A Hazel alternative with a dry run.
Edna files your downloads, scans and screenshots by rules, like Hazel. The difference is that you see every move before it happens.
Why people look for one
- Hazel gives no warning when a rule stops firing, so you find out weeks later.
- Its Preview Rule checks whether conditions match, one file at a time. It doesn’t show what the rule would do to the folder.
- Its log opens in Console, and its rules live in a binary file only its own window edits.
What Edna does differently
- A new rule starts as a dry run. Nothing moves until you switch it on.
- Preview runs the whole rule on the folder’s real files and shows each new name and destination.
- Activity shows, per file, each condition, what it expected and what it found.
edna explainprints the same in Terminal. - Moves, renames, tags and Trash can be reverted. Shell scripts can’t.
- The menu bar icon turns into a warning when a watched folder goes missing.
- Rules are plain JSON. A command line tool and an MCP server come with the download, and an AI client can draft a rule as a dry run. It never acts on your files.
Edna and Hazel side by side
| Hazel 6 | Edna | |
|---|---|---|
| Testing a rule | Shows whether conditions match, one file at a time | Shows the new name and folder for every file |
| A new rule | Acts on files as soon as it’s on | Starts as a dry run |
| History | A log file you open in Console | Each file, each condition, the value it saw |
| Your rules | A binary .hazelrules file | Plain JSON and a command line tool |
| AI | None | Drafts rules over MCP, as dry runs |
| Price | $42 | Free in beta, then $29 once |
Switch in three steps
- Export your rules from Hazel.
- In Edna, choose File › Import Hazel Rules.
- Check each dry run in Activity, then switch the rule on.
Edna runs the common rules: name, extension, kind, dates and contents, with move, copy, rename and Trash. A rule that needs something Edna can’t run yet comes in switched off, with the reason.
If Hazel works for you, keep it
Import your rules into Edna anyway. They run as dry runs next to Hazel, so you can compare the two without moving a file.
What you need
A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 15 Sequoia or later. Edna is free during the beta. Edna 1.0 will cost $29 once for two Macs, with no subscription and no account.
Edna isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open System Settings, Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway.