Building an AI-Powered File Organizer with Python and Claude

I hate organizing files, especially the ones that pile up in my Downloads folder. It's like a digital junkyard that keeps growing, making it impossible to find anything when I need it. But what if I could automate this process using AI?

In this tutorial, we'll build a smart file organizer that uses Anthropic's Claude AI to automatically categorize and organize your files. Let's turn that messy Downloads folder into a well-organized directory structure!

You are not limited to using Anthropic's Claude AI. You can use any AI model that can classify files based on their content.

The Problem

Manual organization is time-consuming and often inconsistent. What if we could automate this process using AI?

The Solution

We'll create a Python script that:

Scans a directory of your choice
Uses Claude AI to intelligently categorize each file
Organizes files into appropriate folders based on their content
Handles duplicates and maintains a clean structure

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, you'll need:

Python 3.7+
An Anthropic API key (you can get one from Anthropic's website)
The following Python packages:
```
pip install anthropic pathlib
```

The Code Breakdown

Let's look at the key components of our file organizer:

1. Setting Up the Organizer

class ClaudeFileOrganizer:
    def __init__(self):
        self.api_key = self._get_api_key()
        self.source_dir = self._get_directory()
        self.organized_dir = self.source_dir / "organized"
        self.client = anthropic.Anthropic(api_key=self.api_key)

This initializes our organizer with:

User's API key (securely input)
Source directory to organize
Output directory for organized files
Anthropic client for AI classification

2. File Classification with Claude

The magic happens in the classify_file method:

def classify_file(self, file_info: Dict) -> str:
    prompt = f"""
    You are a productivity guru! 🧠📚🚀
    Based on the following file information, suggest a single appropriate category:
    Filename: {file_info['name']}
    Type: {file_info['mime_type']}
    Created: {file_info['created']}
    """

    message = self.client.messages.create(
        model="claude-3-sonnet-20240229",
        max_tokens=1024,
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": prompt}]
    )

    category = message.content[0].text.strip().lower()
    return category

This method:

Takes file metadata as input
Constructs a prompt for Claude
Gets an AI-powered category suggestion
Returns a standardized category name

3. The Organization Process

The main organization logic happens in organize_files:

Scans the source directory
Processes each file
Creates category folders
Handles duplicate files
Moves files to their new homes

# Create category directory
category_dir = self.organized_dir / category
category_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

# Handle duplicates with timestamps
if new_path.exists():
    timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
    new_path = category_dir / f"{file_path.stem}_{timestamp}{file_path.suffix}"

shutil.move(str(file_path), str(new_path))

Smart Features

Rate Limiting: The script includes a 5-second delay between API calls to avoid rate limits:
```
time.sleep(5)  # Prevent API rate limiting
```

Progress Tracking: Real-time progress updates keep you informed:

print(f"\rProgress: {processed_files}/{total_files} files processed", end="")

Error Handling: Robust error handling ensures the script doesn't crash on issues:

try:
    # Process file
except Exception as e:
    self.logger.error(f"Error processing file {file_path}: {str(e)}")
    continue

Logging: Comprehensive logging helps track operations and debug issues:

logging.basicConfig(
    level=logging.INFO,
    format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s',
    handlers=[
        logging.FileHandler('file_organizer.log'),
        logging.StreamHandler()
    ]
)

How to Use It

Save the script as file_organizer.py
Install required packages:
```
pip install anthropic pathlib
```
Run the script:
```
python file_organizer.py
```
Enter your Anthropic API key when prompted
Provide the directory path you want to organize
Watch as your files get automatically organized!

The Results

Your files will be organized into these categories:

📄 documents
🖼️ images
🎵 audio
🎥 video
📦 archives
💻 code
📊 data
⬇️ downloads
📁 other

Each category gets its own folder, making it easy to find what you need.

Future Improvements

Here are some ways you could enhance the script:

Add custom category definitions
Implement file content analysis for better classification
Add a preview mode to see changes before applying them
Add support for recursive directory organization
Create a GUI interface