35mm-studio

A local app that turns raw 35mm negative scans into finished photos. VueScan writes raw 48-bit TIFFs into a roll folder; the server notices each new file, crops, inverts and colour balances it, removes dust, drafts tags with a local vision model, and exports a JPEG. The studio is where you review the roll: contact sheet, per-frame edits, dust and red-eye fixes, film base, and publishing the picked frames.

Everything runs on localhost. No cloud service is needed except for the optional R2 publish target.

What's here

• server/: Python (FastAPI). Folder watching, the processing queue, negative conversion, dust detection and LaMa inpainting, red-eye, film base measurement, labeling through Ollama, roll storage, publishing.
• apps/studio/: Vite and React. Roll list, contact sheet, frame review panels, film base library, publish dialog.

Each roll is a plain folder: roll.json, raw/ (the scanner writes here and the app never changes it), frames/*.json (recipe, review state, metadata), work/*.tif (16-bit positives) and out/ (JPEGs). Any edit is a re-run of the recipe against the untouched raw scan.

Requirements

Python 3.12 with uv, Node 22+ with pnpm. Optional: Ollama for labeling (DARKROOM_VLM picks the model), darktable for hand edits. The LaMa weights download on first use. Paths for app config and caches are macOS defaults; set DARKROOM_HOME to put them anywhere.

Run

pnpm install
pnpm dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:5175. The API runs on 8787. pnpm dev keeps config and caches in .devhome/ and publishes to .publish/. Create a roll from the sidebar and point its raw folder at some negative scans.

pnpm darkroom runs the same thing against your real config. Publish settings go in a .env at the repo root: DARKROOM_PUBLISH_DIR=<folder> for a local folder, or R2_ACCOUNT_ID, R2_BUCKET, R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID and R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY for Cloudflare R2. GALLERY_URL sets the site address used in private roll links.

Tests

uv run --project server pytest

Extending

The app is split so a feature adds files instead of editing shared ones.

• Pipeline stages are in server/darkroom/stages/. A process job runs PROCESS_STAGES in order on a shared Context (ctx.neg is the working negative, ctx.img the positive; put results for the frame JSON in ctx.changes). Slower work such as labeling goes in JOBS and runs as a separate low-priority job.
• API routes: any module in server/darkroom/api/ that defines router is mounted automatically.
• Storage: store.Roll reads and writes roll.json and frames/<stem>.json; use roll.update_frame(stem, **changes).
• Studio panels live in apps/studio/src/review/ and take PanelProps (roll, frame). Keep a feature's API calls, types and CSS in their own files next to its panel.

To run a second copy beside the first, move the server with DARKROOM_HOME and --port, and the studio with STUDIO_PORT and DARKROOM_API.

License

MIT