One workbench, eight everyday jobs.
Alayo is a visual file workbench. Files stay where they are — you manage them on the canvas. AI proposes, you approve, and you can always undo. Here’s what that looks like in real work.
01 · Inbox filing
Receipts and contracts, placed for you
Scans, invoices, and contracts fall into Downloads — and stay there. Filing by hand costs too much attention; classic auto-filing rules ask you to program keyword forms first.
Make Downloads a monitored folder: when a new file appears, the Review Inbox first asks whether it comes in; AI reads the content and suggests your existing “2026 Expenses”; you approve with a glance, and the file actually moves there. Wrong spot? One undo puts it back.
02 · Batch rename
File names that speak
A hundred IMG_0231.jpg — a file with a mute name is half lost.
Say “rename by content” and AI names each file by what’s inside: invoices by vendor and amount, screenshots by what’s on screen. Every change is listed for review before it happens, and undoable after — every image ends up with a name you can read.
03 · Media triage
From a full card to final cuts
Back from a shoot, a card full of footage: picking, sorting, and filing is an afternoon.
Drop it on the canvas: shoot time, duration, and resolution are extracted automatically; preview and compare in place; bucket by shoot date, then commit to real project folders — done in ten minutes.
04 · Research map
Spread a whole topic out in front of you
Thirty PDFs in a list are just thirty file names.
Lay them on the canvas and say “group by topic”: every paper gets an AI summary, and every related-file link says why it’s related — no black-box magic. Looking for specific ones? Just ask the command bar.
More scenarios
Same workbench, different desk.
Case files & project dossiers
One space per case — while the files stay where they live: external drives, shared volumes, no moving required. The same contract can sit in both “Client A” and “2026 To Archive”: not copies, the file itself. When the case closes, its structure can land on disk as real folders, ready to hand over.
Rules in plain words
No query syntax to learn — say “pick out last month’s screenshots”, and AI compiles the rule, shows you a plain-language readout and the match count, and only runs once you confirm. Rules can be saved and replayed.
Coming soonAlayo notices what you keep doing by hand and drafts the rule for you to claim — you skip even the “think up a rule” step.
An inbox that doesn’t nag
Open your space in the morning: last night’s arrivals sit in the inbox with AI-suggested homes — one minute to scan, accept all. No red badges, no reminders. “Not sorted yet” is a normal state, not a debt.
Coming soonStanding rules file things ahead of you, with every result still landing in the inbox for your review.
Order that outlives the app
Groups land as real folders — uninstall Alayo and your structure is still there, because it was never anything else. What you build up isn’t a library; it’s an order that travels with you.
Coming soonExtract that order as shareable templates, or feed it to your other AI tools.
Switching from DEVONthink?
Try it without moving a thing.
No import, no new database. Point Alayo at the folders you already have and start: folders DEVONthink indexes work as-is, and for documents inside the database, export once and make that folder a monitored folder. If it’s not for you, walk away: your files never moved.
Zero migration
Trying Alayo doesn’t mean importing your library. Point it at real folders and begin — and there’s no “export” on the way out either.
Rehearse, then commit
Moves and groupings happen on the canvas first; nothing touches disk until you approve, and it’s undoable after. No more “where did it put my file?”
Plain words, not query forms
Where smart rules ask for forms and syntax, you say one sentence: AI compiles the rule, shows the match count, and waits for your nod.
Order that isn’t locked in
Your groups become real folders that any app — including your other AI tools — can read. No proprietary format between you and your files.
You don’t have to leave DEVONthink, either: keep the library as your archive, with Alayo as the workbench beside it. And on AI — the difference isn’t whether it’s there, but which layer it lives in. Not a chat sidebar bolted onto a database: every organizing step is proposed first, approved by you, and undoable. AI proposes. You decide.
Be among the first at the workbench.
The 1.0 presale is open — $39 early bird, fully refundable anytime before launch.
Join the presale list →Your email is all it takes — you’ll be first to know when checkout opens.