Reference

Settings

Interface text size, cache limits and the other preferences.

Open Settings with ⌘, or the gear at the bottom of the sidebar. A list of sections is on the left. Most choices are kept when you press SAVE; CANCEL closes without keeping them. Two apply the moment you pick them: the theme and the text size.

Photos

How photos arrive and what they start as.

  • Date folder structure. The pattern an import files photos by. It is a strftime pattern, and four presets are offered from the arrow beside it: %Y/%Y-%m-%d (the default, 2026/2026-12-31), %Y/%m/%d, %Y-%m-%d (one flat folder per day) and %Y/%m. You can also type your own.
  • Auto-import. Import a card as soon as it is detected, without asking. See Your first import.
  • Default develop engine. The engine given to photos that have no development settings yet, such as a fresh import. See Engines.
  • Default import preset. A saved preset applied to every photo that arrives from a card. See Controls.

Appearance

  • Theme. The look of the whole app. It applies at once, in every open window. See Themes.
  • Text size. Small, Default, Large or Larger (12 to 15 pixels). It scales the whole interface together: text, spacing and controls.

Locations

  • Default export folder. Where developed JPEGs go when you export. The Desktop if left empty. See Export.
  • Custom LUTs folder. A folder of .cube files that Reveal adds to its built-in looks. Without it, only the built-in ones appear.

Obsidian

Off by default. Turn on Enable Obsidian integration to write daily notes and catalogue notes into an Obsidian vault.

  • Vault root. The folder that holds those notes.
  • Daily notes subfolder. Where, inside the vault, the notes go (for example Logs, Journal or Logs/Daily).

Libraries

Every library Reveal knows, with its path, frame count and whether it is online. From here you can rescan one, remove it (Reveal forgets it, your photos stay) or add a library. The rules for libraries are in Your first import.

Immich

Connect to your self-hosted Immich server to browse remote albums or automatically push exports.

  • Auto-upload on export. When enabled, exporting developed JPEGs automatically uploads them to your Immich server.
  • Server URL. The base address of your instance (e.g. http://immich.local:2283 or https://immich.yourdomain.com).
  • API key. An API key created in your Immich account settings.
  • Verify connection. Tests authentication and server reachability.

Google Photos

Connect to your Google Photos library to multicast exports directly to the cloud.

  • Auto-upload on export. Automatically upload developed JPEGs to your Google Photos library upon export.
  • Client ID & Client Secret. OAuth 2.0 Desktop application credentials from your Google Cloud Console.
  • Connect with Google. Launches your default web browser for OAuth 2.0 authorization with photoslibrary.appendonly scope.
  • Verify connection & Disconnect. Checks access token refresh and lets you revoke connection at any time.

Cache & Storage

  • JPEG render cache. Developed copies kept so the grid shows instantly, whatever the source (card, Apple Photos, disk). It shows how large it is and lets you clear it. Clearing is safe: photos are redeveloped when you next look at them.
  • Apple Photos cache. Shown when the Apple Photos library is available. Set a cache limit (1 to 64 GiB, applied when you save) and use Clear cached copies to free space. Edits, ratings and captions are kept elsewhere; only downloaded copies go. Files in use are protected.

More about both caches in Files and sidecars.

Garden Account

Shows who you are signed in as, your published notes and total views. If you are not signed in, it tells you to sign in from the sidebar. See Publishing to the Garden.

AI & Automation

Everything about AI culling: whether it marks the best photos for a story or exports them to the Desktop after each import, how many photos to keep per date folder, which vision provider to use (Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini), its API key and an optional model name. Culling sends compressed thumbnails to the provider, billed by them; leave both automation switches off and nothing is sent.

About

The version, and credits for the engines Reveal is built on.