PhotoCHAT Photo Search

Search for photos in PhotoCHAT using natural language via the CLI. Use when the user asks to find, search for, or locate photos/pictures/images using PhotoCHAT. Triggers include phrases like 'find me a photo of...', 'search photochat for...', 'use photochat to find...', or simply 'find me a picture of...'. NOT for browsing the PhotoCHAT GUI, managing albums, or face profile editing.

PhotoCHAT CLI Search

Search the user's photo library using PhotoCHAT's natural language search CLI.

Command

powershell

photochat search [options] <natural language query>

Uses the MSIX-packaged photochat app execution alias (v0.6.0+).

Options

Flag	Purpose	Default
--json	Machine-readable JSON output	off
--limit N	Max results	5
--show-filters	Print parsed face/date/exclusion filters	off
--show-scores	Include similarity scores in plain text	off
--profile NAME	Force-include a face profile	none
--day-first	Parse ambiguous dates as DD/MM	off
--dry-run	Parse query only, skip retrieval	off

Workflow

1. Run search with --json, --day-first, and a reasonable --limit:

powershell

photochat search --json --day-first --limit 10 show me a photo of sarah at the beach

2. Parse JSON output:

json

{
  "query": "original query text",
  "intent": {
    "cleaned_query": "processed query",
    "face_filters": ["sarah"],
    "date_range": null,
    "exclude_terms": []
  },
  "total_results": 25,
  "returned_results": 5,
  "results": [
    { "rank": 1, "path": "I:/Pictures/.../photo.JPG", "score": 0.55 }
  ]
}

3. Present results:
   • Show file paths and match count (returned vs total)
   • To display a photo, use the image tool with the path from results
   • Scores above 0.4 are decent; above 0.5 is a strong match
   • If zero results, suggest simplifying the query or check filters with --show-filters

Query Capabilities

The parser handles rich natural language:

• Faces: "Sarah at the beach" auto-filters face profile "Sarah"
• Dates: "from 2021", "in March", "before 2015", "from Mar 21"
• Exclusions: "without Matt" excludes face or concept
• Mood/style: "photos that feel cozy and warm", "vintage film look"
• Combos: "Bella standing next to a tall building from Mar 21"

For more examples, read references/search-examples.txt.

Important

• Always use --day-first (Australian date format DD/MM)
• Always use --json for parseable output
• Default --limit 5 unless user asks for more
• First search takes 10-30s (model loading); use 60s timeout on first call
• Result paths are absolute file paths; pass directly to the image tool

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success (includes zero-result searches)
2	Argument/usage error
3	Runtime/model init failure
4	Storage init/access failure
5	Unexpected failure