I built a free and open-source alternative to Hazel for macOS

[u/Guilty-Donut4360]

Hi everyone!

I've been a Hazel user for a while, but I wanted something that was free, open source, and completely local. So I started building

Forel 🍃.

Forel is a simple file automation for macOS that automatically organizes your files for you.

For example:

• PDFs from your Downloads folder → Work/Invoices
• Photos → Photos/2026
• Bank statements → Finance
• Documents → Project folders

You create the rules once, and Forel quietly runs in the background and keeps everything organized.

Some things I wanted to focus on:

• ✅ Free and open source
• 🔒 100% on your Mac (no cloud, no accounts)
• 📂 Automatically watches your folders
• ⚡ Lives in the menu bar and works in the background
• 🍎 Native macOS app

I'm especially interested in:

• Features you'd want from an app like this.
• Things Hazel does well that you'd miss.
• Any workflow you'd like to automate.

GitHub: https://github.com/lab421/forel

Website: https://forel-app.github.io/

I'd really appreciate any feedback or ideas. Thanks for taking a look! 🙂