feat(lightbox): two-column metadata layout

Lay the lightbox info-panel metadata out in a two-column grid: paired fields
(Dimensions/Duration, Video codec/Audio codec, Type/File size) sit side by side
while Rating, Modified, and Embedding span the full width. More compact panel
with less scrolling. Tags and EXIF sections are unchanged.

.gitignore

@@ -35,5 +35,12 @@ dist-ssr
 *.pyc
 
 # Bundled CUDA runtime DLLs for the CUDA build (copied from the toolkit
-# locally; ~600 MB, never committed). See RELEASE_PLAN.md "CUDA release variant".
+# locally; ~600 MB, never committed).
 src-tauri/cuda-redist/
+
+# Playwright
+/test-results/
+/playwright-report/
+/blob-report/
+/playwright/.cache/
+/playwright/.auth/

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,153 @@ All notable changes to Phokus are documented here. The format is based on
 aims to follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html)
 (0.x: anything may change between minor versions).
 
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Added
+
+- **Quick theme switch** — right-click the settings cog in the title bar to
+  switch theme (Phokus / Subtle Light / Conventional Dark) on the spot, without
+  opening Settings.
+- **Albums** — curate your own collections. A new Albums section in the sidebar
+  (with cover thumbnails, kept visually distinct from Libraries) lets you create,
+  rename, reorder (drag the row), and open albums; albums can span multiple
+  folders. Add images from the gallery's bulk action bar or from the lightbox,
+  remove them from within an album, and use Manage mode to multi-select and
+  delete albums in one go. Deleting an album never touches your files — only the
+  grouping is removed.
+- **Multi-select & bulk actions in the gallery** — hover a thumbnail's top-left
+  corner to reveal a selection checkbox (click it to start selecting); while
+  selecting, click tiles to toggle and double-click to open. A floating action
+  bar then lets you tag (with autocomplete), rate, favorite, add to an album, or
+  delete the whole selection at once. Works in similar-image, region, and album
+  views too.
+- **Colour search** — filter the gallery (and Timeline) by dominant colour via a
+  collapsible swatch palette plus a custom colour picker in the toolbar; existing
+  libraries are backfilled automatically in the background.
+- **Album-scoped similar search** — when finding visually similar images or
+  searching by a selected region from an album, you can now keep results scoped
+  to that album, switch back to the source folder, or search all media.
+- **Tag management** — Explore → Tag Cloud gains a Manage mode with a flat tag
+  list where you can rename a tag, merge it into another (rename it to an
+  existing tag's name), or delete it from every image. Changes apply across the
+  whole library. Settings → AI Workspace also has an "Open tag manager" button
+  that jumps straight into it.
+- **Camera info in the lightbox** — the image info panel now shows EXIF details
+  (camera, lens, aperture, shutter, ISO, focal length) and, when a photo is
+  geotagged, its GPS coordinates as a link that opens the location in your
+  browser. Read on demand from the file, so it works on already-indexed images
+  without re-indexing.
+- **What's New** — after updating, Phokus now greets you with a "What's new"
+  toast that opens an in-app release-notes screen for the new version, with the
+  changes grouped into collapsible Added / Changed / Fixed sections.
+- **Build badge in Settings** — the version line in Settings → Updates now shows
+  whether the running build is the CPU or CUDA (GPU-accelerated) variant.
+- **Choose your tagging model** — Settings → AI Workspace now lets you switch the
+  AI tagger between the WD tagger (anime-focused) and **JoyTag**, which also
+  handles photographic content and is stronger on NSFW concepts — a better fit
+  for real-photo libraries. Each model downloads on demand, and tags are
+  attributed to the model that produced them. JoyTag has no built-in rating, so
+  its explicitness rating is derived from its tags.
+- **Related tags in Explore** — clicking a tag in the Tag Cloud atlas now reveals
+  its most co-occurring tags with animated connection lines and per-tag image
+  counts, so you can quickly see how tags cluster together and jump to a refined
+  search.
+- **Persist worker pauses across restarts** — a new toggle in Settings → General
+  lets you save per-folder worker pause states so they survive an app restart;
+  useful when you want a folder permanently excluded from background processing
+  without having to re-pause it every launch.
+
+### Changed
+
+- **Two-column lightbox details** — the image info panel now lays metadata out in
+  two columns (Dimensions/Duration, Video codec/Audio codec, Type/File size sit
+  side by side), so the panel is more compact and less scrolling.
+- **Faster Explore on large libraries** — revisiting a folder's visual clusters
+  is now near-instant. The cluster cache is validated from a lightweight
+  image-ID signature instead of re-reading every embedding, so big libraries no
+  longer stall for several seconds even when the cached result is reused.
+- **Tag manager search and sort** — the Manage mode tag list now has a live
+  filter input and a sort dropdown (most-used / least-used / A–Z / Z–A). The
