iCloud Image Labeler

Auto-label your Apple Photos library using any OpenAI-compatible LLM. Generates keywords, titles, descriptions, and OCR text for photos and videos, then writes the metadata back into Photos.app.

Works with any OpenAI-compatible API — designed for LM Studio but also works with Ollama, vLLM, or cloud providers.

How It Works

Photos.app ──> Discovery ──> Export ──> LLM ──> Writer ──> Photos.app
               (osxphotos)   (Pillow)   (API)   (PhotoScript)

1. Discovery — Queries the Photos library for media with no keywords set, filtered by date range and media type.
2. Export — Exports photos as JPEG (with HEIC/iCloud fallbacks), extracts frames from videos via ffmpeg.
3. LLM — Sends images to an OpenAI-compatible API. Returns structured JSON with keywords, title, description, and OCR text.
4. Writer — Writes metadata back into Photos.app via PhotoScript (AppleScript automation).

Photos are processed in parallel (configurable thread count), videos sequentially.

Requirements

• macOS (requires Photos.app and AppleScript)
• Python 3.10+
• ffmpeg (for video frame extraction)
• An OpenAI-compatible LLM API (LM Studio, Ollama, etc.)

Installation

brew tap ziadalzarka/tap
brew install icloud-image-labeler

iCloud Settings

For best performance, go to System Settings → Apple Account → iCloud → Photos and enable Download Originals to this Mac. This downloads all photos in advance so the labeler doesn't have to wait for individual iCloud downloads during processing.

Quick Start

# Interactive setup — connects to your LLM and picks a model
icloud-image-labeler init

# Process all unprocessed media
icloud-image-labeler run

Usage

# Process 5 items from the last 30 days
icloud-image-labeler run --limit 5 --days 30

# Preview without writing (dry run)
icloud-image-labeler run --dry-run

# Photos only, skip videos
icloud-image-labeler run --no-video

# Process media from 60 to 30 days ago
icloud-image-labeler run --days 60 --to-days 30

# Process specific photos by UUID
icloud-image-labeler run --uuid ABC123 DEF456

# Run continuously (daemon-style loop)
icloud-image-labeler run --loop

# Use a specific model or API endpoint
icloud-image-labeler run --base-url http://localhost:1234/v1 --model my-model

# Debug logging
icloud-image-labeler run -v

All run Options

Configuration

Config is stored at ~/.image-labeler/config.json. Run icloud-image-labeler init for interactive setup, or manage directly:

icloud-image-labeler config show          # View current config
icloud-image-labeler config set days 14   # Update a value
icloud-image-labeler config reset         # Reset to defaults
icloud-image-labeler config path          # Print config file path

If no config exists when you run icloud-image-labeler run, the setup wizard launches automatically.

Daemon

Run as a background service that auto-starts on login via macOS Launch Agent:

icloud-image-labeler daemon start     # Install and start Launch Agent
icloud-image-labeler daemon status    # Check if running
icloud-image-labeler daemon restart   # Apply config changes
icloud-image-labeler daemon stop      # Uninstall Launch Agent

The daemon runs as com.image-labeler under ~/Library/LaunchAgents/. It auto-restarts on crash and starts on login. Logs go to ~/.image-labeler/daemon.log.

Metrics

Processing metrics are stored in SQLite at ~/.image-labeler/metrics.db.

icloud-image-labeler metrics serve              # Open Datasette UI at http://localhost:8001
icloud-image-labeler metrics serve --port 9000  # Custom port
icloud-image-labeler metrics path               # Print database path

Per-item metrics: export/LLM/write durations, image dimensions, LLM retry count, keyword count, OCR presence, error details, and model used.

Per-run metrics: items found/processed/failed, wall-clock duration, model, thread count, and average LLM latency.

Architecture

labeler/
  cli.py        — argparse CLI (init, run, daemon, config, metrics subcommands)
  init.py       — interactive first-run setup wizard
  config.py     — ~/.image-labeler/config.json management
  discovery.py  — osxphotos query for unprocessed media
  exporter.py   — photo export (HEIC/iCloud fallbacks), video frame extraction
  llm.py        — OpenAI-compatible client, JSON parsing, retry logic
  processor.py  — batch orchestration, parallel photos + sequential videos
  writer.py     — PhotoScript metadata writes (thread-safe)
  metrics.py    — SQLite metrics recording
  daemon.py     — macOS Launch Agent lifecycle
  shutdown.py   — graceful shutdown (SIGINT/SIGTERM handling)
  checks.py     — pre-flight dependency checks (ffmpeg, Photos.app)

License

MIT