This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 3: Slow and Steady
What I Built
Every developer's desktop and Downloads folder eventually turns into a chaotic swamp of forgotten files:
π IMG_9421_screenshot_receipt.png
π statement_final_v2(3).pdf
π chaotic_meeting_notes.md
π unorganized_dataset.csv
π untidy_tax_document.pdf
We always tell ourselves: "I'll sit down and clean this up on Sunday." But Sunday comes, and instead of spending 45 minutes manually opening PDFs, squinting at receipts, renaming them, and clicking into nested directories, we'd rather take a nap.
In honor of International Sloth Day and this week's "Slow and Steady" theme, I built SlothClerk: a zero-telemetry, 100% offline background agent powered by local open-weight models (via Ollama, natively supporting llama3.2:3b, mistral, or qwen2.5:3b).
.---. _____ _ _ _ _____ _ _
/ \ / ___| | | | | | / __ \ | | |
| () () | \ `--.| | ___ | |_| |__ | / \/ | ___ _ __| |
\ - / `--. \ |/ _ \| __| '_ \| | | |/ _ \ '__| |
||||| /\__/ / | (_) | |_| | | | \__/\ | __/ | |_|
''''' \____/|_|\___/ \__|_| |_|\____/_|\___|_| (_)
The AI file butler that does the chores while you snooze.
Who gets to be lazier?
- Developers & Tech Workers: No more hunting for scripts, meeting notes, or raw datasets scattered across your home directory.
-
Freelancers & Solopreneurs: Invoices and expense receipts get sorted into clean, dated folders (
/Documents/Invoices/2026-10-invoice-internet-provider.pdf) without typing a single character. - Anyone Who Loves Peace of Mind: You never have to manually organize a file again. You drop files in, go take a nap, and wake up to a pristine digital sanctuary and a witty Sloth Morning Briefing.
Demo
SlothClerk provides both a cozy, dark earthy Web Dashboard and a one-liner rich terminal CLI:
1. The Cozy Web Dashboard
-
Warm Sloth Palette: Sage greens (
#84a98c), earthy clay (#d4a373), deep forest slate (#141a18), and cream (#f4ede2). - Dry-Run Review Deck: Inspect proposed rename/move diffs, confidence scores, and hilarious sloth rationales before approving.
- Before vs. After Visualizer: See loose chaotic files transformed into tidy semantic trees.
- Nap Mode Toggle: Turn on live folder monitoring with a gentle pulsating indicator.
- "Tidy Everything & Let Me Sleep" Button: One-click execution.
2. The Terminal CLI & Sloth Morning Briefing
For power users who prefer the command line:
# Preview what SlothClerk wants to do without moving a single byte:
python -m slothclerk tidy --dry-run
SlothClerk Organization Plan (DRY-RUN)
ββββββββββββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββββββ¬βββββββββββββββββ¬ββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββββββ
β Original File β Clean Filename β Category β Conf. β Sloth Summary β
ββββββββββββββββββΌββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββββββββββΌββββββββΌββββββββββββββββββ€
β 2026_internetβ¦ β 2026-10-invoicβ¦ β Documents/Invβ¦ β 78% β Slowly dragged β
β β β β β this invoice β
β β β β β into the folder β
β β β β β while eyeing a β
β β β β β hammock. β
β chaotic_meetiβ¦ β 2026-10-notes-β¦ β Personal/Notes β 78% β Carefully β
β β β β β folded these β
β β β β β scattered notes.β
β untidy_tax_doβ¦ β 2026-10-tax-doβ¦ β Documents/Taxβ¦ β 78% β Gently slipped β
β β β β β this tax doc β
β β β β β under leaves. β
ββββββββββββββββββ΄ββββββββββββββββββ΄βββββββββββββββββ΄ββββββββ΄ββββββββββββββββββ
[i] Dry-run mode completed. No files were moved or altered.
