PiGallery 2: Self-Hosted Photo Gallery
PiGallery 2 is a powerful, self-hosted photo gallery application designed to render your directory structure as-is, providing a seamless way to organize and view your photo collection. Ideal for personal use or small groups, it offers a rich set of features tailored for photo management enthusiasts and tech-savvy users looking for a customizable, dockerized solution.
Key Features
- Directory-First Rendering: Displays your photo folders recursively in a grid layout, supporting formats like JPG, PNG, WEBP, and videos such as MP4 and WEBM.
- Advanced Search: Utilizes full boolean logic with wildcard and exact match options, autocomplete suggestions, and filters for dates, locations, and more.
- Interactive Mapping: Reads GPS data from photos and displays them on OpenStreetMap or Mapbox, with support for GPX files to track paths and activities.
- Photo Viewer & Lightbox: Offers a custom full-screen viewer with keyboard navigation, gesture support, and detailed EXIF information.
- Sharing & Collaboration: Enables password-protected sharing of photo folders with friends (excluding search results).
- Video Playback: Supports multiple video formats with thumbnail generation using FFmpeg.
- Logical Albums & Blogging: Create saved searches as albums and add markdown-based notes to directories for storytelling.
- Rich Settings & Customization: Provides an extensive settings page for easy configuration and per-folder sorting options.
- Dockerized Deployment: Fully containerized for straightforward installation and scalability.
Use Cases
- Personal Photo Management: Organize and view personal photo libraries directly from your server or NAS.
- Travel Documentation: Map out travel photos with GPS data and attach stories via markdown files.
- Small Group Sharing: Share specific folders securely with family or friends.
- Tech Enthusiasts: Leverage self-hosting and Docker for a tailored gallery experience on Raspberry Pi or other hardware.
PiGallery 2 stands out with its directory-first approach, robust search capabilities, and integration of mapping features, making it a unique tool for managing and visualizing photo collections.
