How do I connect Apple Photos MCP Server to Claude?

The listing records `claude mcp add apple-photos -s user -- npx -y apple-photos-mcp` as its setup step. Run it, then follow the repository's instructions for the client configuration; the listing names Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code as compatible clients.

Is Apple Photos MCP Server free?

The listed licence is MIT. Check the upstream terms for permitted use and commercial requirements; a public repository does not by itself mean the software is free or open source. Connected APIs and hosted services may have separate charges.

What can Apple Photos MCP Server do?

Apple Photos MCP Server documents 21 tools to the agent, including add-to-album, create-album, doctor. The descriptions above come from project documentation. A live handshake does not test individual tool behavior.

Apple Photos MCP

Unclaimed

by sweetrb

MCP server for Apple Photos - query, search, export, and inspect the macOS Photos library via Claude and other AI assistants, plus opt-in album/metadata write tools (read-only by default)

Install

$claude mcp add apple-photos -s user -- npx -y apple-photos-mcp

Set up this server

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This server needs project-specific setup. Follow the project instructions; no reusable public launch command is available yet.

Project instructions

appleapple-photosclaudemacosmcpmodel-context-protocolosxphotosphotoscodexapplescript

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21 of 21 tools

Documented tools (21)

From project documentation. A server handshake does not verify each tool’s description or behavior.

add-to-album

Add photos (by UUID) to an album (by name or UUID). Idempotent — Photos albums are sets.

create-album

Create an album — or return the existing one of that name (created: false), so re-running a filing workflow never piles up duplicates.

doctor

Run a full setup diagnostic — six checks: the resolved Python interpreter (path + version — warns when it's older than the required 3.11, with brew install python@3.12 advice), osxphotos installation, sidecar mode (persistent vs one-shot fallback, plus the last respawn), the write-tools gate (enable

export

Export one or more photos by UUID to a destination directory.

find-duplicates

Group exact duplicates using Photos' own fingerprint-based detection — the same data behind Photos' Duplicates album, no export or hashing required.

get-photo

Get full metadata for a single photo by UUID.

get-photos

Get full metadata for a batch of photos (up to 50) in one call — the batch equivalent of get-photo, for dedupe reviews, EXIF audits, and captioning passes.

get-selected-photos

Get the photos currently selected in the Photos.app window — the bridge from "act on these photos" to UUIDs you can feed into get-photos, get-thumbnail, export, or add-to-album.

get-thumbnail

Return one photo as an inline viewable image — an MCP image content block (base64 JPEG/PNG) that vision-capable clients render directly. Serves the preview derivatives Photos has already generated, so nothing is exported and originals aren't transferred. Prefer this over export whenever the goal is

health-check

Verify osxphotos is installed and the Photos library can be opened.

import-photos

Import image/video files from disk into the Photos library, optionally straight into an existing album. Add-only: nothing is modified or deleted, and source files stay where they are (Photos copies them in).

library-info

High-level stats about the Photos library.

list-albums

List all albums in the library.

list-folders

List all folders in the library.

list-keywords

List keywords sorted by usage count.

list-persons

List people detected by Photos face recognition, sorted by photo count.

query

Search the library with combinable filters. Returns photo summaries with UUIDs — use get-photo for full details on a specific match.

remove-from-album

Remove photos from an album — never from the library (they remain in All Photos and every other album).

set-keywords

Add and/or remove keywords on a photo with union semantics: the photo's current keywords are read first and the edits merged in, so keywords you don't mention are always preserved — never a blind replace.

set-photo-date

Fix a photo's date/time — set an absolute date or shift by a number of seconds. Dry run by default: nothing is written until you pass dryRun: false. This rewrites the date in the Photos library database only (the same thing Photos.app's Adjust Date & Time does) — the file's EXIF is never modified.

set-photo-metadata

Set a photo's title, description, and/or favorite flag. Only the fields you pass are touched.

Tool change history

Compared across complete checks of the same configuration. Tools were listed, not invoked. Input-schema changes are not measured here.

No complete tool checks yet.

FAQ

Questions about Apple Photos MCP Server

How do I connect Apple Photos MCP Server to Claude?: The listing records `claude mcp add apple-photos -s user -- npx -y apple-photos-mcp` as its setup step. Run it, then follow the repository's instructions for the client configuration; the listing names Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code as compatible clients.
Is Apple Photos MCP Server free?: The listed licence is MIT. Check the upstream terms for permitted use and commercial requirements; a public repository does not by itself mean the software is free or open source. Connected APIs and hosted services may have separate charges.
What can Apple Photos MCP Server do?: Apple Photos MCP Server documents 21 tools to the agent, including add-to-album, create-album, doctor. The descriptions above come from project documentation. A live handshake does not test individual tool behavior.