To apply these changes, run: python -m slothclerk tidy --execute
And your personalized morning digest:
python -m slothclerk briefing
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββ Sloth Morning Briefing ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
β Morning Report: 6 Chores Finished Before You Woke Up β
β β
β While you were resting, 6 wandering files were slowly escorted into β
β Documents/Invoices, Documents/Receipts, and Personal/Notes. β
β Your desktop is tidy, no cloud servers were bothered, and your only β
β remaining obligation is a warm cup of coffee. β
β β
β Mood: Horizontal and Victorious π¦₯ | Date: Thursday, October 22, 2026 β
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
Code
The full source code is licensed under MIT and open-sourced on GitHub:
π¦₯ SlothClerk
"The AI file butler that does the chores while you snooze."
π Overview
SlothClerk is a zero-telemetry, 100% offline background file organizer powered by local open-weight models (via Ollama, natively supporting llama3.2:3b, mistral:latest, or qwen2.5:3b).
Modern digital work leaves desktops and download folders buried in messy names like IMG_9421_screenshot_receipt.png, statement_final_v2(3).pdf, or unorganized_dataset.csv. Manual cleanup is tedious, while sending personal tax forms, invoices, and contracts to cloud AI APIs compromises privacy and racks up subscription costs.
SlothClerk solves this the sloth way:
- Sleeps quietly in the background or runs as a quick CLI utility.
- Inspects messy documents (PDFs, text, markdown, CSV, JSON, images, code).
-
Uses local open-weight LLMs with strict JSON schema outputs to deduce true semantic categories and clean, standardized filenames (e.g.
2026-10-invoice-internet-provider.pdf). - Applies dry-runs by default with a single-click "Approve & Execute" or background "Nap Mode" (Watchdog live folderβ¦
Repository Architecture:
-
slothclerk/extractor.py: Multi-format text and metadata extractor (PDF, CSV, JSON, Markdown, EXIF). -
slothclerk/agent.py: Structured JSON prompt engine for local Ollama open-weight models, featuring lazy sloth persona synthesis and offline heuristics. -
slothclerk/organizer.py: Atomic rename/move engine with automatic collision resolution (file_1.pdf) and zero deletions. -
slothclerk/watcher.py: Background folder observer ("Nap Mode") with write-debounce powered bywatchdog. -
slothclerk/server.py: FastAPI server with clean lifespan event handling and dynamic model switching. -
slothclerk/cli.py: Cross-platform CLI with Rich tables, ANSI banners, and instant undo triggers. -
web/: Modern single-page dashboard with Tailwind CSS and Lucide icons. -
tests/: 14 automated unit and integration tests passing cleanly.
How I Built It
SlothClerk is built from the ground up around open-weight models, local inference, and open-source tooling:
flowchart TD
subgraph Input["π₯ Cluttered Space"]
Inbox["Watched Folder (e.g. ~/Downloads, sample_clutter)"]
MessyFiles["Messy PDFs, Receipts, Screenshots, Data, Notes"]
Inbox --> MessyFiles
end
subgraph Core["π¦₯ SlothClerk Core Engine"]
Extractor["Extractor Engine (pypdf, Pillow, csv, utf-8)"]
PromptEngine["Structured Prompt & JSON Schema Validator"]
Ollama["Local Ollama Daemon (llama3.2:3b / mistral / qwen2.5)"]
Fallback["Offline Heuristic Engine (zero-network backup)"]
Organizer["Safety Organizer & Collision Resolver"]
Ledger[("SQLite Undo Ledger (.sloth_ledger.db)")]
MessyFiles --> Extractor
Extractor --> PromptEngine
PromptEngine -->|HTTP :11434| Ollama
PromptEngine -.->|If Ollama offline| Fallback
Ollama --> Organizer
Fallback --> Organizer
Organizer <--> Ledger
end
subgraph Output["π Organized Sanctuary & Dashboards"]
Dest["Destinations (/Documents/Invoices, /Media, /Archives, etc.)"]
WebUI["Web Dashboard (Nap Mode, Diff Visualizer, Undo)"]
CLI["Rich Terminal CLI (Dry-Run / Tidy / Undo / Briefing)"]
Organizer --> Dest
Organizer --> WebUI
Organizer --> CLI
end
1. Local Inference Core (Ollama + Open-Weight Models)
SlothClerk runs natively against a local Ollama daemon (http://localhost:11434). It defaults to llama3.2:3b for lightning-fast execution on modest laptops, while supporting mistral:latest, qwen2.5:3b, and gemma2:2b.
