOS file manager that adds notes, tags, search, and optional AI chat to your real files without moving them into a separate library.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Adds metadata to files
      Custom columns
      OCR search
      AI document chat
    Tech stack
      Swift
      SwiftUI
      SQLite
    Use cases
      Organize documents
      Kanban workflows
      Search scanned PDFs
    Audience
      Mac users
      Knowledge workers

Code map

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what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Add custom columns and Kanban states to organize files already on your Mac.

VIBE 2

Search across your documents using OCR and combined text and meaning based search.

VIBE 3

Chat with your documents using AI and get answers with cited sources.

VIBE 4

Back up all your metadata and settings on a schedule with safety checks.

what's the stack?

SwiftSwiftUISQLiteOllamaOpenAI

how it stacks up fr

paolosturbini/folderbaseaiduckman/claudeusage_latest_may2026arnabau/thermalpulse
Stars000
LanguageSwiftSwiftSwift
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity2/52/53/5
Audiencegeneralvibe coderdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · easy time til it works · 5min

Signed DMG download runs immediately, building from source needs Xcode and Swift 5.9+.

in plain english

FolderBase is a file manager for Mac that adds custom metadata to files and folders you already have on your computer, without moving them into a separate library or changing their contents. Your documents stay right where they are, and FolderBase keeps a local database on the side that tracks notes, tags, dates, and Kanban style workflow states for each item. You can add custom columns for things like notes, numbers, dates, colored tags, or task board columns, and these settings can be inherited by every subfolder inside a parent folder. The app is built to stay responsive even with very large folders, using background loading and caching so scrolling and searching do not freeze the interface. It also supports drag and drop, bulk editing, CSV export, and clickable Markdown links you can paste into notes elsewhere. Beyond plain metadata, FolderBase can index your documents for search, read text out of scanned PDFs and images using OCR, and combine exact text matches with meaning based search. There is an optional AI chat feature that lets you ask questions about your documents and get answers with cited sources. You can choose to run this AI processing entirely on your own Mac using Apple's built in tools or a local Ollama setup, or send it to OpenAI's cloud service using your own API key. A single switch turns off all AI features if you prefer not to use them. FolderBase also includes full backups of your metadata and settings, scheduled backups with safety checks, light and dark appearance, and update checks through GitHub. It is built with Swift and SwiftUI, uses SQLite for storage, and requires macOS 14.4 or later. You can download a signed, ready to run version or build it from source using Swift's own build tools. The interface supports both English and Italian, and the project is released under the MIT license, free to use, inspect, and modify.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Explain how to download and install the signed FolderBase release on my Mac.
prompt 2
Show me how to build FolderBase from source using Swift.
prompt 3
Help me set up local AI chat with Ollama instead of OpenAI in FolderBase.
prompt 4
Explain how custom metadata columns are inherited across subfolders.
prompt 5
Walk me through setting up scheduled backups for my FolderBase database.

Frequently asked questions

what is folderbase fr?

A macOS file manager that adds notes, tags, search, and optional AI chat to your real files without moving them into a separate library.

What language is folderbase written in?

Mainly Swift. The stack also includes Swift, SwiftUI, SQLite.

How hard is folderbase to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is folderbase for?

Mainly general.

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