apple-photos-mcp-cliSAFE
Apple Photos MCP server and CLI for Claude Code, Codex and AI agents. 13 tools to search, look at, organise and export your own library, entirely on your Mac.
Overview
From the repository's own README, as read at the audited commit. Badges and raw HTML are left out.
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@thenavidm/apple-photos-mcp-cli) [](./LICENSE) [](https://youtube.com/@thenavidm?sub_confirmation=1) [](https://x.com/thenavidm) [](https://linkedin.com/in/thenavidm)
Apple Photos MCP server and CLI for Claude Code, Codex and AI agents. 13 tools to search, look at, organise and export your own library, entirely on your Mac.
Give any AI agent real access to your own Apple Photos library, so it can find, see, organise and export your photos instead of guessing.
Built and maintained by Navid Moazzez. Built on Slipway, which turns one definition of each tool into the MCP server and the CLI.
Everything runs on your Mac. There is no backend.
Two ways to use it
Command line
apple-photos-cli in your terminal, for scripting, cron, pipes, or a quick question without opening anything:
apple-photos-cli # every command, one line each apple-photos-cli library-stats --json # real totals, one call apple-photos-cli search-photos "sunset" --limit 5 --screenshots exclude apple-photos-cli photo-info --refs IMG_2073.MOV apple-photos-cli export-originals --refs --directory ./out apple
b30908b7b322OBSERVED · 2026-10-11Connect
Built from this server's own package name, version and transport as found in its source — not copied from anyone's documentation, so it cannot drift against a page we do not control.
claude mcp add apple-photos-mcp-cli -- npx -y @thenavidm/[email protected]
{
"mcpServers": {
"apple-photos-mcp-cli": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@thenavidm/[email protected]"
]
}
}
}Exposed tools (13)
8 read · 4 write · 1 destructive. Blast radius: 1 tool can delete or overwrite — an agent that can be talked into calling a tool can be talked into calling this one.
| Tool | Risk | Description |
|---|---|---|
add_keywords | write | Add keywords to items. Keywords are how a library stays searchable beyond what Apple |
add_to_album | write | Add items to an album, creating it if it does not exist. |
archive_photos | read | The closest thing to deleting that macOS allows. |
doctor | read | Diagnose setup: macOS, Full Disk Access, the library, the index, and |
export_originals | read | Export the original files to a folder on this Mac. Most items live in iCloud rather than on the disk, so an export downloads them first and can be slow.\n\nNothing is uploaded anywhere: the files land in a local folder and stay there. |
favorite_photos | destructive | Mark items as favourites, or clear the mark. One click to undo in Photos, so this does not ask for confirmation. |
library_stats | read | Size and shape of the library: totals, albums, named people, how much |
list_vocabulary | read | List the scene labels Apple |
look_at_photos | read | Return the images themselves so they can be looked at, rather than reasoned about from filenames and labels.\n\nCall this on the top few results before describing, recommending or choosing between them. Search gives candidates; this is the only way to know what is in them. |
photo_info | read | Everything Photos knows about specific items: date, place, camera and lens, dimensions, albums, keywords, faces, and whether the original is on this Mac or still in iCloud. |
search_photos | read | Search the entire Photos library through Apple |
set_photo_description | write | Set the description, the caption field Photos shows under an item. |
set_photo_title | write | Set the title on one item, as shown in Photos. |
Trust audit
SAFEgrade B · trust 89/100 Nothing in the source contradicts what it says it does. Grade A is reserved for packages that have also passed the behavioural sandbox.
| Layer | What it checks | Result |
|---|---|---|
| L0 | Provenance & inventory | PASS |
| L1 | Static analysis of the code | PASS |
| L2 | Instruction surface (what it tells the agent) | PASS |
| L3 | Class-specific surface | WARN |
| L4 | Behavioural (sandbox) | SKIPPED |
What the source does
- Filesystem
- declared (2 observation(s))
- Network
- declared (1 observation(s))
- Shell
- none-observed
- Dependencies
- not all pinned
- Secrets in source
- none-found
Findings (7)
favorite_photos
.mcpbignore
( cd "$BUILD" && zip -qr "../../$OUT" . -x '*.DS_Store' )
@thenavidm/slipway, @types/node, typescript, vitest
Node 22 or later is required; 1.1.1 ran on 20. Over MCP, expect an approval prompt or form before an archive; a headless agent that should archive with `confirm: true` alone needs `APPLE_PHOTOS_CONFIR
desktop-extension/apple-photos-1.0.4.mcpb
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.
b30908b7b322full audit observations/trust-audit/mcp-server/thenavidm__apple-photos-mcp-cli.json · Report an issue / request a re-scanAudit history
Every audit this server has had. A grade with a past is a grade somebody is still checking.
| Date | Source | Verdict | Grade | Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-11 | b30908b7b322 | SAFE | B | 89 | first audit |
Questions
What is the apple-photos-mcp-cli MCP server?
Apple Photos MCP server and CLI for Claude Code, Codex and AI agents. 13 tools to search, look at, organise and export your own library, entirely on your Mac.
What tools does apple-photos-mcp-cli expose?
13 in total: 8 read-only, 4 that write, and 1 that can delete or overwrite (favorite_photos). Every one is listed on this page with its risk.
Is apple-photos-mcp-cli safe to connect to an agent?
The audit found nothing in the source that contradicts what it says it does, and graded it B (89/100). Grade A is held back for packages that have also passed a sandboxed behavioural run, which is why a clean server reads B. Separately from the audit: 1 of its tools can destroy data, so scope the token you give it to what you actually need.
What credentials does apple-photos-mcp-cli need?
No credential environment variables were found in its source, so it appears to need none.
How current is this page?
The grade is for one exact copy of the source (b30908b7b322), read on 2026-10-11. The repository is watched and re-audited when it changes.