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Damselfly

Damselfly is a self-hosted, server-based photo management system for large, folder-based image collections.

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Damselfly is a self-hosted, server-based photo management system for large, folder-based image collections. It indexes your photos so you can search and retrieve them quickly using IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) keyword tags, folder and file names, and machine-learning face and object detection, letting you tag a person once and have them identified across other photos. Its Picasa-inspired basket workflow and optional desktop client make it a good fit for photographers and hobbyists who want fast keyword tagging on their own hardware.

Platform availability

Available on 1 of 9 platforms

  • Unraid
  • TrueNAS (not listed)
  • Umbrel (not listed)
  • ZimaOS (not listed)
  • Proxmox (not listed)
  • Helm (not listed)
  • Mac (not listed)
  • Windows (not listed)
  • Linux (not listed)

Health score?A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). When the source code has been checked, a fifth factor, security check (20%: automated scan for committed secrets, unsafe desktop-app settings, known-vulnerable dependencies and project hygiene; any serious finding caps it at 20), is added. Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

45/100 Fair

Maintained
46last commit 274 days ago
Popular
651,789 GitHub stars
Easy to install
201 install platform, Docker image
Light to run
No data

Based on 3 of 4 factors.

Availability: platform listings confirmed today, links checked 13 days ago

GitHub stars
1,789
Open issues
185
Last commit
2026-01-14
Latest release
4.5.3
License
GPL-3.0
Activity
stale

Checked 7 days ago - source: GitHub (Webreaper/Damselfly)

Resources & Compatibility

ARM (e.g. Raspberry Pi) is not supported.

Checked 17 days ago - source: Docker Hub image tags and published docs

First-install notes

  • Point Damselfly to your photos Start it with the folder that contains the pictures you want to browse, like ./Damselfly /path/to/photos. If you don't, it won't know which images to scan or show. source
  • Use the web port you choose If you run it on a custom port, such as --port 8080, use that port when opening the app in your browser. Using the wrong port will make the site look unreachable or time out. source
  • Choose settings and thumbnail storage Use --config and --thumbs to decide where Damselfly saves its settings and generated previews. Keeping those folders safe means your setup and thumbnails survive a reinstall. source

Fetched today - each note links to its source

Alternatives (2)

  • Google Photos - Cloud storage offering 15 GB free space, automatic album and duplicate organization, AI editing, cross-platform sharing, and secure backups.
  • PhotoPrism - PhotoPrism is a self-hosted, AI-powered photo and video manager.

Checked 14 days ago - source: AlternativeTo

Common questions

Can Damselfly be self-hosted using Docker?

Yes, Damselfly can be self-hosted with Docker using an available install guide.

Which metadata fields can Damselfly use for search?

It can search images using metadata such as IPTC keyword tags, as well as folder and file names.

Does Damselfly include face or object detection?

Damselfly includes machine learning for face and object detection.

Where can self-hosters report bugs or request features?

Ask questions on the DamselflyPhotos subreddit and raise an issue for problems, feature requests, or bugs.

Is Damselfly considering which image editing features to add?

A user-feedback request is being made to identify which image transformations would be most valuable.

Answers sourced from github.com, selfhost.directory, www.reddit.com, www.reddit.com

Community

Collected 16 days ago - public community threads