Hacker GitHub

← All repos

RhetTbull/osxphotos

View on GitHub ↗ ★ 3,967 Python

Python app to work with pictures and associated metadata from Apple Photos on macOS. Also includes a package to provide programmatic access to the Photos library, pictures, and metadata.

21 mentions on Hacker News by 14 people: 3 stories, 18 comments · first 2019-12-23 · latest 2026-01-26

Mentions per year 21 mentions · busiest year 2023 (7)
20082026
AllStoriesComments NewestTopOldest
  1. …want, but at least you should be able to look into the sqlite database it's using under the hood ( https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos/wiki/Understanding-th... )
    comment by dewey · 2026-01-26 · in Apple, What Have You Done?
  2. …like favorites from iPhone library to the Mac library. (can't go the other way unfortunately) [1] https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by rhettbull · 2026-01-13 · in iCloud Photos Downloader
  3. …exporting unmodified originals as well as edited versions, and XMP/AAE metadata alongside it. ^1: https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos ^2: https://www.photosync-app.com/home
    comment by 8fingerlouie · 2026-01-11 · in iCloud Photos Downloader
  4. …that works with Apple Photo’s SQLite database to let you manage all the photos in your library. https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by mbirth · 2026-01-11 · in iCloud Photos Downloader
  5. There is also osxphotos for macOS. https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by grgergo · 2025-09-17 · in Apple Photos app corrupts images
  6. …excellent osxphotos utility which can export / backup / migrate photos in and out of apple photos: https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by josephg · 2025-09-17 · in Apple Photos app corrupts images
  7. https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by bobbylarrybobby · 2025-09-05 · in Protobuffers Are Wrong (2018)
  8. …all of the years of metadata that I've built up in the library. The open source tool osxphotos ( https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos ) can help with this. You can export the JPEG images while preserving metadata using the thrid-party…
    comment by rhettbull · 2024-01-10 · in Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript
  9. https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos will do this: osxphotos query --min-size 100MB --add-to-album "Big Files" Finds all photos, videos > 100MB and adds them to the album "Big files" `osxphotos query --help` for more info or `osxphotos…
    comment by rhettbull · 2024-01-10 · in Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript
  10. Check out this which I believe has that feature: https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by LVB · 2024-01-06 · in Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript
  11. …to download all photos even the ones that are already stored locally. There’s also `osxphotos` ( https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos ) which works by reverse engineering the undocumented sqlite database in the photos library that Apple…
    comment by gerdemb · 2023-09-27 · in Ask HN: How do you manage photos, philosophically?
  12. …a file while not using twice the disk space (using reflinks) is still using the Objective-C API: https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos/blob/20ef78bbd45a6787...
    comment by kccqzy · 2023-09-11 · in Develop with Cocoa for Apple devices without using Objective-C
  13. …it will show you all the metadata for whichever photo is currently selected in the Photos app. [0] https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos [1] https://rhettbull.github.io/osxphotos/
    comment by rhettbull · 2023-09-07 · in Exploring EXIF
  14. I’ve been using this tool to backup Apple Photos library to an external drive: https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by rpgbr · 2023-03-17 · in Is something wrong with Amazon Photos? I lost 240k photos
  15. I personally do not have any photo comments but I suppose the software can handle it. From https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos#command-line-referenc... I think it will support exporting XMP metadata files with photo comments. Then from…
    comment by kccqzy · 2023-02-09 · in Photoprism – open-source Google Photos Alternative
  16. …iCloud Photos. I managed to export two-decades worth of pictures and videos using a separate tool ( https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos ) and then import into PhotoPrism. Coming from Apple Photos, the UI is a bit lackluster but the…
    comment by kccqzy · 2023-02-09 · in Photoprism – open-source Google Photos Alternative
  17. https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos A macOS command-line "multi-tool" for working with Apple Photos. Allows you to export photos (along with all the metadata), batch-edit metadata such as times and timezones, explore the AI metadata…
    comment by rhettbull · 2023-01-26 · in Ask HN: What have you created that deserves a second chance on HN?
  18. …and smart albums and tags etc. Was doing quite a bit of AppleScript programming before I discovered https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
    comment by kccqzy · 2022-12-05 · in Ask HN: What are some examples of cloud lock-in?
  19. ▲ 2
    Osxphotos: Python app, library to export pictures and metadata from macOS Photos
    story by nateb2022 · 2022-11-30 · 0 comments
  20. ▲ 1
    Python app to export pictures and associated metadata from Apple Photos on macOS
    story by valiant-comma · 2020-10-24 · 0 comments
  21. ▲ 3
    osxphotos: Access Photos.app from Python
    story by kylebarron · 2019-12-23 · 0 comments