External Libraries and Third-Party Tools

If you have run Immich yourself, you may be used to features that rely on direct access to the server, such as external libraries or tools that connect to the Immich database. Because PixelUnion is a managed service, a few of these work differently. This article explains what is and is not possible.

External libraries are not available

In a self-hosted Immich setup, an external library lets Immich read photos from a folder that already exists on the server or on a mounted drive, for example a NAS share. Immich indexes those files where they are, without copying them into its own storage.

This feature is not available on PixelUnion. Your PixelUnion environment runs in our data center and has no access to folders on your own computer or NAS. For the same reason, the /api/library API endpoint, which manages external libraries, is disabled.

Instead, all photos and videos on PixelUnion live in a regular managed library: files are uploaded to your environment and stored by PixelUnion. This also means you have full control over everything in it. You can edit, move to the trash and delete any photo, which is not possible with the read-only files of an external library.

Alternatives

To get photos from a folder or NAS into PixelUnion, upload them instead:

• Immich Go: a command-line tool that uploads a whole folder in one go. Run it again later and it only uploads new files. Example:

  ./immich-go upload from-folder --server=https://yourname.pixelunion.eu --api-key=YOUR_API_KEY /path/to/your/photos
  

  See Migrate from another Immich server for how to download Immich Go and create an API key.

• The mobile app: back up your phone’s camera roll and other folders automatically. See Mobile App.

• The web interface: drag and drop files or folders into your browser. See Uploading Photos.

Already running your own Immich server with an external library? You can move that library to PixelUnion with Immich Go, see Migrate from another Immich server.

Using the Immich API and third-party tools

You can use the Immich API with your own API keys, so most tools built on the API work with PixelUnion. Create an API key under Account Settings → API Keys. Only two endpoints are disabled: /api/library (external libraries) and /api/system-config (server configuration).

Some third-party tools need more than the API. They connect directly to the Immich database or read the server’s file system. PixelUnion does not provide direct access to either, so those tools, or the features in them that depend on it, will not work.

Immich Power Tools is an example: several of its features query the Immich database directly. Features that only use the API may work, but expect some of the tool to be unavailable.

Before you rely on a third-party tool, check its documentation for whether it needs a database connection or file system access.

Removing duplicates without extra tools

Immich has built-in duplicate detection. In the web interface, go to Utilities → Review duplicates to compare similar photos side by side and choose which ones to keep. Duplicates are detected per user, so photos uploaded by two different users are not compared with each other.

Keeping your album structure in a local backup

Your data is backed up by PixelUnion, see Backups: how we back up your data. If you also want your own local copy, keep in mind that many download tools save the files themselves, but not which albums they belong to.

There are a few ways to keep your albums:

1. immich-archiver: our own download tool writes a .json file next to every photo and video, which includes the albums it belongs to. See Download All Photos and Videos.
2. Download per album: open an album in the web interface and download it. You get a ZIP file with all photos and videos in that album, but no album information beyond the folder itself.
3. Use the API: the Immich API returns all your albums and the photos in each album, so you can write your own script if you need a different structure.

Need help?

Not sure whether a tool or workflow will work with PixelUnion? Contact our support team and we will help you check.