Lap

Open source alternative to Mylio Photos and Excire Foto

4.1K stars
GPL-3.0
Active this week
Last commit today

Last verified Oct 31, 2026

Manage your photo library locally with on-device AI search, face clustering, and folder-first organization on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

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Read the full breakdownWho it is for, how it works, trade-offs, the quick start and the FAQ

who it's for

Who Lap is for#

Photographers with large RAW archives on local storage

Lap indexes RAW files from all major manufacturers (Canon CR2/CR3, Nikon NEF, Sony ARW, Fujifilm RAF, and more) and displays RAW+JPEG pairs as single items. AI search across a 50,000+ file RAW archive lets you find photos by scene description rather than scrolling folder trees.

Skip if:

If your archive lives in Lightroom catalogs with extensive develop history and presets, Lap has no Lightroom catalog import and does not apply non-destructive RAW develop settings (curves, tone, color grading).

Privacy-conscious users moving off cloud photo services

Lap runs face clustering, AI tagging, and visual similarity search entirely on-device. Nothing is uploaded. The library stays as ordinary files in existing folders, so leaving Lap later requires no export step from a proprietary catalog.

Skip if:

If automatic cross-device sync is a hard requirement, Lap has no built-in sync service. You would need a separate tool such as Syncthing or a NAS share to keep the same folder available on multiple machines.

Families managing shared photo libraries across platforms

Lap runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, so mixed-OS households can use the same tool. Geotagged photos appear on an interactive map with timeline filters, making it practical to browse by trip or location without building albums manually.

Skip if:

Lap stores organizational data (albums, tags, ratings) in a local database, not in file sidecars. If multiple users need to share organization state from the same library on different machines, they need to share the Lap database directory, which Lap does not manage automatically.

Home users culling event or vacation photos

The four-pane comparison viewer and pick/reject culling workflow let you work through a batch of similar photos quickly. Smart Albums with rule-based grouping isolate a date range or event folder without creating a separate physical copy of those files.

the problem

The problem it solves#

As personal photo libraries grow into the tens or hundreds of thousands of files, finding a specific photo takes more time than it should. Searching by folder name and date range covers basic retrieval, but describing a scene in plain words, or finding photos visually similar to a reference image, requires tools that most file managers and basic viewers do not have.

The tools that offer this kind of AI-powered search are almost all cloud services or proprietary paid applications. You hand over your library, accept a monthly fee, and accept that your photos and their organizational metadata live in a format tied to a specific vendor. Switching tools later means exporting from a closed catalog format, and face recognition data and custom tags rarely survive the migration.

how Lap solves it

How it solves it#

Local AI search in 50+ languages

Text prompts, visual similarity, and subject search run on-device using CLIP and ONNX Runtime. No image leaves your machine. Multilingual search covers 50+ languages, which serves teams or users working in languages other than English.

On-device face clustering and recognition

InsightFace models run locally to detect, group, and identify faces across your entire library. Identified people appear in browsable face groups, and all face data is stored in Lap's local database with no cloud component.

Folder-first library with no lock-in

Lap indexes your existing folder structure directly without importing everything into a proprietary database. File operations (move, copy, rename, delete) happen inside Lap so linked metadata stays consistent, but your originals remain in their folders and are accessible from any other application.

60+ photo, RAW, and video formats

Supported types include JPEG, HEIC/HEIF, AVIF, JXL, PSD, all major RAW formats (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, RAF, RW2, and more), and video up to MKV and MOV. RAW and JPEG/HEIC pairs display as one item and stay linked during file operations.

Interactive map view for geotagged photos

GPS-tagged photos and videos appear on an interactive Leaflet map in clustered groups. The map respects your current filters, so combining a date range or folder filter with the map view shows where photos from a specific period or trip were taken.

