icloudpd-web 2026.4.20

Web UI for icloud-photos-downloader

icloudpd-web

Release

• Python Package
• Docker Image

Overview

• Warning: This is a public software from personal project that comes without any warranties. You may use it for personal usages at your own risk. You can contribute to the project by submitting a feature request or a bug report via Github issues.
• icloud-photos-downloader is a CLI tool for downloading iCloud photos and videos.
• icloudpd-web is an application that provides a web UI wrapper around the icloudpd Python library.
• The application allows managing multiple icloudpd settings ("policies" in icloupd-web) through the web UI and monitoring the progress of the downloads.
• The application bundles a static next.js application in a fastapi server. Therefore, you can spin up the server and use the web UI using the python distribution.

Screenshots

Installation

Requires Python 3.12+.

pipx install icloudpd-web

Development

Backend (Python, uv):

uv sync --dev
make dev-backend    # http://127.0.0.1:8000

Frontend (Vite, in another terminal):

make install-web
make dev-web        # http://127.0.0.1:5173 with proxy to :8000

Production build:

make build          # builds web into src/icloudpd_web/web_dist and uv-builds the wheel

Once built, icloudpd-web hosts both API and UI on a single port.

First run

Generate a password hash, set the session secret, and start the server:

export ICLOUDPD_WEB_PASSWORD_HASH=$(icloudpd-web init-password yourpassword)
export ICLOUDPD_WEB_SESSION_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
icloudpd-web --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Data lives in ~/.icloudpd-web/ by default (override with --data-dir).

Usage

run icloudpd-web --help to see the available options.

User Flow

• Log in with the server password (set via ICLOUDPD_WEB_PASSWORD_HASH).
• View all policies on landing. Policies are TOML files in ~/.icloudpd-web/policies/.
• Create, edit, duplicate, or delete policies through the REST API.
• Authenticate a policy with iCloud credentials; handle 2FA when required.
• Start or stop a policy run; stream live logs and progress via SSE.
• Monitor run history; log files are stored at ~/.icloudpd-web/runs/{policy}/{run_id}.log.

Details

• The user can add, edit, duplicate, delete, start and stop a policy.
• Download progress of a policy can be viewed through the SSE log stream or the stored log files.
• Refer to the example_policy/example.toml for the policy format.
• Refer to the icloudpd docs for the underlying CLI options.

Technical Details

Architecture

• Backend: FastAPI (Python 3.12). REST for mutations + SSE for log/progress streaming.
• icloudpd integration: icloudpd is run as a subprocess (not imported). One subprocess per run; logs captured to ~/.icloudpd-web/runs/{policy}/{run_id}.log.
• Policies: one TOML file per policy at ~/.icloudpd-web/policies/*.toml, atomic writes.
• Scheduler: 1 Hz asyncio tick. Cron expressions per policy; overlapping fires are skipped.
• Auth: single-user server password (scrypt-hashed, set via env var); cookie session.
• Secrets: iCloud passwords in ~/.icloudpd-web/secrets/*.password (file mode 0600, never returned to clients).
• 2FA: handled via icloudpd's MFA provider mechanism plus a local file-backed callback.
• Integrations: Apprise (server-wide notifications) and aws s3 sync (per-policy).

Term of Use

The copyright of icloudpd-web ("the software") fully belongs to the author(s). The software is free to use for personal, educational, or non-commercial purposes only. Unauthorized use to generate revenue is not allowed.

License

This project is licensed under CC BY-NC-4.0. This means:

You can:

• Use this package for personal projects
• Modify and distribute the code
• Use it for academic or research purposes

You cannot:

• Use this package for commercial purposes
• Sell the code or any modifications
• Include it in commercial products

For full license details, see the LICENSE file.