Orbit

Hey Indie Hackers,

I just launched Orbit after several months of

building solo. Here's the story.

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THE PROBLEM I KEPT HAVING

My Downloads folder was a disaster. PDFs,

screenshots, audio samples, zip files — all

mixed together. I'd tried Hazel but kept

abandoning it because setting up rules manually

felt like a second job. I just wanted to describe

what I wanted and have it work.

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WHAT I BUILT

Orbit is an intelligent file automation app for

Mac. You create rules that watch folders and

automatically move, rename, organize, and process

your files based on conditions you define.

The AI part: you describe a rule in plain English

and Orbit builds it for you — conditions, actions,

everything. Uses Apple Intelligence or an on-device

local model so nothing leaves your Mac.

Core features:

- AI rule builder (plain English → working rule)

- 70+ pre-built templates across 8 categories

- Activity Log with full undo on every action

- Quarantine Mode for files you want to review

before committing

- Duplicate Scanner

- Analytics Dashboard showing storage impact

and rule health

- Menu bar monitoring — runs silently in background

- New actions: Run Script, Send Notification,

Resize Image, Change Extension

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THE BUSINESS MODEL

Free tier: 1 watched folder, 5 rules, no AI,

no templates. Enough to experience the value.

Orbit: $29.99 one-time. Full feature set,

unlimited everything, AI rule builder,

70+ templates.

Orbit Pro: $7.99/month. Everything in Orbit

plus AI-powered Smart Rename, Auto-Tag,

and Document Summarization (coming soon).

I went one-time purchase instead of pure

subscription because the Mac utility market

strongly prefers it — Hazel is $42 one-time

and has been successful for years. Recurring

revenue comes from the Pro tier for users who

want the AI features ongoing.

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THE TECH STACK

- Electron + React + Vite (desktop app)

- Supabase (license management, activation tracking)

- Stripe (payments)

- Resend (transactional email)

- Chokidar (file watching)

- Lovable (landing page)

- GitHub Releases (DMG distribution)

Built entirely by one person using AI-assisted

development. Total cost to build: mostly time,

some Supabase/Stripe/Resend costs which are

minimal until revenue starts.

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THE HONEST PART

Some things aren't perfect yet:

- Not code-signed yet (requires right-click → Open

on first launch). Apple Developer Program

enrollment is next.

- Pro AI features (Smart Rename, Auto-Tag) are

scaffolded but not live yet — the AI infrastructure

is there, real models coming in Phase 2.

- No Mac App Store presence yet.

I launched anyway because a working product with

rough edges beats a perfect product that never ships.

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WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR

Honest feedback on:

- Pricing — is $29.99 one-time the right call?

- The free tier limits — too restrictive?

Too generous?

- What features would make you switch from Hazel?

- Any Mac power users here who want to try it

and give feedback?

gotoorbit.app

Happy to answer any questions about the build,

the business decisions, or anything else.

This community helped me think through a lot

of the product decisions along the way —

glad to give back.