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?

anenefan · 2 months ago

Due 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.

Deleted Comment

ssdspoimdsjvv · 2 months ago

I 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 · a month ago

Routinely with the LLM's one uploads a file and they generate new files.