apple-photos-mcp

Overview Schema Source Related Servers Discussions Admin

query

Find photos in an Apple Photos library by combining filters like album, person, date, place, media type, OCR text, and size, then get matching photo summaries with UUIDs.

Instructions

Use when: you need to find photos matching one or more filters — album, keyword, person, ML label, place, GPS radius (near), folder, taken-date or import-date range (addedAfter/addedInLast for 'recently imported'), year, file size, media type (screenshot, screen recording, selfie, panorama, live, portrait, time-lapse, slow-mo, burst, video), aesthetic score (minScore), OCR-detected text (detectedText), favorite/hidden flags, or title/description substrings — and get back a list of matches. This is the primary search/discovery tool; start here when you don't already have a UUID. Hidden photos are excluded unless hidden=true. Pass newestFirst=true with a limit to get the N most recent matches. Returns: count (the TOTAL number of matches), returned (the number of summaries in this response — capped at limit, default 500), and photo summaries (UUID, filename, date, dimensions, favorite/hidden/movie flags) — feed a UUID into get-photo/get-photos for full metadata, get-thumbnail to see it, or export to copy files. Do not use when: you already have UUIDs and want full metadata — use get-photo / get-photos; you want to see an image — use get-thumbnail; or you just want the catalog of album/keyword/person names — use list-albums / list-keywords / list-persons.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`live`	No	Only live photos
`near`	No	GPS-radius filter: "lat,lon,radiusKm" — only photos within radiusKm of the point (great-circle distance). Composes (AND) with every other filter. Requires location data: photos without GPS coordinates never match
`uuid`	No	Specific UUIDs to fetch
`year`	No	Taken in calendar year(s); ANY-match (e.g. [2024, 2025])
`album`	No	Album name(s); ANY-match
`burst`	No	Only burst photos
`label`	No	ML classification label(s) from Photos object detection (the labels field of get-photo, e.g. Dog, Beach, Text); ANY-match, exact whole-string
`limit`	No	Cap the number of results returned (default 500 when omitted; count still reports the total matches)
`place`	No	Place-name substring(s) from reverse geocoding (city, region, landmark). NOTE: multiple values are ANDed, not ORed — a photo must match every value
`title`	No	Substring match on title
`video`	No	Only videos/movies (alias of movies)
`folder`	No	Folder name(s)/path(s) — matches photos in albums that live inside the folder; ANY-match (see list-folders for names)
`hidden`	No	Only hidden photos
`movies`	No	Include movies
`person`	No	Person name(s); ANY-match
`photos`	No	Include still photos
`selfie`	No	Only selfies (front-camera photos)
`slowMo`	No	Only slow-motion videos
`toDate`	No	ISO 8601 upper bound on photo date. A bare date (e.g. 2025-06-30) includes that whole day; pass a full datetime (e.g. 2025-06-30T18:00:00) for a precise exclusive bound
`keyword`	No	Keyword(s); ANY-match
`library`	No	Path to a .photoslibrary (default: system Photos library)
`maxSize`	No	Original file size at most this many bytes
`minSize`	No	Original file size at least this many bytes
`favorite`	No	Only favorites
`fromDate`	No	ISO 8601 lower bound on photo date
`minScore`	No	Only photos whose Photos-computed overall aesthetic score (0–1) is at least this — e.g. 0.7 for 'the good ones'. Post-filter over the other filters' matches; photos without a computed score never match
`panorama`	No	Only panoramas
`portrait`	No	Only portrait-mode (depth-effect) photos
`noKeyword`	No	Only photos carrying no keyword at all
`notHidden`	No	Exclude hidden photos (default behavior)
`timelapse`	No	Only time-lapse videos
`addedAfter`	No	ISO 8601 inclusive lower bound on IMPORT date (dateAdded — when the photo entered the library, not when it was taken)
`screenshot`	No	Only screenshots
`addedBefore`	No	ISO 8601 upper bound on IMPORT date. A bare date includes that whole day; a full datetime is a precise exclusive bound
`addedInLast`	No	Imported within the trailing duration — "<number><unit>", unit s(econds) / m(inutes) / h(ours) / d(ays) / w(eeks), e.g. "7d" or "24h". The natural way to express "recently imported"
`description`	No	Substring match on description
`hasLocation`	No	true = only photos WITH GPS coordinates; false = only photos WITHOUT; omit for no location filter
`newestFirst`	No	Sort matches by taken date, newest first, BEFORE limit is applied — so limit means 'the N most recent matches' instead of 'N in database order'
`notFavorite`	No	Exclude favorites
`detectedText`	No	Case-insensitive substring match over the text Photos' own OCR indexed in each photo (macOS 13+) — receipts, signs, screenshots. Post-filter that reads per-photo search info over every other filter's matches, so combine it with narrowing filters (dates, album) on big libraries
`screenRecording`	No	Only screen recordings

