arvel-image 0.6.1

Fluent, type-safe image manipulation for Arvel — Spatie Image v3 parity, Pillow-only.

arvel-image

Image transforms and a polymorphic media library for Arvel — Python ports of two Spatie packages in one wheel:

• spatie/image v3 — fluent, Pillow-backed transforms.
• spatie/laravel-medialibrary v11 — a polymorphic media table that attaches files to any model.

Status: Pre-alpha.

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Documentation: https://arvel.dev/packages/image

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Install

uv add arvel-image
# or: pip install arvel-image

For AVIF / HEIC support, add Pillow-HEIF:

uv add 'arvel-image[heif]'

Image transforms

Image is a fluent, synchronous wrapper around Pillow — no external binaries, no shell calls.

from arvel_image import Image

(
    Image.load("photo.jpg")
    .orient()                 # honour EXIF rotation
    .fit("cover", 800, 600)
    .format("webp")
    .quality(85)
    .save("photo.webp")
)

# Get bytes (useful inside a request handler)
thumbnail: bytes = (
    Image.load("avatar.jpg").fit("cover", 256, 256).format("png").to_bytes()
)

The chain is lazy — load and the pixel operations just record what to do, and nothing decodes or transforms until a terminal runs. So in an async handler, reach for the *_async terminals; they offload the whole pipeline (decode + transforms + encode) to a worker thread, keeping the event loop free:

from arvel_image import Image

data: bytes = await (
    Image.load(source).fit("cover", 256, 256).format("webp").to_bytes_async()
)

await Image.load(source).fit("cover", 256, 256).save_async("avatar.webp")

Operations

Method	Description
Image.load(source)	Load from a path, file-like object, or bytes
.orient()	Auto-rotate based on EXIF orientation
.fit(mode, width, height)	"cover" or "contain"
.resize(width=…, height=…)	Stretch to exact dimensions
.crop(left=…, top=…, width=…, height=…)	Crop to a fixed window
.width(px) / .height(px)	Single-axis resize, preserves aspect ratio
.format(fmt)	"jpeg", "png", "webp", "gif"
.quality(q)	1–100, applies to JPEG and WebP
.background(color)	Fill transparent areas (e.g. "white", "#fff")
.optimize()	Enable Pillow's optimizer pass
.save(path)	Write to disk
.save_async(path)	awaitable .save() — offloads to a thread
.to_bytes()	Return raw bytes
.to_bytes_async()	awaitable .to_bytes() — offloads to a thread

Media library

HasMedia gives any model a polymorphic media collection — upload, store, retrieve, and auto-convert files attached to any row.

Register the provider in bootstrap/providers.py and run the migration:

from arvel_image import ImageServiceProvider

providers = [
    # ...other providers...
    ImageServiceProvider,
]

arvel migrate

Add HasMedia to a model

from arvel.database import Model, Timestamps, id_, string
from arvel_image import HasMedia, MediaCollection, Conversion


class Post(Model, Timestamps, HasMedia):
    __tablename__ = "posts"

    id: int = id_()
    title: str = string(200)

    def register_media_collections(self) -> None:
        (
            MediaCollection("cover")
            .single_file(True)             # one cover image per post
            .with_conversions(
                Conversion("thumb").fit("cover", 400, 300).format("webp"),
                Conversion("og").fit("contain", 1200, 630).format("jpeg").quality(90),
            )
            .register_on(self)
        )

Attach media

post = await Post.find_or_fail(post_id)

# From a file path
await post.add_media("uploads/photo.jpg").to_media_collection("cover")

# From uploaded bytes
await post.add_media(file_bytes, file_name="cover.jpg").to_media_collection("cover")

# From a URL (SSRF-guarded)
await post.add_media_from_url("https://example.com/image.jpg").to_media_collection("cover")

# From a base64 data URI
await post.add_media_from_base64(data_uri, file_name="cover.jpg").to_media_collection("cover")

Retrieve media

media_list = await post.get_media("cover")                          # all, ordered
url = await post.get_media_url("cover")                             # original
thumb_url = await post.get_media_url("cover", conversion="thumb")   # derived
first = await post.get_first_media("cover")
await post.clear_media_collection("cover")

Conversions

Conversions are declarative chains. They run in a background job (GenerateImageConversionsJob) dispatched automatically after each add_media call — no manual wiring:

from arvel_image.media.conversion import Conversion

Conversion("thumb").fit("cover", 400, 300).format("webp").quality(80)
Conversion("og").fit("contain", 1200, 630).format("jpeg").quality(90)
Conversion("avatar").resize(width=128, height=128).format("png")

Collection options

MediaCollection is a fluent builder:

(
    MediaCollection("gallery")
    .single_file(False)                          # keep all files (default)
    .only_keep_latest(10)                        # prune oldest beyond 10
    .accept_mime_types(["image/jpeg", "image/png"])
    .max_file_size(5 * 1024 * 1024)              # 5 MB limit
    .use_disk("s3")                              # separate disk for originals
    .use_conversions_disk("s3-public")           # separate disk for derivatives
    .use_fallback_url("/images/placeholder.jpg")
    .register_on(self)
)

Why one package?

Laravel apps that use spatie/image almost always use spatie/laravel-medialibrary too. Shipping both in one wheel means one extras flag (arvel[image]), one arvel migrate, and one provider to register. The transform API (Image) is standalone — you can use it without the media library.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.