Explore a bridge to RapidRAW, a blazing-fast OSS RAW editor (w/ ComfyUI hooks) as a photo editing companion

[ibrahim91015]

Not Affiliated with RapidRAW but I’m a big fan

Why RapidRAW is worth your attention

I stumbled across RapidRAW recently and it’s honestly way more polished than I expected for such a young project. It’s open-source, non-destructive, GPU-accelerated, built in Rust + Tauri, and already covers a ton of ground for real editing workflows:

• Full RAW pipeline
• Masks (with AI subject/foreground detection)
• Curves + grading + color controls
• Batch export + presets
• Non-destructive history stack

And it’s not just the basics — RapidRAW already shows off a modular backend design: it can hook into a local ComfyUI server for generative tools like inpainting (“Generative Replace”) while keeping classic RAW edits screaming fast on the GPU. That “plug in a server URL” flow is super familiar to anyone who self-hosts and wants modularity.

The pace is nuts too. The dev (@CyberTimon, 18yo!) ships constantly and is super open in the README + release notes.

Why this could matter for Immich

Immich already nails the library, indexing, and search layer, but editing is a whole other beast. Instead of reinventing that wheel, a bridge to RapidRAW could let both projects shine in their strongest roles:

• Immich stays the library + archive (import, CLIP/face discovery, search, albums, tags, sharing).
• RapidRAW becomes the editing bench, bringing GPU acceleration, RAW processing, masks, grading, and non-destructive workflows.
• Both are OSS, both run local-first, both give users full control.

From a technical POV, the handshake shape is already there:

• RapidRAW can already talk to external services (ComfyUI via URL).
• Immich already exposes clean APIs + per-user API keys.
  It’s not a huge leap to imagine them talking.

The pitch

RapidRAW handles the creative heavy lifting. Immich handles the brains + archive. Together, they make an open-source alternative to Lightroom + Photos that’s actually modular and self-hosted.

Links for context

• RapidRAW repo (README, releases, docs)
• CyberTimon (RapidRAW creator)

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If the maintainers are open, I’d love to see the two projects chat. The vibes line up: privacy-first, open-source, self-hosted, and absurdly fast. RapidRAW already proved it can plug into local services (ComfyUI); Immich already proved it can be the source of truth for a photo library. Putting them together would make a lot of photographers (me included) very, very happy.

[bo0tzz]

Unless there's a way to embed this in our web UI - which doesn't seem to be the case - I don't see a clear way to integrate it as our editor. The other way around, such as a plugin for RapidRAW that communicates with Immich, is something we tend to leave for community projects instead.

As a sidenote, an LLM generated appeal like this is usually (mostly) just noise. We'd much rather hear your authentic personal thoughts!