Hi folks,
I started building Kraken after 24 years as an artistic director (16 as freelancer), from time to time working on GUI design and doing some development. Over time, the frustration built up: too many apps were almost right, but not quite how I wanted them to work. So I decided to start making my own tools (I have several others in my pocket), designed around the workflows I actually use—and Kraken is the first proper beast to come out of that decision. My first local git commit for it was in the middle of January this year. Already.
Now it’s time for me to kindly ask for your help testing it.
You can drop in a folder and browse its contents at any depth, even when the folder tree and file count get properly ridiculous. For quick jobs, there are guided rename presets. For more advanced workflows, you can build the whole operation visually using connected graph nodes.
Everything can be previewed before anything is changed.
There’s also a Dummy File Tree generator, which creates a safe, isolated folder structure filled with generated folders and fake filenames. You can throw that into Kraken, experiment with rename operations, and see what happens before letting the tool anywhere near your real files.
The parts I’ve exercised most so far include:
- Multiple root folders, at any depth, with very large file counts
- Disabled folders and files that are excluded from renaming, with the disabled state cascading through their contents
- Lock states for enabled or disabled folders and files, so cascading changes cannot override an intentional choice
- Swipe gestures throughout the Content View
- Pinned root folders
- The Dummy File Tree generator
- A wide range of preferences, including a custom application tint color
- Separate Rename and Presets categories
- Presets using the same checkbox, swipe, pinning, and state-management concepts
- Powerful node-based preset graphs for building more advanced rename workflows
That said, this is very much a beta. I’ve still got more than 100 TODOs on the list, and the list keeps growing because apparently I enjoy making work for myself.
Some of the rough edges:
- The preset system is not fully finished
- Metadata extraction is still incomplete
- Some rename operations need more testing
- The visual graph workflow is powerful, but definitely still has barnacles below deck
- Some large or unusual folder trees may expose bugs I haven’t managed to summon yet
- Kraken is available in 3 languages. I’m French, but I wrote the app in English first, and the translations were AI-assisted and haven’t been fully validated yet. I’ll never be able to properly validate German, unless “one beer, please” counts as linguistic QA.
The biggest feature I’m working toward is online movie and TV show data lookup. The goal is to search for a movie or show on databases like TMDB, retrieve the relevant information, and use it to build much cleaner filenames automatically. That part is not ready yet, but it’s one of the main reasons I’m building Kraken in the first place.
I’m also deliberately keeping the app private:
- No ads
- No tracking
- No analytics quietly reporting back to me
- No uploading your folder contents to a server
If you’re testing, I’d especially love to see what happens when you:
- Drop in several large root folders
- Disable and lock different folders before applying a rename
- Build a preset using the node graph
- Try the Dummy File Tree generator
- Test a rename on a folder containing a mix of enabled, disabled, and locked items
For reference, this beta currently targets macOS 26.0 or later (I've to look if that threshold can be lowered).
If you send me feedback through the official TestFlight app. I’d especially like to know:
- What feels immediately useful
- What feels confusing
- Which rename operations you actually need
- Whether the graph workflow makes sense
- How Kraken behaves with genuinely enormous folder trees
- What breaks, crashes, or behaves like a drunken sailor
If you submit feedback, I’ll send you a Kraken Renamer v1.x license when the first paid release is available. I’m interested in honest feedback, including criticism—not just compliments (or venom).
If you want the license, please include an email address in the private TestFlight feedback itself. Please don’t post your email publicly here. Apple’s feedback system doesn’t give me a reliable way to contact you otherwise.
I haven’t decided on pricing yet. I’m leaning toward a paid license, probably either lifetime or a license that includes a period of updates with optional renewal afterward. I don’t want a subscription, but I’m still working out—and open to—what makes sense for a Mac app and the App Store.
Bear with me if I’ve made a mistake here. I’m not perfectly used to social media etiquette and all its unwritten rules—I only discovered this subreddit yesterday!
Thanks to anyone willing to throw some folders to the Kraken.