Workers for the folders you work in.

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work-fold is an open-source Mac app that brings your files, AI conversations, and project tools together. Open a folder, tell the Assistant what you need, and work on the actual files. Research, writing, planning, code—whatever belongs in that folder.

For example: open a folder of vendor quotes, ask for a comparison, and have the Assistant write a decision brief beside the originals. Come back tomorrow and pick up the same conversation.

Folders and Workers

Each Folder has its own Worker and conversations. Your files stay ordinary files, accessible in Finder and your existing tools. A Folder is an ordinary folder you choose to work in; it is never converted into a proprietary container.

The work-fold agent is the Worker above your Folders. Ask it what needs attention or have it coordinate work between projects, from the app or Mac menu bar. Hand a piece of work to one Folder's Worker and it reports back here; if it needs something first it asks, and your answer picks the work up where it stopped.

As a project grows, ask for a custom app in its sidebar, add Checks to review chosen files, or set up an Automation to run fixed steps on a schedule or after selected files change. Automations are deterministic app-run steps, not a second kind of Worker or an open-ended agent scheduler. These are optional; start with a Folder and a conversation.

What the Assistant does happens right away and leaves a record you can read in the app. Nothing it deletes is gone for good: History keeps versions of your files, and anything History cannot keep waits in Recently deleted for 30 days. Sharing a page, an app's access, and anything running on a schedule can all be turned off afterwards.

Use Compare in Version History or a selected Folder restore point to read saved text beside the current file before restoring. Binary, oversized, uncaptured, and incomplete comparisons explain their limits. The authenticated CLI offers paged history list/versions, verified history read --offset-bytes 0 ranges for large saved text, and streaming search with --path narrowing and --cursor continuation; see work-fold help history and work-fold help search.

Try it

1. Download work-fold for an Apple silicon Mac.
2. Connect your model provider in Settings → AI Models. Provider usage may cost money.
3. Open an existing folder or create a Folder, then start a Chat.

Files live on your computer. Content used by the Assistant goes to your chosen model provider. Optional web access is in private alpha and needs your Mac online. See Privacy for details.

Help build work-fold

This is an actively developed independent project, and I'd love people to build and maintain it with me. UI polish, reliable tests, clearer onboarding, and real-world bug reports would all help.

Open an issue with something you'd like to improve, or start with the contributing guide. Small, focused contributions are welcome.

Built with Electron, React, TypeScript, and the Pi agent runtime. To run a clone locally, use Node 24 (.nvmrc):

npm ci
npm run local:dev

Open http://localhost:5173 for the browser development UI. See Contributing for native Electron and agent setup.

Check changes with npm run check and npm test; run npm run desktop:prepare for desktop integration changes. The docs map covers architecture, product decisions, and release procedures. AGENTS.md is the shared contributor contract.

MIT License · Security · Development

The collaboration contract tracks work across model turns: durable questions and answer delivery, bounded continuations for each owner, and selected request results. The request graph and original assignments remain machine-local. Only deliberately released child reports enter a Space Chat; app task reads remain pinned to their own installation. See the contract for stop, expiry and restart behavior.

The collaboration experience brings that work into Chats, the fold, Apps, and the paired browser: visible progress, questions answered in place, selected files that open directly, and explicit recovery for saved work.

The fold popover’s Chats view reopens saved conversations and preserves unsent drafts while switching. The paired web client keeps questions inside Chats and offers Space browsing with Files, Apps, and read-only previews. Ask the fold prepares an unsent Space or file reference. See Collaboration experience.

Ordinary Pi Extension questions appear in their owning Chats. These live callbacks cancel on Stop or session end; durable Assistant questions retain their separate continuation contract. Skills & Extensions manages native resource enablement, package updates and removal, and setup for the included Computer Control, Chrome, Web, Documents and MCP service connections. Included tools use the same native Pi formats and tool loop as user-added Extensions. Computer permissions, the Chrome companion and service credentials are explicit setup; web search and the document runtime work without those connections. See Extensions and computer work for supported jobs, dependencies, reviewed patches and release acceptance requirements.

Developers can inspect future model calls through the local ?dev-context diagnostic route. Optional recording includes assembled context, available provider payloads and loaded-source provenance, in bounded local memory. It starts off and has no normal Chat or Settings entry. The shared feedback contract preserves Pi's tool loop for text, data and selected images without continuous screen recording.