+  list is virtualised so libraries with thousands of tags scroll without lag,
+  and renaming or deleting a tag no longer clears the current filter/sort state
+  mid-edit.
+
+- **Safer deletion** — deleting media now asks for confirmation and spells out
+  that it permanently removes the file(s) from disk. This covers the new gallery
+  bulk delete and the Duplicate Finder, which previously deleted on a single
+  click with no confirmation or warning.
+- The updater now shows a real download progress bar with a percentage in
+  Settings → Updates (previously it only said "Downloading").
+- **Smaller-screen layout** — the toolbar adapts on narrow windows: the filter
+  chips scroll horizontally instead of squashing (so "Similar: Folder/All" no
+  longer stack), the search box shrinks, and the colour-search swatches now open
+  in a compact popover rather than expanding inline and running off-screen. The
+  sidebar and the lightbox info panel also narrow to give the gallery more room.
+- **Explore cluster layout** — clusters are now sized by image count (busier
+  clusters are larger and stack on top) and repositioned to avoid overlapping, so
+  every cluster stays viewable and clickable even in dense libraries.
+- **Faster CPU tagging** — when AI tagging runs on the CPU provider (no usable
+  GPU) it now uses multiple cores instead of being pinned to one, several times
+  faster on multi-core machines. A couple of cores are left free so the rest of
+  the app stays responsive. GPU (DirectML) tagging is unchanged.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Stale Explore results on folder switch** — switching folders (or re-entering
+  Explore) no longer briefly shows the previous folder's clusters/tags with no
+  loading indicator; the view now clears and shows a loading state until the new
+  folder's data arrives.
+- **Rating no longer scrambles search results** — rating or favoriting an image
+  while viewing similar-image, region, semantic, tag, or album results no longer
+  re-sorts the view back into the default order; the current result ordering is
+  preserved.
+- The update download/install progress toast now reappears when you start an
+  update from the title-bar indicator or Settings after dismissing the earlier
+  "Update available" prompt — previously progress only showed in Settings.
+- Subtle Light theme — fixed several surfaces and buttons that stayed dark or
+  became unreadable on hover, including new dialogs and the green action buttons
+  across the updater and onboarding.
+- **Endless self-indexing loop** — adding a folder that contains Phokus's own
+  app-data directory (for example, your whole user profile) no longer makes the
+  app index its own thumbnail cache, generate thumbnails of those thumbnails, and
+  loop forever. That directory is now skipped by both the folder scanner and the
+  filesystem watcher.
+- **Background tasks now lead with the active folder** — when one folder's
+  workers are paused while another is actively processing, the active folder
+  takes the main slot in the background-tasks bar instead of the paused one.
+- **Oversized window on smaller screens** — on a fresh install the window opened
+  at a fixed size that was taller than the usable area on displays like
+  1366×768, leaving part of it off-screen. It now clamps to the monitor's work
+  area (excluding the taskbar) and centres there when it would overflow; larger
+  displays and any remembered size/position are left untouched.
+- **Explore readability in Subtle Light** — fixed washed-out and unreadable
+  elements in the Explore view on the light theme. Cluster cards now use a soft
+  dark caption scrim (the previous cream overlay fogged the photos), with a
+  legible label, count, and "Open" button; Tag Cloud words use darker accents and
+  a higher opacity floor instead of near-invisible pale text.
+- **Explore polish** — the Tag Cloud now uses the in-app tooltip instead of the
+  native browser one (and reads "1 image", not "1 images"), and the folder-scope
+  dropdown no longer opens behind the cluster cards.
+- **AI tagging no longer freezes the app** — tagging now runs inference in small
+  GPU micro-batches with a brief yield between them, instead of one wide batch
+  that monopolised the GPU (and with it the whole UI) for seconds at a time. The
+  app stays responsive while tagging runs, throughput is steadier (the old wide
+  batches caused periodic slowdowns), and the first batch after launch starts
+  faster.
+- **Noisy AI tags filtered automatically** — a built-in removal list strips
+  generic or low-signal tags (e.g. "simple background") from WD and JoyTag
+  output before they are stored. Previously-generated tags matching the list are
+  cleaned up at startup. Manual user-added tags are never touched.
+- **Explore Tag Cloud hover glow in Subtle Light** — the radial glow that
+  appears under a tag word on hover was invisible on the light background
+  (white on cream). It now uses a warm dark tone matching the rest of the
+  light-theme palette, and the atlas connection-line gradient adapts to the
+  theme as well.
+- **AI Workspace "Selected Folders" no longer pre-selects a folder** — switching
+  the tagging queue scope to "Selected Folders" previously auto-selected the
+  first folder in the list. It now starts with nothing selected so you can
+  choose exactly which folders to target.
+
 ## [0.1.1] — 2026-06-23
 