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`count`	No
`photos`	No
`returned`	No

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed2 schema fields changedv2.1.13Sep 24, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

changedOutput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

Changed1 schema field changedv2.1.9Aug 7, 2026
- changedOutput schema / additionalProperties
```
Previous value: -falseNew value: +true
```

Changed3 schema fields changedv2.1.0Jul 10, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / detectedText

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Case-insensitive substring match over the text Photos' own OCR indexed in each photo (macOS 13+) — receipts, signs, screenshots. Post-filter that reads per-photo search info over every other filter's matches, so combine it with narrowing filters (dates, album) on big libraries",
+  "maxLength": 256,
+  "minLength": 1,
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / minScore

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only photos whose Photos-computed overall aesthetic score (0–1) is at least this — e.g. 0.7 for 'the good ones'. Post-filter over the other filters' matches; photos without a computed score never match",
+  "maximum": 1,
+  "minimum": 0,
+  "type": "number"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / near

Added value: +{
+  "description": "GPS-radius filter: \"lat,lon,radiusKm\" — only photos within radiusKm of the point (great-circle distance). Composes (AND) with every other filter. Requires location data: photos without GPS coordinates never match",
+  "maxLength": 128,
+  "pattern": "^\\s*-?\\d+(\\.\\d+)?\\s*,\\s*-?\\d+(\\.\\d+)?\\s*,\\s*\\d+(\\.\\d+)?\\s*$",
+  "type": "string"
+}

Changed22 schema fields changedv1.5.0Jul 10, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / addedAfter

Added value: +{
+  "description": "ISO 8601 inclusive lower bound on IMPORT date (dateAdded — when the photo entered the library, not when it was taken)",
+  "maxLength": 64,
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / addedBefore

Added value: +{
+  "description": "ISO 8601 upper bound on IMPORT date. A bare date includes that whole day; a full datetime is a precise exclusive bound",
+  "maxLength": 64,
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / addedInLast

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Imported within the trailing duration — \"<number><unit>\", unit s(econds) / m(inutes) / h(ours) / d(ays) / w(eeks), e.g. \"7d\" or \"24h\". The natural way to express \"recently imported\"",
+  "maxLength": 32,
+  "pattern": "^\\s*\\d+(\\.\\d+)?\\s*[smhdw]\\s*$",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / burst

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only burst photos",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / folder

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Folder name(s)/path(s) — matches photos in albums that live inside the folder; ANY-match (see list-folders for names)",
+  "items": {
+    "maxLength": 1024,
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "maxItems": 100,
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / hasLocation

Added value: +{
+  "description": "true = only photos WITH GPS coordinates; false = only photos WITHOUT; omit for no location filter",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / label

Added value: +{
+  "description": "ML classification label(s) from Photos object detection (the labels field of get-photo, e.g. Dog, Beach, Text); ANY-match, exact whole-string",
+  "items": {
+    "maxLength": 1024,
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "maxItems": 100,
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / live

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only live photos",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / maxSize

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Original file size at most this many bytes",
+  "exclusiveMinimum": 0,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / minSize

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Original file size at least this many bytes",
+  "exclusiveMinimum": 0,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / newestFirst

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Sort matches by taken date, newest first, BEFORE limit is applied — so limit means 'the N most recent matches' instead of 'N in database order'",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / noKeyword

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only photos carrying no keyword at all",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / panorama

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only panoramas",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / place

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Place-name substring(s) from reverse geocoding (city, region, landmark). NOTE: multiple values are ANDed, not ORed — a photo must match every value",
+  "items": {
+    "maxLength": 1024,
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "maxItems": 100,
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / portrait

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only portrait-mode (depth-effect) photos",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / screenRecording

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only screen recordings",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / screenshot

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only screenshots",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / selfie

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only selfies (front-camera photos)",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / slowMo

