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Search your photos and videos with Claude Desktop

Last updated November 10, 2026

Grain Photo connects Claude Desktop to the photo and video catalog indexed on your Mac. Ask for a remembered scene, explore material for a story, or build a selection from your own work.

Use Claude Desktop on the same Mac as Grain Photo. This local connection does not make your catalog available in Claude’s web or mobile apps.

1. Copy the connection from Grain Photo

  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 it to Claude Desktop

  1. From Claude’s macOS menu, open Settings → Developer → Edit Config.
  2. Back up the existing file. Inside its mcpServers object, add an entry named grain-photo with the configuration copied from Grain Photo. Keep all existing servers and other settings.
  3. Save valid JSON, fully quit Claude Desktop, and reopen it. Keep Grain Photo running.

The configuration file is ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Grain Photo supplies the executable path, arguments, and any profile settings. Its copied object belongs under mcpServers → grain-photo, not at the file’s top level.

Get help formatting the configuration

Use this prompt with your copied Grain Photo configuration. Claude can prepare the JSON; applying it automatically requires a session that already has permission to edit local files.

Help me connect Grain Photo to Claude Desktop 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.

Example requests

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

  • Personal projects

    Look through my photographs from Japan in Grain Photo and help me find a story. Start with rain, night streets, umbrellas, and lit signs.

  • Portfolio edits

    Find work in my Grain Photo catalog for an architecture studio: warm materials, natural light, buildings in use. Suggest twelve images.

  • Film & video

    Search my Grain Photo catalog for footage of a fishing town waking up: harbor at dawn, ropes and hands, market preparation, boats leaving.

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 Claude can’t see the library

  • Server missing: check the JSON structure, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.
  • Connection failed: open Grain Photo, enable local tools, and confirm the copied executable path still exists.
  • Images unavailable: enable previews in Grain Photo and reconnect. Disconnected drives may also need reconnecting to read media.

Client setup references: MCP’s Claude Desktop walkthrough and Anthropic’s local MCP guide. Checked November 2, 2026.