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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://photocli.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

photo-cli runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux across arm64, x64, and x86 architectures. You can install it as a self-contained executable, through Homebrew on macOS and Linux, as a .NET global tool on any platform, or in a container (Docker, Podman). Choose the method that fits your operating system below.

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Prerequisites

photo-cli requires the .NET SDK 10 or later when installing as a .NET tool. The dotnet command must be available on your PATH before you install photo-cli as a .NET tool. You can install the .NET SDK in two ways: 
brew install dotnet-sdk --cask
If you install photo-cli via Homebrew on macOS, the .NET SDK is bundled automatically and you do not need to install it separately.

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Installation

Homebrew is the recommended installation method on macOS and Linux. It handles all dependencies, including the .NET runtime, and keeps photo-cli up to date automatically.
1

Add the photo-cli Homebrew tap

Register the photo-cli tap so Homebrew can find the package:
brew tap photo-cli/homebrew-photo-cli
The tap is hosted at https://github.com/photo-cli/homebrew-photo-cli.
2

Install photo-cli

Install the package from the tap:
brew install photo-cli
You can also run both commands in a single line:
brew tap photo-cli/homebrew-photo-cli && brew install photo-cli
3

Verify the installation

Confirm that photo-cli is available in your terminal:
photo-cli --version

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Accessing the application

After installing photo-cli globally, the photo-cli command is available in any terminal session: 
photo-cli [command]
photo-cli help [command]

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Troubleshooting

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Command not found

If your terminal reports photo-cli: command not found after installation, the .dotnet/tools directory is not on your PATH. Add it manually using the steps below for your shell. macOS (zsh) Add the following line to your ~/.zshenv file: 
export PATH="$PATH:/Users/[your-account-name]/.dotnet/tools"
Linux (bash) Add the following line to your ~/.profile file: 
export PATH="$PATH:/home/[your-account-name]/.dotnet/tools"
Replace [your-account-name] with your actual system username, then open a new terminal session for the change to take effect.
The exact path to .dotnet/tools may differ depending on how you installed the .NET SDK. Check your installation directory if the paths above do not work.

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Uninstallation

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.NET Tool

dotnet tool uninstall -g photo-cli

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MCP Server Setup

The mcp command is built into photo-cli and requires no additional installation. It starts an MCP stdio server on top of an existing archive folder (one previously created with photo-cli archive). See the MCP command page for setup instructions for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and MCP Inspector.