I’m building a macOS file manager around context, not just folders

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about how people don’t really remember files by structure, and how context tends to shift over time.

Working through that, I started questioning something more basic.

What if the problem isn’t just that folders are too rigid?

What if the idea that a file should “belong” to one place is wrong in the first place?

Most file systems force a file into a single path.

But in reality, a file rarely has just one meaning.

It can be part of a project.
It can be reference material.
It can become relevant again later for a completely different reason.

The file doesn’t change.
The context around it does.

That’s the direction I’ve been exploring with Voyager.

Voyager is a macOS app I’m building to rethink file management around context instead of location.

Instead of putting files into folders,
it treats them as a set of attributes that can reflect different contexts at once.

Collections aren’t static folders.
They’re dynamic views built from those attributes.

If something matches the conditions, it shows up.
If the context changes, the view updates.

So instead of organizing files once and maintaining that structure,
you define what matters and let the system keep it up to date.

I’m also exploring how this connects with AI.

Not just for searching files,
but for actually working with them, organizing them, and acting on them in context.

It’s still early, but this shift has been interesting.

Less about putting files somewhere once,
more about keeping them connected to what they mean over time.

If you’re curious, I’ve been sharing more here:
https://voyager.fm

Curious how others think about this.

Does it make sense to treat files as something that belongs to multiple contexts,
instead of forcing them into one place?