Yaga — Photo Gallery & Camera

A fast, clean photo and video gallery for Linux desktops and Linux phones (Phosh / FuriOS), built with GTK 4 and libadwaita.

⚠️ AI-assisted project

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What is Yaga?

Yaga is a gallery app that feels right at home on a modern GNOME desktop and adapts to Linux phones running Phosh (FuriOS, Droidian, UBports). It scans your media folders, ensures consistently smooth performance thanks to a thumbnail cache and an SQLite index, and stays out of your way while doing so. It now also includes a built-in Camera that captures photos and video — on phones running Halium / gst-droid the camera taps directly into the hardware (flash, torch, sensors). In addition to several editing features, it allows you to effortlessly integrate your Nextcloud Photos.

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Screenshots

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Highlights

• Multiple libraries
  separate tabs for Photos, Pictures, Videos, Screenshots, and any extra folders you add
• Built-in camera
  capture photos and record video without leaving the app; swipe the shutter between photo and video modes. On Halium / gst-droid phones (FuriOS, Droidian, …) the camera drives the HAL directly:
  • optional geotagging via GeoClue2, with EXIF written in place — no JPEG re-encode
  • self-timer (3 / 10 s), pinch-to-zoom, tap-to-focus, flash for photos, video light / torch for recording, JPEG quality presets, video quality presets
  • handedness toggle (right / left / neutral) so the shutter button sits under your thumb
• Mobile-adaptive UI
  narrow-window breakpoints hide / re-order desktop-only chrome on phones; pull-to-refresh replaces the title-bar refresh icon
• Nextcloud sync
  browse your Nextcloud photo library directly, no FUSE or GVFS mount needed; thumbnails load on demand
• QR code scanner
  scan Nextcloud app-password QR codes straight from the camera to connect your account instantly
• Date grouping
  sort by date and photos are grouped under clear section headers (day / week / month / year). Long galleries use a sliding window: only the visible months stay in memory so jumping forward through years stays fast.
• Built-in editor
  crop, rotate, adjust brightness / contrast / colour channels, add frames for holidays and occasions, drop stickers
• Video playback
  watch videos directly in the app or hand them off to any external player
• Selection mode
  long-press any photo to enter multi-select, then delete or move a whole batch at once
• Folder view
  drill into subfolders; folder tiles show a 2×2 preview mosaic

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Install & Run

One-time install — adds a launcher and a desktop entry, no root required:

bash install.sh

Then launch Yaga from your app menu, or type yaga in a terminal.

Run directly without installing:

python3 -m yaga

Uninstall:

bash uninstall.sh

For camera release checks on phones and desktops, see docs/camera-validation.md.

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Diagnostics

Open Settings → Diagnostics to copy a compact report for bug reports. It includes runtime versions, storage paths, media-folder settings, Nextcloud connection state, GStreamer camera plugins, and detected torch sysfs paths. It does not include passwords or app tokens.

For camera debugging from a terminal, run:

YAGA_CAMERA_DEBUG=1 python3 -m yaga

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Nextcloud Setup

1. Open Settings → Nextcloud
2. Enter your server URL and username
3. Either paste an app password or tap Scan QR code — go to Nextcloud → Settings → Security → App passwords, create one, and scan the QR code with your camera
4. Hit Connect

Photos are streamed directly over WebDAV. Thumbnails are cached locally; full files are only downloaded when you open them.

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Privacy & License

• Privacy: local-first, no telemetry. See PRIVACY.md for what is stored where and how to wipe it.
• License: MIT.