To make the AI 100% deterministic, SlothClerk enforces a strict JSON schema via Ollama's format="json" API:
class TidyRecommendation(BaseModel):
original_filename: str
suggested_filename: str
category: str
sloth_summary: str
confidence_score: float
reasoning: str
2. Multi-Format Text & Metadata Inspection
Before calling the model, extractor.py reads file contents in-memory without altering disk state:
-
PDFs: Extracts metadata (author, title) and text chunks using
pypdf. -
Images: Inspects dimensions and camera/timestamp EXIF tags using
Pillow. - CSVs & JSON: Samples headers and data rows to discern analytics exports from configs.
- Code & Markdown: Reads docstrings, headers, and comments across multiple encodings.
3. Absolute Safety: Dry-Runs & SQLite Undo Ledger
AI should never touch your filesystem without a safety net:
- Dry-run by default: Every move is previewed with a confidence score and reasoning before execution.
-
Collision Resolution: If
dest/invoice.pdfexists, SlothClerk auto-increments toinvoice_1.pdf. - Zero Deletions: Files are only ever moved into organized category paths.
-
SQLite Undo Ledger (
.sloth_ledger.db): Every action is logged with an atomicbatch_id. Clicking "Undo Last" or runningpython -m slothclerk undorestores files to their exact previous locations.
4. Background "Nap Mode"
Powered by Python's watchdog, Nap Mode runs in the background. It monitors the watched directory and uses write-completion debounce so partially downloaded files aren't moved before your browser finishes downloading them.
5. Resilient Offline Sloth Heuristics
If Ollama is not installed or the user is on an airplane with no GPU, SlothClerk automatically activates its built-in heuristic classifier. The entire UI, extraction pipeline, collision resolver, and undo ledger remain 100% functional.
Why Does Open Innovation Matter?
1. Privacy for Confidential Documents
The files sitting in your Downloads folder are your most sensitive assets: W-2 tax statements, medical records, bank receipts, payroll stubs, and proprietary code.
Sending those documents to third-party commercial cloud APIs means transmitting unencrypted personal data across external servers, creating privacy risks and telemetry exposure. With open-weight models running on local hardware, zero bytes of personal data ever leave your machine.
2. $0 Monthly API Costs
Commercial AI APIs charge per token. A file butler sorting thousands of documents over months would rack up continuous bills. Running open-source models like llama3.2:3b locally costs $0.00.
3. Model Agnosticism & Independence
Closed APIs can deprecate models, alter system prompts, or raise prices overnight. By building around open-weight models and standard Ollama interfaces, SlothClerk gives you full ownership: swap to a new model whenever you want, fine-tune your own weights, or run completely air-gapped forever.
My Agent Session
This project was conceived, designed, implemented, and verified using DevRelay and the Antigravity pair-programming agent environment.
The full transcriptβfrom scaffolding the FastAPI backend and designing the SQLite undo ledger to solving Windows console encoding quirks and writing 14 unit testsβwas recorded during the build.
You can inspect the entire interactive transcript on DEV:
(If the interactive embed is loading, you can also view the direct session log at dev.to/agent_sessions/slothclerk... or inspect the workflow logs on GitHub).
The Lazy Payoff
Let's do the math on laziness:
- The Manual Burden: The average developer spends 15 to 30 minutes every week hunting for lost files, renaming invoices for accounting, or clearing cluttered desktop screens. That's over 20 hours a year of mindless chores.
- The Sloth Solution: With SlothClerk running in Nap Mode, your effort drops to 0 minutes. You save files wherever your browser drops them. While you snooze, SlothClerk categorizes them, standardizes dates, and maintains a full audit log.
- Guilt-Free Mornings: Instead of waking up to anxiety-inducing red notification badges, you open your laptop to the Sloth Morning Briefing: "No panic detected. 6 chores finished. Go enjoy your coffee."
Prize Categories
- Overall Challenge Winner: Open-Source AI Challenge Week 3 ("Slow and Steady").
-
Best Use of Gemma: (Compatible with local Gemma 2 open-weight models via Ollama
ollama run gemma2:2b).
Built with calm care for Hacktoberfest 2026. May your weekend be slow, your models open-source, and your chores handled while you nap. π¦₯π€
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