Foldsmith

Browser extension · Chrome & Firefox

Thirty workflows.
One flat list.

Foldsmith folds the GitHub Actions sidebar into collapsible folders — using the naming convention your repository already uses. Nothing to configure, nothing to install in your repo.

Add to Chrome Add to Firefox

Both store listings are in review. The buttons go live here the moment they are approved.

  • No token
  • No server
  • No data collected
  • MIT licensed

Before 33 workflows, one flat list

The GitHub Actions sidebar as a flat list of 33 similarly-named workflows, running off the bottom of the screen.

After 11 folders

The same sidebar folded into eleven collapsible folders — PR, CI, Build, Release, Deploy, Infra, Ops, Docs, Chore, Deprecated — with unmatched workflows still visible at the bottom.
Real screenshots. Same repository, same moment, one toggle apart.

How it works

Foldsmith reads the workflow names GitHub has already rendered. It never calls an API, and it never touches a file in your repository.

Name your workflows

A number, a folder, a name. The number orders the folders and is hidden from the row.

# .github/workflows/pr-validations.yml
name: 1 | PR | Validations

The sidebar folds itself

Folders sort numerically — so 10 comes after 6, not after 1. 

▼ PR
    Validations
    Slash Commands
▶ CI
▶ Build

Nothing is ever hidden

Workflows that don't match your convention stay exactly where GitHub put them, below the folders. 

▶ Infra
▶ [DEPRECATED]
Legacy workflow
Nightly cleanup

Your convention, not ours

The default is {order} | {folder} | {name}, but the pattern is a field in the popup. Use whatever your repo already does:

Pattern Matches
{order} | {folder} | {name} 3 | Build | Create RC
[{order}] {folder} - {name} [3] Build - Create RC
{folder} :: {name} Build :: Create RC

An invalid pattern shows an inline error and is never saved — your sidebar keeps working while you type.

The Foldsmith popup: a Folders toggle, the naming standard field, a Subfolders toggle, and the subfolder pattern field.

Subfolders, as deep as you like

Turn them on and a second pattern applies to whatever is left, over and over. Extra separators in a name are preserved, never swallowed. 

6 | Infra | Terraform | Production | Apply

becomes Infra ▸ Terraform ▸ Production ▸ Apply. A workflow with no subfolder sits directly under its parent, where you'd expect it.

The Infra folder expanded, showing Emergency Cleanup directly inside it plus nested Kubernetes and Terraform subfolders, with Production nested a third level deep.

Try it, right here

This runs the extension's actual parser — the same file, copied unchanged. Paste your own workflow names and see exactly what your sidebar would look like.

Starting the demo… If this message stays, the page is being opened straight from disk — browsers block scripts like this one on file:// URLs. Serve the folder over http (python3 -m http.server -d public) or use the published page.

Setting it up in your repository

There is nothing to install on GitHub's side — you are only editing the name: field at the top of each workflow file. Rename one to try it; the rest keep working untouched.

  1. Pick a number and a folder for each workflow, and put them in the name:

    # .github/workflows/ci-tests.yml
name: 2 | CI | Tests            ← was: Tests

on:
  pull_request:

  2. Group anything that belongs together under the same number and folder:

    name: 2 | CI | Tests
name: 2 | CI | Lint
name: 2 | CI | Codacy

  3. Need a level deeper? Add another separator and turn subfolders on in the popup:

    name: 6 | Infra | Terraform | Plan
name: 6 | Infra | Terraform | Apply

  4. Commit, open the Actions tab, and the folders are there. Workflow names are display-only — renaming one does not change its file, its triggers, its history, or its badge URL.

Privacy, stated plainly

Foldsmith collects no data. There is no account, no server, and no analytics — and that is verifiable, not a promise.

  • No network requests of any kind
  • No GitHub token, OAuth, or API calls
  • No analytics, telemetry, or crash reporting
  • No remote code — everything that runs ships in the package
  • No reading or sending of your code, secrets, or run logs
  • No selling or sharing of data, because none is collected

What is stored, and where

Your four settings
Folders on/off, the naming pattern, subfolders on/off, the subfolder pattern — in your browser's own extension storage.
Which folders you collapsed
Per repository, locally, so the sidebar looks the same next visit.

That's the whole list. Uninstalling removes it. Foldsmith is injected only on github.com/*/*/actions pages and nowhere else.

This page holds itself to the same standard: no analytics, no tracking pixels, no cookies, and no third-party requests — not even a web font. The only script it loads is the demo above, which is the extension's own parser running locally in your browser. Check it in your devtools network tab.

Get it

Foldsmith is submitted to both stores and awaiting review. Nothing to sign up for — check back, or the buttons below will simply start working.

Chrome, Edge, Brave

Add to Chrome

Chrome Web Store — pending review.

Questions

Does it work on private repositories?

Yes. Foldsmith reads the page your browser has already loaded, so whatever you can see, it can fold. It never authenticates as you, because it never talks to anything.

Do I have to rename my workflows?

Only if you want folders. Workflows that don't match the pattern are left exactly where they are — so you can adopt the convention one workflow at a time, and nothing breaks in the meantime.

What happens if GitHub redesigns the sidebar?

Foldsmith does nothing and GitHub stays completely usable. Finding the sidebar is deliberately isolated to one small file, so a redesign is a quick fix rather than a rewrite.

Is this made by GitHub?

No. Foldsmith is an independent project, built by AxeForging, with no affiliation to GitHub, Inc. See the note in the footer.