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only slow-motion videos",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / timelapse

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only time-lapse videos",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / video

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only videos/movies (alias of movies)",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / year

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Taken in calendar year(s); ANY-match (e.g. [2024, 2025])",
+  "items": {
+    "maximum": 9999,
+    "minimum": 0,
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  "maxItems": 100,
+  "type": "array"
+}

Changed3 schema fields changedv1.2.0Jul 9, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / limit / description

Previous value: -"Cap the number of results"New value: +"Cap the number of results returned (default 500 when omitted; count still reports the total matches)"

changedInput schema / properties / toDate / description

Previous value: -"ISO 8601 upper bound on photo date"New value: +"ISO 8601 upper bound on photo date. A bare date (e.g. 2025-06-30) includes that whole day; pass a full datetime (e.g. 2025-06-30T18:00:00) for a precise exclusive bound"

addedOutput schema / properties / returned
```
Added value: +{
+  "type": "number"
+}
```

Changed14 schema fields changedv1.1.3Jun 30, 2026
- addedInput schema / properties / album / items / maxLength
```
Added value: +1024
```
- addedInput schema / properties / album / maxItems
```
Added value: +100
```
- addedInput schema / properties / description / maxLength
```
Added value: +2048
```
- addedInput schema / properties / fromDate / maxLength
```
Added value: +64
```
- addedInput schema / properties / keyword / items / maxLength
```
Added value: +1024
```
- addedInput schema / properties / keyword / maxItems
```
Added value: +100
```
- addedInput schema / properties / library / maxLength
```
Added value: +4096
```
- addedInput schema / properties / limit / maximum
```
Added value: +100000
```
- addedInput schema / properties / person / items / maxLength
```
Added value: +1024
```
- addedInput schema / properties / person / maxItems
```
Added value: +100
```
- addedInput schema / properties / title / maxLength
```
Added value: +1024
```
- addedInput schema / properties / toDate / maxLength
```
Added value: +64
```
- addedInput schema / properties / uuid / items / maxLength
```
Added value: +256
```
- addedInput schema / properties / uuid / maxItems
```
Added value: +1000
```

Changed1 schema field changedv1.1.0Jun 23, 2026

changedOutput schema / (root)

Previous value: -nullNew value: +{
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "properties": {
+    "count": {
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "photos": {
+      "items": {
+        "additionalProperties": true,
+        "properties": {},
+        "type": "object"
+      },
+      "type": "array"
+    }
+  },
+  "type": "object"
+}

First observedv0.1.4May 26, 2026

TDQS

A4.7/5.0

Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

No annotations are provided, so the description carries the full burden of behavioral disclosure. It covers result-count semantics (count vs returned, default limit 500), hidden-photo exclusion default, newestFirst+limit ordering, post-filter behavior for minScore and detectedText with performance advice, place-value ANDing, and the GPS location requirement. These go well beyond the schema and give the agent a clear model of tool behavior.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Although long, every section ('Use when', 'Returns', 'Do not use when') earns its place for a tool with 41 parameters and important routing decisions. The purpose is front-loaded, the filter list is comprehensive but integrated, and the exclusion guidance is compactly placed at the end. No filler or redundancy.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a read-only query tool with no annotations, the description is complete: it tells when to use it, when not to, what the response looks like (count, returned, photo summary fields), default behaviors, edge cases (hidden, location, post-filters), and downstream actions for the returned UUIDs. An agent has everything needed to invoke it correctly.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3. The schema itself already documents each parameter with rich notes (e.g., limit defaults, place ANDing, near GPS requirement, post-filter behavior). The description adds a high-level filter inventory and a few usage patterns, but for most parameters it does not materially add meaning beyond the schema, so it stays at baseline.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description opens with a specific verb and resource ('find photos matching one or more filters') and enumerates the filter dimensions. It explicitly names itself the primary search/discovery tool ('start here when you don't already have a UUID') and differentiates from siblings in the 'Do not use when' section (get-photo/get-photos, get-thumbnail, list-albums/list-keywords/list-persons), so an agent can select it correctly without opening schemas.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

The description has explicit 'Use when' and 'Do not use when' sections that name alternative tools and the conditions that route to them. It also gives practical guidance like passing newestFirst=true with a limit to get the N most recent matches, and tells the user to feed returned UUIDs into get-photo/get-photos, get-thumbnail, or export.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.