Local-first product · Family archive
The archive travels.
The data stays private.
A portable Windows photo library runs from an external drive, turns decades of folders into a searchable catalog, and preserves the originals as the source of truth.
Public screenshots are privacy-safe derivatives of the deployed interface. No family photos, folder names, paths, or source code are published.
01 · Product decision
The daily experience is a photo browser—not an AI console.
The product is designed for non-technical family use: no account, no subscription, no cloud dependency, and no command line. Search, date navigation, folders, favorites, rotation, and import stay visible; administration remains separate.
Portable runtime
The application, catalog, thumbnails, review state, backups, and imports share a marker-defined drive layout.
Catalog, not relocation
Original media stays in place. The catalog adds dates, media metadata, tags, deduplication, and fast browsing.
User data separated
Favorites, manual decisions, suggestions, and rotation state live outside the formal catalog and are backed up independently.
AI is optional
Local visual analysis prepares suggestions in staging. The family browser remains usable without loading or exposing an AI workflow.
02 · Verified deployment
Evidence came from the portable production drive, opened read-only.
The deployed executable was launched from the external drive. SQLite integrity checks and aggregate queries used read-only connections; database timestamps remained unchanged after inspection.
03 · Privacy architecture
Private source, local data, public proof.
The complete application source is stored in a private GitHub repository. The public case publishes only an explanatory page, aggregate JSON, and privacy-safe interface derivatives.
Source code, original photos, folder names, paths, catalog files, user decisions, raw screenshots, and portable-drive identifiers.
Product decisions, system boundaries, verified aggregate counts, limitations, and screenshots with sensitive content replaced.
Production publication follows a Preview-first gate and requires explicit human approval after responsive and privacy QA.
04 · Honest quality boundary
Database integrity passed. Filesystem alignment still has work.
All inspected SQLite databases returned integrity “ok”, but a full catalog-to-filesystem validation found 93 missing paths among 25,932 catalog entries. The case keeps that drift visible; no automatic sync or repair was performed during publishing.
Read-only evidence
Inspection did not import, synchronize, restore, rotate, or rewrite any family data.
Suggestions are not facts
Local AI results remain suggestions with explicit Accepted, Rejected, and Suggested states.
Screenshot boundary
Published images are labeled privacy-safe derivatives and must not be used as proof of the original photo content.
Delivery result
A family archive can be useful without becoming a cloud product.
The private repository preserves the full implementation. This case shares the product thinking, verified scale, privacy model, and current quality boundary.
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