Smart Albums and duplicate detection

Smart Albums save rule-based views with custom grouping and sorting that update automatically as your library changes. The duplicate cleanup tool shows reclaimable-space summaries and lets you remove duplicates in bulk across matched sets.

strengths · trade-offs

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

All AI features run with no cloud requirementText search, face clustering, smart tagging, and visual similarity all run locally using ONNX Runtime with bundled CLIP and InsightFace models. Mylio Photos requires a cloud account for device sync; Excire Foto requires a paid license for comparable features. Lap runs all of this at no cost, with no external connection needed.
Built for libraries of 100,000+ filesThe README cites large-collection performance as a core design goal. Browse, search, and face clustering are optimized for libraries that would slow down generic photo apps. SQLite-backed indexing keeps the database portable and local, and the application is written in Rust for performance-sensitive operations.
GPL-3.0 with actively maintained sourceThe full source is available under GPL-3.0, built in Rust and Vue with Tauri. The project launched in August 2024 and had its most recent commit on October 30, 2026, with 4,144 GitHub stars and translations contributed in 14 languages.
Folder structure stays intact; originals untouchedEXIF data (capture date, camera, GPS, lens) is read from each file and never overwritten by Lap. The folder structure of your originals is unchanged. Lap's local database holds its own organizational data (tags, ratings, collections, AI index), which you can back up separately in Settings > Storage.

Trade-offs

-Organizational metadata does not embed into filesCollections, tags, ratings, comments, and culling states are stored in Lap's local database, not written into EXIF, IPTC, or XMP sidecars. Moving or copying files outside Lap breaks the link to that organizational data. For workflows that depend on XMP sidecar compatibility with other tools, this is a real constraint.
-Windows installer is unsignedThe Windows MSI packages are not code-signed. Windows SmartScreen will block the download by default; users must click 'Keep anyway' to proceed. This is common for early-stage open source desktop apps but adds friction on managed Windows environments where SmartScreen enforcement is strict.
-77 open issues as of October 2026The tracker shows 77 open issues for a project created in August 2024. Active development continues (last commit October 30, 2026), but users should browse open issues before relying on Lap for a production workflow to confirm any edge cases relevant to their formats or platform.
-Linux video playback may need additional packagesOn Debian-based Linux systems, video playback uses GStreamer plugins. If gstreamer1.0-libav and gstreamer1.0-plugins-good are not installed, videos will fail to play. The AppImage bundles GStreamer but still depends on system codec plugins, adding a setup step absent on macOS and Windows.

versus alternatives

Lap vs alternatives#

Lap vs Mylio Photos

Mylio Photos is a proprietary photo management platform with device sync, local storage, and AI tagging features. The primary overlap with Lap is in local-first organization for large libraries with AI-powered search.

Feature	Lap	Mylio Photos
License	GPL-3.0	Proprietary
Vendor account required	No	Yes
AI search	On-device, no cloud	On-device with cloud account
Cross-device sync	None built in	Core feature
Mobile client	None	iOS and Android
Price	Free	Subscription

Lap is the better fit when keeping photos on a single machine or NAS without a vendor account is the priority. All AI features run without connecting to Mylio's servers. Mylio Photos is worth considering when you need photos available on iOS or Android alongside a desktop; Lap has no mobile client and no built-in sync service.

Lap vs Excire Foto

Excire Foto is a Windows and macOS desktop photo tool with on-device AI features (AI keywords, semantic search, face recognition) sold as a one-time license.

Feature	Lap	Excire Foto
License	GPL-3.0	Proprietary
Price	Free	One-time license fee
Linux support	Yes	No
AI search	Text prompts, visual similarity, 50+ languages	AI keywords, semantic search
Source available	Yes	No

Lap covers similar AI territory to Excire Foto at no cost and adds Linux support. Excire Foto is worth considering for users who want a commercially supported workflow with polished editing integration and do not need Linux support or source access.

install · quick start

Quick start#

bash

Install on macOS with the Homebrew cask; download signed installers for Windows or Linux from GitHub Releases: https://github.com/julyx10/lap/releases/latest

```bash
brew tap julyx10/lap
brew install --cask lap
```

tech stack · detected from GitHub

What it's built on#

Languages: JavaScriptRustTypeScript
Frameworks: Vue

frequently asked

FAQ#

Is Lap free to use?

