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Search your photos and videos with ChatGPT

Last updated November 10, 2026

Connect ChatGPT to your locally indexed photo and video catalog with Grain Photo. Describe the image you remember, find footage for a script, or build a selection for a client brief.

This setup requires local MCP support in the ChatGPT desktop app on the same Mac as Grain Photo.

1. Get Grain Photo’s configuration

  1. Open Grain Photo and keep it running.
  2. Open Settings → Connectors → MCP.
  3. Turn on Allow local tools, then click Copy Configuration.

2. Add the local connection

  1. In the ChatGPT desktop app, open Settings → MCP servers → Add server.
  2. Name it Grain Photo and choose STDIO.
  3. Use the command value from Grain Photo’s configuration as the executable and --mcp as its argument. If the configuration includes env, preserve those values too.
  4. Save, select Restart, and start a chat with local tools available.

Use Grain Photo’s generated configuration for the executable path and profile settings. If your ChatGPT app does not offer MCP servers, check its version and workspace policy before continuing. This guide does not require a remote server URL.

Prefer to ask your assistant for setup help?

Help me connect Grain Photo to ChatGPT on my Mac. Read https://grain.photo/connect/agents.txt first. I’ll provide the configuration from Grain Photo’s Settings → Connectors → MCP. Check whether this session supports local tools. Preserve my existing configuration and show me the proposed changes before applying them. Then verify the connection by listing available sources without editing my catalog. If you cannot configure this client, walk me through its setup.

Paste this into your assistant, followed by Grain Photo’s copied configuration. An assistant with local computer access can help configure the connection; a web-only chat can explain the steps.

Check the connection

Use Grain Photo’s tools to check its capabilities and list my available sources. Tell me which are ready to search. Don’t edit anything.

The response should list the sources in your Grain Photo catalog.

Can ChatGPT search my photos without uploading them one by one?

With Grain Photo connected to a compatible local-tool session, yes. Grain Photo searches the catalog on your Mac and returns matching files to your assistant. You can then ask it to inspect previews, compare images, and refine the search. You don’t need to find and attach every candidate yourself.

Your archive’s indexing stays on your Mac. Results and previews shared with ChatGPT are processed under your assistant provider’s data policies.

Example requests

Start with one of these, then refine the results together. When you agree on a selection, ask ChatGPT to save it to a Grain Photo collection.

  • Client pitches

    Search my Grain Photo catalog for a hospitality pitch. Find a dozen photographs with warm light and beautiful interiors, in two or three directions.

  • Finding a frame

    Find horizontal photographs with a red coat from last spring’s campaign. It’s on my Studio drive, shot between March and May.

  • Shoot planning

    Use my Grain Photo catalog to help plan a bakery shoot: the owner before opening, dough, the oven, first customers, and the shop at dusk.

See the full conversations, with refine and save steps for each. Or read how Grain Photo works with ChatGPT and Claude.

Choose what your assistant can access

Allow local tools enables catalog search, metadata edits, and collection changes. Ask your assistant to show proposed edits before applying them. These edits affect Grain Photo’s catalog, not your original files or XMP sidecars.

Enable Allow tools to read previews so your assistant can inspect images and compare results. Access to original files has a separate control.

Grain Photo’s search runs on your Mac. Information returned to an external assistant—including filenames, metadata, and permitted images—is subject to that provider’s data handling. You can turn off local tools in Connectors.

If it doesn’t connect

  • No tools: confirm this is a local-capable session and restart the saved MCP connection.
  • App unavailable: keep Grain Photo open with Allow local tools enabled. Copy its configuration again if you moved or replaced the app.
  • No images: enable preview access in Grain Photo, then reconnect. Original-file access is not needed for preview review.

Client setup reference: OpenAI’s MCP documentation. Checked November 2, 2026. Client availability and workspace policies can differ.