pxv 1.0.6

A Python clone of the classic Unix xv image viewer

pxv

A simple image viewer and manipulator built with Python/Pillow/Tkinter that takes inspiration from the classic Unix xv image viewer.

Quickstart

Run directly from the GitHub repo (requires uv):

uvx --from git+https://github.com/linsomniac/pxv pxv photo.jpg

Or install locally:

uv pip install git+https://github.com/linsomniac/pxv
pxv photo.jpg

Pass files, directories, or nothing (opens a file dialog):

pxv image.png              # single file
pxv *.jpg                  # multiple files
pxv ~/Photos/              # all images in a directory
pxv                        # open file dialog

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

Each GitHub release includes a pxv_<version>_all.deb. Install it (apt pulls in python3-tk and Pillow):

sudo apt install ./pxv_1.0.1_all.deb

It targets current distributions (Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, which ship Pillow ≥ 10). After installing, pxv is on your PATH and appears in the applications menu and image "Open with" lists.

NixOS / Nix (flake)

Run it without installing:

nix run github:linsomniac/pxv -- photo.jpg

Install into your profile:

nix profile install github:linsomniac/pxv

Add to a NixOS configuration via the overlay (this also installs the .desktop entry and icon, so pxv appears in launchers and "Open with" menus):

{
  inputs.pxv.url = "github:linsomniac/pxv";

  # in your configuration.nix / module:
  nixpkgs.overlays = [ inputs.pxv.overlays.default ];
  environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.pxv ];
}

Without flakes, nix-build produces the package from a checkout (uses default.nix).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
?	Show keyboard shortcuts help
>	Double zoom
<	Halve zoom
.	Increase zoom 10%
,	Reduce zoom 10%
n	Zoom to 1:1 (normal)
M	Zoom to fill display
Space / Right	Next image
Backspace / Left	Previous image
b	Browse thumbnails (Visual Schnauzer)
c	Crop to selection
A	Autocrop background borders
u / Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo
t	Rotate clockwise
T	Rotate counterclockwise
D	Toggle dark/light background
f / F11	Toggle fullscreen
s	Toggle slideshow
+ / -	Slideshow interval +/- 1s
e	Enhancement dialog
d	Draw / annotate (drawing palette)
i	Show image info / EXIF
Ctrl+s	Save as
Escape	Exit slideshow/fullscreen, or clear selection
q	Quit

Right-click for additional options: rotate, flip, resize, grab (screenshot), print, and more.

Enhancements

The enhancement dialog (e) provides real-time adjustment with a live histogram (luminance + RGB overlays, log scale, clipping readouts) that tracks every change:

• Sliders — brightness, contrast, gamma, sharpen, blur, saturation, hue rotation, per-channel RGB balance
• Levels — black/gamma/white input markers over the channel histogram, output range, Auto (percentile clip), and black/gray/white eyedroppers that sample the image
• Curves — spline curve editor per channel (master + R/G/B) with histogram backdrop, editable histogram Equalize, and Invert — the classic xv intensity and RGB graphs, modernized

Compare (hold) flips between the original and adjusted image; Apply bakes the adjustments into the working image (undoable with u/Ctrl+Z).

Annotations

Draw mode (d, or right-click → Draw / Annotate...) opens a tool palette and turns the canvas into a drawing surface:

• Tools (keys 1–8) — Select, freehand, line, arrow, rectangle, ellipse, highlighter, and text labels
• Styling — six color swatches plus a custom chooser, thin/medium/thick size presets (auto-scaled to the image size), filled-vs-outline toggle, and an opacity slider; with a shape selected, the controls restyle it live
• Editing — the Select tool picks the topmost shape: drag to move, Delete/Backspace to remove, u/Ctrl+Z/Ctrl+Y for in-mode undo/redo; double-click a text label to re-edit it

Shapes stay editable vector objects while the palette is open, and their sizes are in image pixels — the saved file is independent of the zoom you drew at. Done (or closing the palette window) bakes them into the image as a single undoable edit; Cancel discards them after confirmation. Navigating away or quitting with unsaved annotation work prompts first.

Features

• Image annotations / draw mode: freehand, lines, arrows, boxes, ellipses, highlighter, and text labels — editable vectors during the session, baked as one undoable edit
• Histogram, levels, and curves in the enhancement dialog (beyond-xv: live histogram backdrop, eyedroppers, editable equalization)
• XV-style window sizing: window grows/shrinks to fit the displayed image, capped at the current monitor's bounds
• Multi-monitor aware: detects per-monitor geometry via xrandr so windows don't span displays
• EXIF-aware orientation
• Save-options dialog for JPEG/PNG/WebP/TIFF (quality, compression, lossless, keep-metadata)
• Slideshow auto-advance (--slideshow[=SECS]) and fullscreen presentation mode (--fullscreen)
• Rubber-band selection for cropping
• Wrap-around file navigation
• Supports PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, WebP, PPM, PGM, PBM, ICO

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Tkinter (usually included with Python; on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install python3-tk)
• Pillow 10.1+

Development

git clone https://github.com/linsomniac/pxv
cd pxv
uv sync
uv run pxv test_images/

Lint and type-check:

uv run ruff check src/
uv run ruff format --check src/
uv run mypy src/pxv/