tagstudiodev/tagstudio

TagStudio is a desktop application for organizing photos and files using a tag-based system. The core promise is that it works alongside your existing folder structure rather than replacing it: you point it at a directory, it creates a hidden folder there to store its data, and all your files stay exactly where they are. Nothing is moved or duplicated. The tagging system is more structured than a simple list of text labels. Each tag can have a full name, a short name, aliases, a color, and parent tags that create a hierarchy. This hierarchy affects search: if you search for a parent tag, results include entries tagged with any of its children. Tags can also be set as categories to change how they display in the preview panel. Alongside tags, you can add custom fields to any file entry, such as a title, author, date, or multi-line notes. Search supports boolean logic with AND, OR, and NOT operators, and you can filter by file path, file type, or media type. There are also built-in special searches to find files that have no tags yet or no fields at all, which is useful for working through a backlog of unsorted files. All common file types work as entries in a library, including photos, RAW camera formats, videos, audio files, animated images, PDFs, ebooks, Photoshop files, Blender projects, and plaintext. Not all types have a preview panel built in, but the README links to a documentation page listing which formats support previews. TagStudio is written in Python and is currently in alpha. Pre-built installers are available from the GitHub releases page for users who do not want to run from source. The project is open source under the GPL-3.0 license and accepts community contributions, including translations hosted through Weblate.