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Webreaper/Damselfly

A self-hosted photo management server for large folder-based libraries, with fast keyword search and local face and object recognition.

Open-source alternative to:Google Photos

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What is it?

Damselfly is a server-based digital photo manager built for large, folder-based collections. It indexes images and their metadata, including IPTC keywords, EXIF data, and folder and file names, so they can be searched quickly from a web interface.

It includes local machine learning features for face detection, face recognition, and object detection. Once you tag a person, Damselfly can find other photos that person appears in. Keyword tags are written with ExifTool, so JPEG files are not re-encoded. The app supports multiple user accounts with role-based permissions, and a basket for collecting images for download, export, or upload.

Damselfly runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, and can be deployed with Docker. A desktop client can sync basket selections to a local folder for editing.

Key features

  • 01Indexes common image formats, including JPG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF, and RAW files such as CR2 and NEF.
  • 02Searches by keywords, date ranges, camera model, file size, orientation, and visually similar images.
  • 03Detects and recognizes faces locally and offline, and recognizes objects.
  • 04Writes keyword tags with ExifTool without re-encoding JPEGs.
  • 05Supports multiple users with role-based permissions and shared or personal baskets.
  • 06Shows photo locations on a map when GPS metadata exists.

Use cases

  • Managing a large family or personal photo archive stored on a NAS or server.
  • Tagging people once and finding all their photos through face recognition.
  • Sharing a photo library across several devices through a web browser.
  • Collecting selected photos for export, watermarking, or social media posting.

In collections

Self-hosted photo librariesSelf-hosted apps

Topics

#photo-management#self-hosted#face-detection#image-search#exif#iptc-metadata#docker#blazor#efcore#image

FAQ

What is Damselfly?
A self-hosted photo management server for large folder-based libraries, with fast keyword search and local face and object recognition. Damselfly is a server-based digital photo manager built for large, folder-based collections. It indexes images and their metadata, including IPTC keywords, EXIF data, and folder and file names, so they can be searched quickly from a web interface.
Is Damselfly free to use? What license does it have?
Damselfly is open source under the GPL-3.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is Damselfly still maintained?
Updated within 6 months. The last commit to Damselfly was on Sep 29, 2026.
What can I use Damselfly for?
Managing a large family or personal photo archive stored on a NAS or server. Tagging people once and finding all their photos through face recognition. Sharing a photo library across several devices through a web browser. Collecting selected photos for export, watermarking, or social media posting.
Where can I get Damselfly?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/Webreaper/Damselfly

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