immich-export

Export supported originals and metadata from Immich — albums, people, tags, descriptions, favorites, and coordinates — into a human-readable local folder tree.

The result is useful for inspection, migration, and an additional local copy. It is not a replacement for independent, tested backups of Immich and its database.

immich-export/
  library/2024/03/IMG_1234.jpg          # primary tree (self-contained mode)
  library/2024/03/IMG_1234.jpg.xmp      # sidecar: tags, people, albums, description, geo, favorite
  albums/Japan-2019/IMG_1234.jpg        # → symlink into library/
  people/Anna/IMG_1234.jpg              # → symlink into library/
  manifest.jsonl                        # append-only verified-state history
  manifest-current.jsonl                # authoritative current verified set
  manifest.csv                          # human-readable current projection
  export-report.txt                     # counts, warnings, errors, timing

Status

Released 0.1.1 — verified on PyPI, as a GitHub Release, and through fileworks/tap on 2026-08-01. Development after that tag is unreleased until the release workflow runs.

Overview

immich-export reads your Immich library through its API and writes a plain folder tree you can open in any file manager: originals, XMP sidecars carrying tags, people, albums, descriptions and coordinates, and symlinked album and person views. Every run is verifiable and resumable.

It is an escape hatch, not a backup. It gives you a readable copy of what Immich holds; it does not replace tested backups of Immich and its database.

Install

pipx install immich-export
# or
brew install fileworks/tap/immich-export

Version 0.1.1 is published on PyPI, as a GitHub Release, and through fileworks/tap. Development after that tag remains unreleased until the normal release workflow runs.

Quick start

export IMMICH_SERVER=https://immich.local:2283
export IMMICH_API_KEY=…            # never passed on the command line
immich-export --out ~/immich-export

The first run copies originals and writes sidecars. Every later run rehashes what is already there and transfers only what changed.

Usage

export IMMICH_SERVER=https://immich.local:2283
export IMMICH_API_KEY=...   # Immich → Account Settings → API Keys

# full portable export (copies originals)
immich-export --out ./immich-export

# verified re-run: local originals are rehashed; only missing/changed bytes download
immich-export --out ./immich-export

# sidecar mode: you already have the Storage-Template tree mounted —
# only write .xmp sidecars + album/people views next to it
immich-export --mode sidecar --library-root /volume1/photos --out /volume1/photos

# custom primary tree
immich-export --layout "{year}/{album}" --out ./export

Key flags (see immich-export --help for all):

Verified behavior

• Read-only against Immich. Never writes back.
• Verified originals. Downloads are SHA-1 checked before atomic promotion, and existing local originals are rehashed on every run in both modes.
• Canonical metadata and XMP. All persisted/path/XMP fields share one typed state. Missing, malformed, or stale required XMP is atomically refreshed.
• History versus current. manifest.jsonl is bounded active audit history; digest-linked verified archives live under manifest-history/. manifest-current.jsonl, its CSV projection, and generated views contain only assets verified by the latest completed compatible scan.
• Partial runs are explicit. Asset-specific integrity failures are reported, excluded from current state, and return exit code 5; run-level failures do not replace the prior current snapshot.
• Conservative reconciliation. A compatible full scan removes absent assets from current state and views. Their files remain reported orphans by default. Explicit quarantine moves only manifest-owned outputs; sidecar mode never moves Immich-managed originals.
• Bounded work and visible progress. Assets are paged, concurrent work is bounded, and terminal/log progress remains available.

These checks cover the API fields and files the exporter supports. They cannot detect metadata Immich does not expose, storage failures that occur after a successful verification, or prove that an export can restore an entire Immich installation. Keep separate backups and test restoration procedures.

Exit codes

Sidecar format

Standard XMP wherever a standard slot exists — dc:subject (tags), Iptc4xmpExt:PersonInImage (people), dc:description, photoshop:DateCreated, exif:GPSLatitude/Longitude, xmp:Rating (favorite → 5) — so digiKam, Lightroom and exiftool can read them. Album membership and Immich ids live in a custom immich: namespace in the same file.

When XMP is enabled, an asset is current only after its canonical sidecar matches the manifest state. Exact generated-state validation removes metadata that was deleted in Immich rather than retaining stale XMP nodes.

Immich API compatibility

Built against the Immich v3 API (spec version 3.0.1). Instead of a generated client, the exact API slice used is declared in src/immich_export/api_contract.py and checked in CI against a vendored, pruned copy of the official OpenAPI spec. To check a new Immich release:

uv run python scripts/refresh_api_spec.py --ref v3.1.0
uv run pytest tests/test_contract.py

A removed endpoint or field fails the tests before it breaks at runtime.

Configuration

Everything is configured through environment variables and flags; there is no configuration file to keep in sync.

Flags are documented under Usage; --help is authoritative.

Troubleshooting

The run stops with a network error. Re-run it. The manifest records what was verified, so a repeat run resumes rather than restarting.

A previous run was interrupted and the manifest looks damaged. Damaged lines are skipped and reported; the export continues from the last intact state.

Nothing is downloaded and the count is zero. Check that IMMICH_SERVER points at the API root and that the key has library access — a wrong base URL authenticates fine and returns nothing.

Symlinks fail on the target. Album and people views require symlinks. Disable them with --no-album-view --no-people-view on FAT/exFAT or cloud folders that cannot represent links; the verified primary export remains available.

Development

uv sync --all-extras --dev
uv run ruff check . && uv run ruff format --check .   # lint
uv run mypy                                           # strict types
uv run pytest                                         # tests (mock Immich API)
uv build                                              # sdist + wheel

Conventional Commits drive releases (python-semantic-release): merge to main → version bump + changelog + GitHub Release + PyPI publish (OIDC) + Homebrew formula bump.

For per-clone paths, commands, or preferences, create an ignored CLAUDE.local.md at the repository root. Do not put credentials or other secrets in it.

Security

Report vulnerabilities privately as described in SECURITY.md. The API key is read from the environment and never written to disk, a log line, or the manifest.

License

MIT