visual-cataloguer 0.2.0

Batch catalogue physical collections using visual dividers (QR codes) and automated image processing

visual-cataloguer

Batch catalogue physical collections using visual dividers (QR codes) and automated image processing.

The Problem

You have thousands of items (retro games, books, vinyl, tools) in boxes. You need them in a searchable database. Manual entry would take weeks.

The Solution

1. Print QR code dividers (one per box)
2. Photograph: divider → items → items → black frame → divider → ...
3. Run viscatalog process ./photos
4. Browse your collection

How It Works

┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│ Load Image  │────▶│  Classify   │────▶│   Process   │
│ (ARW/JPG)   │     │ Image Type  │     │ Accordingly │
└─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └─────────────┘
                           │
           ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
           ▼               ▼               ▼
     ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐
     │   BOX    │    │  BLACK   │    │   GAME   │
     │ DIVIDER  │    │  FRAME   │    │   ITEM   │
     └──────────┘    └──────────┘    └──────────┘

• Box Divider: QR code or text (e.g., "BOX-1") - starts a new box
• Black Frame: Dark image - ends current box
• Game Item: Everything else - catalogued with OCR

Features

• Merges photos from multiple cameras by EXIF timestamp
• QR code detection (OpenCV) + OCR fallback (Tesseract)
• RAW file support (.ARW Sony files via rawpy)
• SQLite database with JPEG BLOBs (single portable file)
• SHA256 deduplication for resume capability

Installation

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/retroverse-studios/visual-cataloguer.git
cd visual-cataloguer
uv sync

System dependencies:

• Tesseract OCR - brew install tesseract

Usage

# Process images from two cameras
viscatalog process \
    --input-dir-1 ./NEX3N \
    --input-dir-2 ./RX100 \
    --database ./collection.db

# View statistics
viscatalog stats -d ./collection.db

# List boxes
viscatalog list --boxes -d ./collection.db

# Search items
viscatalog search "zelda" -d ./collection.db

Development

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Type checking
uv run mypy cataloguer

# Linting
uv run ruff check cataloguer

License

MIT License - see LICENSE