What is imagor-studio?

Imagor Studio is an open-source image gallery and editing workspace you run on your own hardware. It lets you browse thousands of photos instantly using virtual scrolling, organize them with drag-and-drop folder management, and build layered edits with live preview. Every change happens through generated URLs — source files stay untouched while transformed versions are created on demand via the imagor processing engine. You can save layered edits as reusable JSON templates and apply them across your collection. The app works with local folders, Amazon S3, MinIO, Cloudflare R2, and similar S3-compatible services. It runs as a single Docker container (shumc/imagor-studio) with embedded SQLite by default, or PostgreSQL/MySQL for production clusters. Authentication uses JWT with optional guest read-only access. Licensed AGPL-3.0 with a paid Early Bird tier ($39) that unlocks branding options. No native mobile apps, but the web interface is responsive with touch support.

Should you self-host imagor-studio?

imagor-studio scores 47/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #13 of 19 in Photo Galleries. It has 231 GitHub stars.

It shipped 6 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v1.2.4, came out on 2 August 2026. New versions land roughly every 3 weeks.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is AGPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in Typescript.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Immich (93/100, 117 490 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See imagor-studio vs Immich side by side.

Features

Branding customizationRequires paid Early Bird license ($39) to activate
Drag-and-drop management
Edit history with undo/redo
Layered image editing
Multi-layer compositing
Non-destructive editing
REST API
Universal storage support
URL-based transformations
Virtual scrolling gallery

How to configure imagor-studio

ALLOW_GUEST_MODEfalseAllow guest read-only access
Allow guest read-only access
values: true, false
APP_TITLEImagor StudioCustom application title (requires license)
Custom application title (requires license)
APP_URLhttps://imagor.netCustom application URL (requires license)
Custom application URL (requires license)
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDAWS access key ID
AWS access key ID
AWS_REGIONAWS region
AWS region
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYAWS secret access key
AWS secret access key
DATABASE_URLsqlite:./imagor-studio.dbDatabase connection string
Database connection string
values: sqlite:./imagor-studio.db, sqlite::memory:, postgres://..., mysql://...
DB_CONN_MAX_IDLE_TIME5mMaximum PostgreSQL connection idle time
Maximum PostgreSQL connection idle time
DB_CONN_MAX_LIFETIME30mMaximum PostgreSQL connection lifetime
Maximum PostgreSQL connection lifetime
DB_MAX_IDLE_CONNS5Maximum PostgreSQL idle connections per app process
Maximum PostgreSQL idle connections per app process
DB_MAX_OPEN_CONNS25Maximum PostgreSQL open connections per app process
Maximum PostgreSQL open connections per app process
FILE_STORAGE_BASE_DIR/app/galleryBase directory for images (file storage)
Base directory for images (file storage)
FILE_STORAGE_MKDIR_PERMISSIONS0755Directory creation permissions
Directory creation permissions
FILE_STORAGE_WRITE_PERMISSIONS0644File write permissions
File write permissions
JWT_EXPIRATION168h (7 days)Token expiration
Token expiration
JWT_SECRETAuto-generatedSecret key for JWT signing (auto-generated if not provided)
Secret key for JWT signing (auto-generated if not provided)
LICENSE_KEYLicense key for branding customization
License key for branding customization
PGID65534Process Group ID for file ownership
Process Group ID for file ownership
PORT8000Server port
Server port
PUID65534Process User ID for file ownership
Process User ID for file ownership
S3_STORAGE_BUCKETS3 bucket name
S3 bucket name
STORAGE_TYPEfileStorage backend type
Storage backend type
values: file, s3