Py-Watchdog: Smart Folder Automation Hub

What did you make?
I built Py-Watchdog, a smart, privacy-first open-source automation tool written in Python. It runs silently in the background and automatically keeps your cluttered Downloads and Desktop folders organized. It doesn’t just sort files by extension; it supports advanced custom rules (like startswith or contains matching) and features a real-time web dashboard built with Flask and Bootstrap to monitor your file-moving statistics dynamically.

What was challenging?
The biggest challenge was transitioning the tool from a simple command-line script into a robust background service that updates metrics on the fly. Implementing the asynchronous log tracking and making the backend expose a clean /api/count endpoint for the Flask dashboard—while keeping the background thread lightweight and stable—took a lot of troubleshooting and fine-tuning.

What are you proud of?
I’m incredibly proud of the customization and user autonomy this project offers. Users aren’t locked into generic folders; they can set up tailored rules for how their files should be managed. I am also proud of packing everything into a clean web dashboard UI and compiling the final script into a standalone .exe so that anyone can use it without needing a Python environment.

What should people know so they can test your project?
To test it out, you don’t need to write a single line of code!

Head over to the GitHub repository and download the latest executable file (.exe) from the releases page.

Run it, set up your custom organization rules, and open the web dashboard to see your files getting sorted in real-time.

Check the automatically generated log files to see exactly what actions the watchdog performed.