Local metadata index / v0.1
Search the work.
Not the folders.
Find every RAW file you masked, denoised, cropped, or touched with a specific module—across the whole archive, in seconds.
Sidecars in. Paths out. Pixels never read.
The route through your archive
Edits become an address.
A folder tells you where a file lives. Its sidecar tells you what happened there. Edit Trail turns those decisions into a compact, queryable index.
- 01
Scan sidecars
Walk XMP, DOP, and PP3 files recursively. Broken files become warnings, not roadblocks.
- 02
Normalize modules
Map editor-specific names and enabled states into one visible operation trail.
- 03
Query combinations
Require all operations or match any, then print paths, JSON, CSV, or a static report.
Browser-only sidecar bench
Try a trail before installing.
Paste XMP or choose local sidecars. Parsing stays in this tab; files are never uploaded.
Files stay in browser memory and disappear when this tab closes.
A four-command toolkit
Readable at the terminal. Stable in scripts.
$ edit-trail index ~/Pictures
Indexed 10,000 sidecars (9,998 parsed, 2 warnings)
→ .edit-trail.json$ edit-trail find -o denoise -o crop --match all
MATCHES 247
/Archive/2026/night-market/DSC_1842.NEF
darktable · crop, denoise, exposure$ edit-trail report --output audit.html
Report with 10,000 records written to audit.html$ edit-trail find -o masking --json | jq length
89Keep the sign lit
The CLI is free. The next mile is yours.
Edit Trail is MIT-licensed and fully useful without payment. A one-time Supporter license unlocks a downloadable archive-audit recipe pack, a supporter badge, and helps fund future schema updates.
- 12 copy-ready audit recipes
- Lifetime access on your devices
- No account and no subscription
Supporter license verified
Your audit recipe pack
edit-trail find -o masking --jsonedit-trail find -o denoise -o crop --match all --format csvYour archive already knows
Ask it what changed.
No catalogue migration. No upload. One binary beside the archive.
Install Edit Trail