This Week in Past

This Week in Past is a Rust-based web application that scans local photo folders, reads image metadata, and presents a simple fullscreen slideshow of images taken during the current calendar week in previous years. It can run as a static binary or in Docker and uses in-memory caching for fast playlist generation.

Key Features

• Aggregates image metadata from configured folders at startup and caches it in memory for fast access
• Shows photos from the current calendar week across previous years; falls back to random images if none match
• Configurable slideshow interval, refresh interval and preload behavior via environment variables or URL parameters
• Optional weather display (requires API key) and optional reverse-geocoding to show city names
• Home Assistant integration support for loading weather from a sensor entity and using an API token
• Folder ignoring via marker files or regular-expression matching; click zones for previous/pause/next controls
• Distributed as a statically compiled Rust binary and as a Docker image for easy deployment

Use Cases

• Display a nostalgia slideshow on a home media display or digital photo frame showing past years' images for this week
• Add a photo-driven screensaver or background display for a home server or NAS with photos mounted
• Combine with Home Assistant to show local weather alongside a photo slideshow in a smart home setup

Limitations and Considerations

• No HEIC image support due to upstream image library limitations; HEIC images will not be displayed
• Indexing and slideshow responsiveness depend on storage throughput and CPU; very large collections benefit from fast disks and RAM
• Weather and location features require external API keys and are disabled until configured

This Week in Past is lightweight and focused: it provides a simple, configurable nostalgia slideshow for locally hosted photo collections and integrates with common smart-home and weather services when configured.