Aagedal Photo Agent

Open-source macOS photo metadata and face-tagging tool, built as a fast workflow alternative to Photo Mechanic and Adobe Bridge.

Features

• IPTC/XMP editing for common newsroom/photo-library fields (title, caption, keywords, person shown, creator, credit, copyright, city, country, event, job ID, GPS).
• Star ratings and color labels with keyboard shortcuts.
• Metadata templates and variables for repeatable batch workflows.
• Folder-local non-destructive metadata history via sidecars.
• Face detection and clustering, plus a reusable Known People database.
• C2PA detection with warnings before destructive writes.
• FTP/SFTP upload support with credentials stored in macOS Keychain.
• External editor handoff and import workflow for incoming files.

Installation

Install from Homebrew:

brew install aagedal/casks/aagedal-photo-agent

Or download a release from:

• https://github.com/aagedal/aagedal-photo-agent/releases

Quick Start

1. Launch the app and open a folder with photos (Cmd+O).
2. Select one or more images and edit metadata in the right panel.
3. Optionally apply a template (Cmd+T) and resolve variables (Cmd+P).
4. Run face detection/grouping from the face bar, then name groups.
5. Configure write mode in Settings (direct file writes or sidecar-first behavior, including C2PA-safe defaults).

Template Variables

Supported placeholders in template text:

• {date} or {date:FORMAT}
• {dateCreated}
• {dateCaptured}
• {filename}
• {persons}
• {keywords}
• {field:FIELDNAME}

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Cmd+O: Open folder
• Shift+Cmd+I: Import photos
• Cmd+0...5: Set rating (0 = no rating)
• Option+0...8: Set color label
• Cmd+B / Cmd+N: Previous / next image
• Cmd+P: Process variables for selected images
• Shift+Cmd+P: Process variables for all images in folder
• Cmd+T: Open template palette
• Cmd+U: Upload selected
• Shift+Cmd+U: Upload all
• Cmd+E: Open in external editor
• Cmd+Delete: Move selected images to Trash

Supported File Types

• JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, HEIF, BMP, GIF, WebP, AVIF, JXL
• RAW: CR2, CR3, NEF, NRW, ARW, RAF, DNG, RW2, ORF, PEF, SRW

Data Storage

Per-folder:

• .photo_metadata/ for metadata sidecars
• .face_data/ for face clusters and thumbnails

App-wide:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Aagedal Photo Agent/Templates/
• ~/Library/Application Support/Aagedal Photo Agent/KnownPeople/

Build From Source

Requirements:

• Apple Silicon Mac
• Xcode with Swift 6 support
• Project deployment target is currently set to macOS 26.0 in the Xcode project

Build:

xcodebuild -project "Aagedal Photo Agent.xcodeproj" -scheme "Aagedal Photo Agent" -configuration Debug build

Notes:

• ExifTool is bundled with the app target.
• In Settings, ExifTool source can be switched to bundled, Homebrew, or a custom path.
• Optional strict Photo Mechanic-compatible XMP mode is available in Metadata settings.
• No automated test suite is currently configured.

License

This project is licensed under GNU GPL v3. See LICENSE.

Acknowledgments

This application bundles ExifTool by Phil Harvey for reading and writing image metadata. ExifTool is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself (Perl Artistic License or GPL).