Yes. Lap is licensed under GPL-3.0 and free to download and use. There is no subscription, no free tier with limits, and no paid features. The GPL-3.0 license permits personal and internal commercial use; it requires that you distribute source code if you distribute a modified version of the application to others.

Does Lap upload my photos to the cloud?

No. Every AI feature in Lap, including image-text search, face clustering, and visual similarity, runs locally using models bundled with the application. Lap's privacy policy notes optional online services (such as map tile fetching), but the core photo library and AI features work entirely offline with no account required.

What happens to my photos if I uninstall Lap?

Your original photo files are not affected. Lap stores its organizational data (tags, collections, ratings, AI index, thumbnails) in a separate local database outside your photo folders. Deleting the app and its database removes that organizational data but leaves all original media files in place in their folders.

How does Lap compare to Lightroom for RAW editing?

Lap is a photo manager and organizer, not a full RAW editor. Its built-in editing covers crop, rotate, flip, resize, and basic image adjustments, but it does not offer the non-destructive RAW develop pipeline (curves, tone, color grading) that Lightroom provides. Lap works alongside a dedicated RAW editor rather than replacing one.

What operating systems and hardware does Lap support?

Lap runs on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows 10/11 (x64 and ARM64), and Linux x64 and ARM64. Debian-based Linux distributions can install via DEB package; other distributions use the AppImage. Video playback on Linux requires GStreamer; installing gstreamer1.0-libav and gstreamer1.0-plugins-good on Debian-based systems resolves most playback issues. No GPU is required for core features.

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Find open source alternatives to paid software

Lap vs Mylio Photos

Feature	Lap	Mylio Photos
License	GPL-3.0	Proprietary
Vendor account required	No	Yes
AI search	On-device, no cloud	On-device with cloud account
Cross-device sync	None built in	Core feature
Mobile client	None	iOS and Android
Price	Free	Subscription

Lap vs Excire Foto

Excire Foto is a Windows and macOS desktop photo tool with on-device AI features (AI keywords, semantic search, face recognition) sold as a one-time license.

Feature	Lap	Excire Foto
License	GPL-3.0	Proprietary
Price	Free	One-time license fee
Linux support	Yes	No
AI search	Text prompts, visual similarity, 50+ languages	AI keywords, semantic search
Source available	Yes	No

Who Lap is for#

Photographers with large RAW archives on local storage

Skip if:

Privacy-conscious users moving off cloud photo services

Skip if:

Families managing shared photo libraries across platforms

Skip if:

Home users culling event or vacation photos

The problem it solves#

How it solves it#

Local AI search in 50+ languages

On-device face clustering and recognition

Folder-first library with no lock-in

60+ photo, RAW, and video formats

Interactive map view for geotagged photos

Smart Albums and duplicate detection

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

Trade-offs

Lap vs alternatives#

Lap vs Mylio Photos

Lap vs Excire Foto

Quick start#

What it's built on#

FAQ#

Similar open-source tools#

Open source tools in these categories#

Design & Creative

AI & Machine Learning

Business & Productivity

Find open source alternatives to paid software

Who Lap is for#

Photographers with large RAW archives on local storage

Skip if:

Privacy-conscious users moving off cloud photo services

Skip if:

Families managing shared photo libraries across platforms

Skip if:

Home users culling event or vacation photos

The problem it solves#

How it solves it#

Local AI search in 50+ languages

On-device face clustering and recognition

Folder-first library with no lock-in

60+ photo, RAW, and video formats

Interactive map view for geotagged photos

Smart Albums and duplicate detection

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

Trade-offs

Lap vs alternatives#

Lap vs Mylio Photos

Lap vs Excire Foto

Quick start#

What it's built on#

FAQ#

Similar open-source tools#

Open source tools in these categories#

Design & Creative

AI & Machine Learning

Business & Productivity

Find open source alternatives to paid software