SnapVault

SnapVault

Camera import and archiving tool for photographers with a NAS.

SnapVault reads photos and videos from an SD card and streams them directly to one or more SMB shares — no intermediate copy to local storage. Files are organized by EXIF capture date under a named shoot folder. It ships with a local web UI for guided imports and a terminal TUI for keyboard-driven workflows.

How it works

SD card (/Volumes/SDCARD)
        │
        │  reads EXIF, filters macOS metadata
        ▼
  SnapVault (runs locally on your Mac)
        │
        │  SMB over LAN (userspace — no OS mount required)
        ▼
  NAS share  (e.g. Unraid → "RAW Photos")
        └── 2026 - Wedding/
                ├── 2026-06-14/
                │       ├── DSC_0001.NEF
                │       └── DSC_0002.NEF
                └── 2026-06-15/
                        └── DSC_0003.ARW

Every transfer is size-verified after copy. macOS sidecar files (._*, .DS_Store) are silently skipped. Multiple NAS shares can be targeted simultaneously for redundancy.

Requirements

• macOS (primary platform; Linux is supported for the CLI/TUI)
• Go 1.24.2 or later
• LAN access to an SMB share

Installation

git clone https://github.com/KiranTheRam/SnapVault.git
cd SnapVault
go build -o snapvault .

System-wide alias (macOS / zsh)

start.sh wraps the binary — it rebuilds automatically if any source or web asset has changed, and always uses the correct config regardless of which directory you launch from.

# Add once to ~/.zshrc
alias snapvault='/path/to/SnapVault/start.sh'

After source ~/.zshrc you can run snapvault from anywhere.

Configuration

SnapVault stores everything in config.yaml (created automatically on first save, permissions 0600). The file is intentionally excluded from version control to keep credentials out of git.

NAS shares

smb_shares:
  - host: "192.168.1.33"
    port: 445                       # default; omit if 445
    share: "RAW Photos"
    username: "kiran"
    password: "${NAS_PASSWORD}"     # supports ${ENV_VAR} expansion
    base_path: ""                   # optional subdirectory within the share

Shares are added and tested through the web UI or TUI. You can target multiple shares; files are transferred to all of them in parallel.

ntfy notifications

ntfy:
  server: "https://ntfy.sh"
  topic: "snapvault"
  # Protected servers — use one:
  username: "kiran"
  password: "${NTFY_PASSWORD}"
  # token: "${NTFY_TOKEN}"          # bearer token alternative

A push is sent on transfer completion (✅ folder name, file count, duration) or failure (🚨 high-priority, with error details). Configure via the ⚙ button in the web UI.

Usage

Web UI (recommended)

snapvault
# or directly:
./snapvault -serve

Opens http://127.0.0.1:8080 in your browser. The guided flow:

1. Destinations — select saved NAS shares or add a new one (connection is tested live before saving)
2. Source card — choose a detected volume from /Volumes, click Browse… for a native folder picker, or type a path; the card is scanned immediately showing file count, total size, and a per-day breakdown
3. Shoot details — name the shoot; files land under <year> - <name>/YYYY-MM-DD/
4. Transfer — live progress bar with the current filename; a summary screen on completion

Flags:

Terminal TUI

./snapvault          # launches TUI when -mount or -name is omitted

The TUI mirrors the web UI workflow in the terminal using Bubble Tea. NAS connections tested and saved here are shared with the web UI (same config.yaml).

Non-interactive CLI

./snapvault -mount /Volumes/SDCARD -name "Wedding"
./snapvault -mount /Volumes/SDCARD -name "Concert" -workers 8

Requires an existing config.yaml with at least one share. Useful for scripting.

Folder structure

Given shoot name "Wedding" in 2026:

<base_path>/
└── 2026 - Wedding/
    ├── 2026-06-14/
    │   ├── DSC_0001.NEF
    │   └── DSC_0002.CR2
    └── 2026-06-15/
        └── DSC_0003.ARW

Dates come from the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field. Files without EXIF (videos, unsupported formats) fall back to the file modification time.

Supported formats

Stills

Video

.mov .mp4 .m4v .avi .mts .m2ts .mxf

macOS metadata files (._*, .DS_Store, __MACOSX) are always skipped.

Performance

• Parallel workers — configurable pool (default 4) transfers multiple files concurrently; increase with -workers 8 on fast networks
• Connection reuse — one SMB session per share, reused across all files
• Directory caching — date folders are created once and cached; no redundant round-trips
• Direct streaming — files go card → NAS with no local staging
• Size verification — written byte count is compared against the source after every file

Security

• config.yaml is written with 0600 permissions and is excluded from git
• Passwords support ${ENV_VAR} expansion so plaintext secrets stay out of the file
• The web UI never returns passwords or tokens to the browser; stored secrets are preserved on save if fields are left blank
• SMB authentication uses NTLM; keep traffic on a trusted LAN or VPN

Troubleshooting

Connection refused / timeout

# Verify SMB is reachable
nc -zv <nas-ip> 445
# Try a longer timeout
./snapvault -serve -timeout 60s

Scan times out on large cards The scan preview uses file modification times (not EXIF) so it's fast. If it still times out, check that the mount path is correct and the card is fully mounted.

Empty folders left on NAS This was caused by macOS ._* sidecar files being treated as photos — now fixed. The date folder is created before the copy attempt; if the copy fails the folder may remain but will be reused correctly on the next successful transfer to the same date.

Transfer errors A summary is shown in the web UI and printed to the terminal. Individual file errors don't abort the transfer; all other files continue. Re-running the transfer will re-copy everything (deduplication is not currently implemented).

License

See LICENSE.