GitHub - cristibaluta/Imagin-Raw: A lightweight but powerful alternative to Adobe Bridge for Mac · GitHub

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cristibaluta

Imagin-Raw

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Imagin Raw.xcodeproj

Imagin Raw.xcodeproj

Imagin Raw

Imagin Raw

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screenshots

.gitignore

.gitignore

Imagin-Raw-Info.plist

Imagin-Raw-Info.plist

LICENSE

LICENSE

PRIVACY_POLICY.md

PRIVACY_POLICY.md

README.md

README.md

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Imagin RAW

A lightweight, native macOS application for browsing, culling, and organizing RAW photos - built as a more efficient alternative to Adobe Bridge for read/rate/organize workflows.

An iOS companion app is in development, focused on a simple way to browse your library, cleanup, in field backup of your shots, and scouting.

Architecture

UI : SwiftUI (macOS 14.6+). AppKit/UIKit for the thumbnails list where SwiftUI performance was poor

RAW decoding : LibRaw (C++), wrapped via Objective-C++ bridge. CoreImage also used for other formats and as a fallback

Metadata : EXIF parsed directly from RAW/JPEG binary structures; XMP sidecars read/written for Lightroom/Bridge compatibility

File system monitoring : FSEvents for real-time folder change detection

Search : NSMetadataQuery (Spotlight) for indexed file/folder search

Concurrency : A mix of Tasks and OperationQueue

Features

Multi-root folder browsing - add any number of folders from local disks, external drives, or SD cards; no import step, no managed library

Real-time file system monitoring - new photos, deletions, and folder structure changes are detected and reflected immediately

RAW format support - via LibRaw, covering a broad range of camera manufacturers and formats

Rating and color labeling - written to XMP sidecars (RAW) or embedded directly without re-encoding (JPEG/HEIC), compatible with Adobe Bridge and Lightroom

Rejection workflow - a session-scoped label (not persisted across folder changes) for marking photos to delete; batch-delete via right-click

JPG/RAW pair deduplication - when a RAW+JPEG pair exists, only the RAW is shown in the browser

Two grid layouts - compact grid (more room for preview) and large grid (more room for browsing)

Spotlight-backed search - search across files and folder names using the macOS indexing engine

SD card ingest - copy photos into date-based folder structures, with optional simultaneous backup to a second destination

Duplicate/similar photo detection - Review mode for quickly resolving near-duplicate burst shots

Instagram frame export - fits 2:3 RAW images into a 3:4 canvas, exported as PNG to avoid re-encoding loss (useful for Camera Raw edits because it doesn't support framing)

Comparison with Adobe Bridge

Where Imagin RAW is better

Imagin RAW<br>Bridge

App size<br>~9 MB<br>~2 GB

Idle CPU<br>0%<br>non-zero

Memory<br>As low as 100 MB depending on the album<br>Easily gets to GBs

Launch time<br>Near-instant<br>Many seconds

Scrolling<br>Native, smooth<br>Row-jumping

External drive eject<br>No app restart needed<br>Requires quitting Bridge

Where Bridge is ahead

Camera Raw–processed previews - Bridge renders thumbnails with ACR adjustments applied. Imagin RAW currently shows unprocessed previews; replicating the ACR pipeline isn't feasible, though basic exposure/crop preview adjustments may be explored.

Roadmap

See the open Issues

Screenshots

Keyboard Shortcuts

Arrow Keys - Navigate between photos

CMD A - Select all photos

CMD Click / Shift+Click - Multi-select photos

CMD Del - Move photos to trash

CMD Z - Undo photos moved to trash

1-5 - Set Star Rating

6-0 - Apply Labels

- - Remove label

A - Approve photos (same as the 8 key)

X / Del - Reject photos

OPT 1-5 - Filter by Star Rating

OPT 6-0 - Filter by Labels

OPT X - Filter by Rejected

C - Toggle Sidebar

G - Toggle Grid Type

Return - Open selected photo(s) in external editor

System Requirements

macOS 14.6 or...