NameSake

Give every file the name of the folder it lives in.

A small local tool for anyone whose exports come out as DSC_4471.raw and need to come out as Iceland 2024 DSC_4471.raw. Point it at a root folder, and every file in every subfolder inherits its folder's name as a prefix.

What it does

NameSake walks a root folder recursively. In each subfolder it finds, every file is renamed to <folder name> <original name>:

2024 Shoots/                          2024 Shoots/
├── Iceland 2024/                     ├── Iceland 2024/
│   ├── DSC_4471.raw          →       │   ├── Iceland 2024 DSC_4471.raw
│   └── DSC_4472.raw                  │   └── Iceland 2024 DSC_4472.raw
└── Studio Portraits/                 └── Studio Portraits/
    └── headshot.jpg                      └── Studio Portraits headshot.jpg

Files that already carry the prefix are left alone, so a second run is a no-op — you never get Iceland 2024 Iceland 2024 DSC_4471.raw.

Running it

Double-click Launcher.command. It creates the virtual environment on first run, installs Flask, starts the server on 127.0.0.1:5000 and opens your browser.

Or start it by hand:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py

Then open http://127.0.0.1:5000.

Command line

The same rename, without the interface:

python rename_files.py "/Users/you/Pictures/2024 Shoots"

What it will not touch

Renaming in bulk is irreversible, so NameSake is deliberately conservative:

• Files directly in the root are skipped. Only files inside subfolders are renamed — the root folder's own name is never applied.
• Dotfiles are skipped, so .DS_Store and friends stay as they are.
• Existing files are never overwritten. If the target name is already taken, the file is reported as an error and left untouched. (os.rename would silently replace it on macOS and Linux; NameSake checks first.)
• Nothing leaves your machine. The server binds to 127.0.0.1 and makes no network requests — no fonts, no analytics, no CDN.

There is no undo. The transform is invertible by hand — strip the <folder name> prefix — but check the folder you picked before you run it.

Interface

• Pick a folder with the system dialog, or paste a path directly.
• ⏎ runs, ⌘O opens the folder picker.
• The counters double as log filters — click Errors to see only what failed.
• Copy puts the whole log on the clipboard as plain text.

Requirements

macOS, Python 3.9+, and Flask. The folder picker uses AppleScript, so that part is macOS-only; the CLI script runs anywhere.