lap

lap

A Local-first, AI-powered Photo manager built with Tauri + Vue 3.

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Lap is a lightning-fast, cross-platform photo manager that prioritizes user privacy and local AI processing. It allows users to organize and browse their photos efficiently, with features like natural language search, smart face recognition, and similar image search. Lap does not require importing photos, syncs seamlessly with the file system, and supports multiple libraries. Built for performance with a Rust core and lazy loading, Lap offers a delightful user experience with beautiful design, customization options, and multi-language support. It is a great alternative to cloud-based photo services, offering excellent organization, performance, and no vendor lock-in.

README:

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Lap

Your Photos, Your Rules. The Local-First, AI-Powered Photo Manager.

Lap is a lightning-fast, cross-platform photo manager built for people who love their files. It combines the privacy of folder-based organization with the power of modern AI—all running 100% locally on your device.

Browse 100,000+ photos smoothly, finding "cat in the grass" instantly, and keep your memories safe without a cloud subscription.

🌐 Website: https://julyx10.github.io/lap/

Download

Platform Download File Size Notes
macOS (Apple Silicon) Download .dmg (aarch64) ~150 MB M1/M2/M3/M4, ✅ Notarized by Apple
macOS (Intel) Download .dmg (x86_64) ~150 MB x86_64, ✅ Notarized by Apple, ⚠️ Not yet tested
Linux Download .deb (amd64) ~150 MB Ubuntu/Debian x86_64
Windows - - Coming soon
Library - Dark Theme
Library
Handle 100k+ photos with smooth scrolling and instant thumbnails.
AI Search - Light Theme
AI Search
"Sunset over the ocean" — Find exact moments with offline AI.
Calendar
Calendar
Time-travel through your memories by year, month, or day.
Tags
Tags
Organize your way: Bulk tagging and powerful filtering.
Location
Location
Interactive Map View: See where your story happened.
Camera
Camera
Group by Gear: Rediscover shots by Camera Make & Model.
Edit Image
Edit Image
Quick essential edits without leaving your flow.
Video
Video
Integrated Player: Watch videos seamlessly alongside photos.

Notes: The sample images in above screenshots are sourced from Wikimedia Commons.

Why LAP?

LAP stands for Local-first, AI-powered Photo management.

We built Lap because we were tired of choosing between privacy (dumb folder viewers) and convenience (cloud services that scan your life). Lap gives you both.

🌟 Key Highlights

🤖 AI That Lives on Your Device

  • Natural Language Search: Type "red car in rain" or "sunset at beach". The AI understands content, not just keywords.
  • Smart Face Recognition: Automatically groups people. Rename "Person 1" to "Dad" and find all his photos instantly.
  • Similar Image Search: Find the best shot in a burst sequence or locate duplicates.
  • Zero Privacy Risk: All AI models run locally. Your photos never leave your computer.

📂 Your Files, Your Control

  • No Import Required: Lap reads your existing folders. No "library files", no duplication, no vendor lock-in.
  • File System Sync: Move a file in Finder/Explorer? Lap updates instantly. Move it in Lap? It moves on disk.
  • Multi-Library: Manage work assets separate from family archives.

⚡ Built for Performance

  • Rust Core: Powered by Tauri 2 and Rust for blazing speed and tiny memory footprint.
  • Lazy Loading: Designed to handle libraries with hundreds of thousands of assets without stuttering.

🎨 Delightful Experience

  • Beautiful Design: Built with Tailwind CSS & daisyUI, a modern, fluid interface that feels at home on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
  • Customizable: Light/Dark modes with 10+ accent colors.
  • Multi-Language: Speaks your language (English, Chinese, German, French, Japanese, and more).

Comparison

Feature Cloud Albums (Google/iCloud) Classic Viewers (XnView/IrfanView) Lap
Privacy ❌ (Data mining) ✅ (100% Offline)
AI Search ✅ (Local AI)
Organization Restricted (Album based) Folder based Folder-native + Smart Views
Performance Network dependent Excellent Excellent
Lock-in High None None

Who Is LAP For?

  • Photographers: Manage huge collections by folder.
  • Privacy Advocates: Enjoy AI features without Big Tech surveillance.
  • Archivists: Search terabytes of family history instantly.
  • Everyone: Who wants a fast, beautiful way to enjoy their memories.

What LAP Is Not

  • ❌ A Cloud Service: We don't host your photos. You own them.
  • ❌ A Photoshop Replacement: We focus on management and browsing, not heavy retouching.
  • ❌ A Sync Tool: We don't touch your cloud settings. We manage local files.

Supported Formats

Type Formats Notes
Images JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WebP, HEIC HEIC depends on OS support.
Videos MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI Playback depends on OS WebView codecs.

Development

Tech Stack

  • Core: Tauri 2 (Rust), cross-platform desktop app framework
  • Frontend: Vue 3, Vite, Tailwind CSS, daisyUI
  • Data: SQLite, locally embedded for indexing and metadata storage
  • AI/Media: CLIP ViT-B/32 for image search, InsightFace for face recognition, FFmpeg for video

Build & Run

Prerequisites:

  • Node.js 20+ and pnpm 8+
  • Rust (stable)
  • Platform build tools:
    • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install), brew install nasm pkg-config
    • Linux: sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libappindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev patchelf nasm clang pkg-config

Recommended editors: VS Code, Cursor, or Antigravity

# 1. Download AI models
./scripts/download_models.sh

# 2. Install frontend dependencies
cd src-vite && pnpm install && cd ..

# 3. Run in development mode
cargo tauri dev

# 4. Build for production
cargo tauri build

License

Licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE for details.

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