exiftool

exiftool-skill

A comprehensive Claude Code skill for image, video, and audio metadata operations via exiftool (Phil Harvey).

What it does

Translates natural-language requests into safe exiftool invocations across eight task categories:

1. View / extract metadata
2. GPS / geolocation read, write, strip
3. Capture date / time correction and TZ shifting
4. Tag copying and sidecar XMP application
5. Renaming and folder organization by capture date
6. JSON / CSV / structured export
7. Video metadata (GoPro, DJI, generic QuickTime)
8. Sanitize / strip private metadata before publication

Prerequisites

exiftool must be installed on PATH:

• macOS: brew install exiftool
• Debian / Ubuntu: sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl
• Other: see https://exiftool.org/install.html

Verify with: exiftool -ver

Install

Three install paths, in order of recommendation.

1. Claude Code marketplace (recommended)

/plugin marketplace add jaxx2104/exiftool-skill
/plugin install exiftool@jaxx2104

2. .skill package

Build a .skill archive with skill-creator's package_skill script, then install it:

python -m scripts.package_skill skills/exiftool   # run from inside skill-creator
# Drop the resulting .skill file via Claude Code's plugin loader.

3. Manual clone

git clone https://github.com/jaxx2104/exiftool-skill.git
ln -s "$PWD/exiftool-skill/skills/exiftool" ~/.claude/skills/exiftool

Safety model

Write and delete operations are gated by a three-step rule (plan → confirm → execute) and explicit _original backup handling. See skills/exiftool/references/safety.md.

Development

• Skill content: skills/exiftool/
• Hand-written task references: skills/exiftool/references/tasks/
• Auto-generated upstream docs: skills/exiftool/references/upstream/ (Phase 2)
• Bundled helpers: skills/exiftool/scripts/
• Upstream submodule: vendor/exiftool/ (pinned to tag 13.57)

License

Dual-licensed under the Artistic License (Perl) or the GNU GPL — same terms as upstream exiftool. See LICENSE.

Acknowledgements

All authoritative metadata knowledge in this skill derives from exiftool by Phil Harvey and his decades of maker-note reverse engineering. This skill is a translation layer; he is the source.