Local-first vault for blobs you have seen and saved.

Capitalize what you scrolled past and hoarded — screenshots, bookmarks, saved posts — into something you can actually find again on your Mac.

Download for macOS Install steps

Detecting architecture…

Unsigned build: macOS may say the app is “damaged.” After dragging to Applications, clear quarantine:

Run in Terminal:
xattr -cr /Applications/BlobberVault.app

If Terminal says “No such file”, check the app name under /Applications (rare legacy name: BlobsVault.app).

Sources → local vault → Search / Ask / agents

Capitalize the scroll

Doom-scrolling leaves a trail: Screenshot folders, bookmark graveyards, posts you “saved for later.” You already collected the material — you just never reopen it. BlobberVault is the capitalization opportunity for that pile.

Irrigate what you hoarded

Link a folder. Index stays on your Mac. OCR, tags, Search, and Ask turn the hoard into a stream you can query — reopen the useful bits instead of drowning in them.

Agents can see the vault

Optional local MCP lets Cursor or Claude query your vision environment while BlobberVault is running — organize and ask without shipping your library to a cloud. The MCP server is a developer CLI (photokb-mcp), not bundled in the DMG. See Docs → Local MCP.

From folder to answer

One local pipeline for blobs you have seen and saved — resumable, explainable, on-device.

Stage	What happens	Where
	Link folders or Capture; originals never copied by default. Sources stay as paths on disk. Indexing is resumable from media_processing_state.	local
	On-device vision turns screens into searchable text and explainable tags. Model outputs are versioned. Scores and user-confirmed flags stay with each blob.	local
	Embeddings land in local LanceDB when the semantic pack is available. Public DMG is honest when extras are missing — no fake “fully semantic” claim.	local
	OCR, tags, filters, and evidence in one hub. Every hit can show why it matched — score, model version, confirmed flag.	local
	Hybrid RAG with citations from your vault. Optional OpenAI is metadata-only query planning — never image upload by default.	local

Click a stage name for evidence details.

What runs where

Packaged honesty — what ships in the DMG versus CLI / optional packs. No marketing fog.

Capability	On-device	Cloud	Packaged story
Folder link / index	Yes	Never	In DMG
OCR & structured tags	Yes	Never	In DMG
Search with evidence	Yes	Never	In DMG
Ask (local RAG)	Yes	Never	Python in DMG; weights optional
OpenAI query planning	Off by default	Metadata-only if enabled	Keychain key
Capture (LinkedIn / X / YouTube)	Yes	Never uploads library	System Chrome via CDP
SmolVLM	Yes when downloaded	Never	Weights in-app only
MCP fleet	Yes	Never	CLI — not in DMG
Export Markdown / JSON	Yes	Never	In DMG

Strict Local by default

Blobs you saved stay on-device during indexing — images, thumbnails, crops, embeddings. Optional OpenAI planning is metadata-only when you enable it. See Privacy.

Your disk

Originals

~/Pictures · Downloads · linked folders
never copied by default

BlobberVault

Index

~/Library/Application Support/PhotoKB/
SQLite · LanceDB · thumbs (derived)

Delete the vault folder to wipe derived data. Source files stay where you left them.

Get the Mac app

Apple Silicon DMG available now. Unsigned until Apple notarization — clear Gatekeeper after install.

Unsigned build: macOS may say the app is “damaged.” After dragging to Applications, clear quarantine:

Run in Terminal:
xattr -cr /Applications/BlobberVault.app

If Terminal says “No such file”, check the app name under /Applications (rare legacy name: BlobsVault.app).

Download for macOS Getting started