4 ms·
Ask HN: Why doesn't download default to upload origin?
I upload paper.tex from ~/projects/anamnesis/. I get help from an AI, produce a revised version. It downloads to ~/Downloads/.
Every time. Every tool. For thirty years.
The browser knows where I uploaded from. The download could go back there. It doesn't.
This seems obvious once you say it. Am I missing something? Is there a technical reason this can't work, or has nobody built it?
A browser extension or desktop app could:
Capture upload origin path
Store it for the session
Default downloads to that path
User overrides if needed
The conversation itself becomes provenance metadata - "this file went to Claude, here's what happened, here's what came back."
Has anyone built this? If not, why not?
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- anenefan 8mo agoDue to permissions. Any area a browser or other program / app would download to would have the necessary write permissions. For many users it would be irrelevant though with the exception of read only data like that from CD or DVD.
- ssdspoimdsjvv 8mo agoI think uploading a file, editing it and downloading it back is such an uncommon operation that it makes no sense to apply any smart heuristics.
- mathematicum 8mo agoRoutinely with the LLM's one uploads a file and they generate new files.