[New Feature] SFTP File-Level Interface for Immich – Two-Way Sync, One-Way & Backup

[Demian98]

Hi,

I'm a software engineer from Germany and have developed an SFTP file-level interface for Immich. It has been running for a few weeks on my home server and is working well for me and my family.

Potential use cases & benefits:

• Works for any platform (Android, Linux, Windows, macOS, etc.), as SFTP is a common protocol
• Backup photos from your local system to Immich
• One-way sync: changes made in Immich to devices, or the other way around
• Two-way sync: changes between Immich and your device (comparable to sync like in Nextcloud or OneDrive)

How it technically works:

• The main goal was to achieve a clean and high-quality technical implementation. All communication with Immich is handled exclusively through its API, with no direct access to the database or file system.
• The root folder from the SFTP contains every album in Immich as a folder, and they contain each photo or video as a file.
  Example:

/Album1/
  ... Image1.jpg
  ... Image2.jpg
  ... Image3.jpg
/Album2/
  ... Image4.jpg
  ... Image1.jpg

• Timestamps of the files are handled properly, so photos always appear in the correct location in the timeline.
• Works with Immich’s deduplication. In case a photo is in two different albums in Immich, it will appear as two files on the SFTP (one in each album), but it is still only one asset in Immich.
• Works well with the trash bin in Immich. Deleted files on the SFTP will go to the trash bin. If they are re-uploaded to the SFTP, they are restored from the trash.
• No data is actually stored on the SFTP container. Every access goes live to the Immich API in the background.

How I use it:

I personally do 60–70% of my photo management and sorting on the mobile, when I have some time left while waiting somewhere. For that reason, I want these changes to be reflected in Immich. But sometimes I have time at home and spend it sorting my photos in the web interface of Immich — this should then be reflected in my phone gallery.
So I use this setup in two-way sync, as Immich is not just an archive or backup solution for me.

Use case as backup:

Of course, this SFTP solution can also be configured as one-way sync. Then photos can be synced to Immich like it’s a backup server. Optionally, you can enable the sync of deleted files in the sync client.

In the end, there are no limitations to how this can be used.

What do I want?

• My main goal is to help move Immich toward broader support for official standards and protocols, making it easier to integrate with other tools and platforms.
• I believe this SFTP-based approach is a solid step in that direction, and I'd love to see it considered for inclusion in the official Immich Server.
• But most importantly, I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts — from the Immich developers and the wider community. Your feedback will help shape whether and how this could be valuable to others.

[majorsl]

This seems to be what I want, and honestly what I thought Immich could be. I'd be very interested in this because I want one tool to manage photos across devices and that includes a sane "delete" from all locations too.

[Xiticks]

I received feedback from some of the people in the Immich team.

They suggest that, as you do everything through Immich API, you could share the code/container as a Community tool (such as immich-go, immich-frame, immich-kiosk, or immich-power-tools)

This way, you could have users testing, asking for improvements and giving you feedback

[majorsl]

I would run this is Docker, for sure.

[PhilTdr]

My photo folder is structured exactly as described here (AlbumName/20250826_233000.jpg).
With this tool, I could use my existing folder structure 1-to-1 in Immich.

I also frequently edit photos on my PC via a network share, and these changes need to be automatically reflected in Immich, similar to how it works in Synology Photos.
I would use this tool immediately and could finally replace Synology Photos with Immich.

(It would be even better, of course, if the External Libraries feature could do this directly, so the library wouldn't need to be stored as an additional copy within Immich.)

[tve]

Are you willing to make your tool available?

[akibrhast]

Interesting tool ! Would love to test drive and give reviews and feedbacks

[RytisLT]

need this

Edit: AFAIK it cannot work with iOS