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An offline-first photo manager for large local libraries

1,136 starsVue

Lap – Fast photo browsing for libraries (Rust and Tauri)

by julyxx·Feb 17, 2026·2 points·0 comments

AI Analysis

●●SolidEye CandyNiche GemCozy

Smooth browsing for 100k+ photos directly on folders, no import step.

Strengths
  • Direct folder access (no import/catalog) respects existing photo organization; solves real macOS browsing performance gap.
  • Offline AI search runs locally; calendar, tags, and location view add organizational depth.
  • Tauri+Vue gives native feel with modest resource footprint.
Weaknesses
  • Windows support missing; author notes 'not yet tested' on Intel Mac and Linux.
  • Deduplication and RAW support still planned; v0.1.6 is early for large workflows.
Category
Target Audience

Hobby photographers, family archivists with large local libraries

Similar To

Lightroom · Photos.app · Capture One

Post Description

I’ve been a software engineer for 10+ years and a hobby photographer for even longer. Over time my family archive grew to 100k+ photos and videos, and browsing it smoothly on macOS became surprisingly hard.

So I started building Lap app.

The current focus (v0.1.6) is simple: fast local photo library browsing and management - Smooth scrolling through very large libraries - Works directly on your existing folders (no import/catalog) - Fully local

Planned next: deduplication, photo comparison tools, and RAW support.

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