PiGallery2

PiGallery2 is a fast, directory-first web photo gallery that renders your existing folder structure as a read-only gallery. It is optimized for low-resource servers and focuses on quick browsing, searching, and viewing photos and videos without modifying your originals.

Key Features

• Directory-first browsing that mirrors your on-disk folder structure
• Fast indexing to a database for responsive browsing (SQLite or MySQL)
• Advanced search with boolean logic, negation, range queries, and autocomplete suggestions
• Photo viewer with optional info panel (including EXIF metadata)
• Map view from GPS photo metadata, with GPX track display and activity visualization
• Sharing links for folders with optional password protection
• On-the-fly thumbnail generation in multiple sizes with caching to a temp folder
• Video playback support and optional transcoding with thumbnail generation
• Markdown files in folders for simple blogging/notes and date attachment
• Logical albums based on saved searches and per-user allow/block filters

Use Cases

• Self-host a lightweight family photo archive that keeps your existing folder layout
• Quickly search large photo collections by date, rating, people metadata, and location
• Share selected folders externally via password-protected links

Limitations and Considerations

• The gallery is intentionally read-only and does not support organizing, editing, or tagging photos within the app
• Face features rely on existing metadata (no built-in ML-based automatic face detection)

PiGallery2 is best suited for users who want a fast, minimal-maintenance photo gallery that reflects their filesystem as-is. It provides powerful search and viewing features while keeping photo management in your regular file workflow.