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✔️ First steps

First Time Setup Wizard​

When you first access LibrePhotos, you'll be greeted with a guided setup wizard that walks you through the initial configuration in three easy steps.

Step 1: Create Your Admin Account​

The first step is to create your administrator account. Fill in the following details:

  • Username – Your login name (will be converted to lowercase)
  • Email – Your email address
  • First Name – Your first name
  • Last Name – Your last name
  • Password – Choose a secure password
  • Confirm Password – Re-enter your password to confirm

Click Sign Up to create your account. You'll be automatically logged in and taken to the next step.

Step 2: Site Settings​

In this step, you can configure important site-wide settings:

  • Allow Upload – Enable or disable the ability for users to upload photos directly to LibrePhotos
  • Allow Registration – Enable or disable public user registration (new users can create their own accounts)

These settings can always be changed later in the Admin Area. Click Continue to proceed.

Step 3: Configure Your Scan Directory​

This is where you tell LibrePhotos where your photos are stored:

  1. Stack RAW+JPEG pairs (on by default) – Leave this on to have RAW files automatically grouped with their JPEG counterparts during scans. Both files remain in your library. Turn it off if you want RAW and JPEG versions to appear as separate photos.

    You can change this later under your avatar (top right) > Library.

  2. Scan Directory – Select or type the path to your photos folder. If you haven't modified the default docker-compose.yml, this should be /data, which corresponds to the folder you configured as scanDirectory in your .env file.

    The directory picker shows a visual tree of available folders that you can click to select, or you can type the path directly.

  3. Click Save to save your settings and start the initial photo scan, or click Skip if you want to configure this later.

Once complete, you'll be taken to the main LibrePhotos interface and your first scan will begin automatically if you configured a scan directory.

After Setup​

Understanding Scan Directories​

The basic idea is this:

  • For scanning photos that reside in the local file system
    • Only the admin user can change the "scan directory" of the users, including that of the admin themselves.
    • Normal users cannot change their own "scan directory"
    • Only the admin can find the page to control this - under the user icon (top right) > Admin Area
  • For scanning photos that reside in external Nextcloud instances
    • Any user can change their own Nextcloud endpoint, and choose a top level directory in the Nextcloud account.

How to Change Your Scan Directory​

Click on your avatar in the top right, and go to Admin Area. On this page, it will show a list of users. Manually set the Scan Directory for the desired user. Only an admin can do this.

How to Start a Scan​

Click on your avatar in the top right, and go to Library. Under Scan Library, click the Scan button. The chevron next to it opens a menu with Rescan, which reprocesses your entire library. See the auto scan page if you would like to set up automated scanning for new photos. For more details on the Library page and all available actions, see Library Management.

How to Import Photos from an External Nextcloud Instance​

If you have a Nextcloud instance, you can also input login details for it on the Library page (click on your avatar in the top right, and go to Library). The Nextcloud section is hidden until an admin enables it in Admin Area > Site Settings > Enable Nextcloud integration (see Library Management). Fill out the server address, username and app password for the Nextcloud section. Once the connection succeeds, the Status badge at the top of the Nextcloud section turns green and reads Connected. You can then click Browse next to Nextcloud Scan Directory to pick a top level directory in your Nextcloud account. Once this has been configured, you can click the blue Scan button at the bottom of the Nextcloud section (the one with the Nextcloud icon). This will copy the contents of the specified Nextcloud directory — images, videos, RAW files and XMP sidecars — to the local filesystem, and then index them the same way a regular file system scan does.