 ### Added

CLAUDE.md

@@ -15,8 +15,11 @@ pnpm dev:app
 # Frontend only (no Tauri window)
 pnpm dev:vite
 
-# Production build
-pnpm build:app
+# Production build (CPU)
+pnpm build:app:cpu
+
+# Production build (CUDA / GPU-accelerated)
+pnpm build:app:cuda
 
 # Type-check frontend
 pnpm build:vite

README.md

@@ -109,13 +109,22 @@ pnpm dev:app
 # Frontend only
 pnpm dev:vite
 
-# Production build
-pnpm build:app
+# Browser-only UI Lab with mocked Tauri APIs
+pnpm dev:ui
+
+# Production build (CPU)
+pnpm build:app:cpu
+
+# Production build (CUDA / GPU-accelerated)
+pnpm build:app:cuda
 
 # Type-check the frontend
 pnpm build:vite
 ```
 
+For visual frontend work without launching Tauri or the Rust backend, see
+[Phokus UI Lab](docs/ui-lab.md).
+
 ## How it works
 
 1. Add a folder from the sidebar — the Rust indexer walks it recursively.

docs/release-notes-0.1.1.md

@@ -59,6 +59,6 @@ for the full list.
 ## Checksums
 
 ```
-SHA-256 (Phokus_0.1.1_x64-setup.exe)      = <fill in>
-SHA-256 (Phokus_0.1.1_x64-cuda-setup.exe) = <fill in>
+SHA-256 (Phokus_0.1.1_x64-setup.exe)      = 1c19cbeb77f38a44149380c42c76b633add65777d317e1f3ff7e45d96d12d287
+SHA-256 (Phokus_0.1.1_x64-cuda-setup.exe) = a7337ef5ee0478a785b48acc8012e8fc5c957341161d6103409213ad78eb845f
 ```

docs/ui-lab.md

@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+# Phokus UI Lab
+
+Phokus UI Lab is a browser-only development mode for visual work on the real
+Phokus frontend. It runs the same `App.tsx`, Zustand store, components, and CSS
+as the Tauri app, but installs Tauri JavaScript mocks before the app imports.
+
+This gives UI agents and contributors a stable browser target without launching
+the Rust backend or a Tauri window.
+
+## Run It
+
+```bash
+pnpm dev:ui
+```
+
+Then open:
+
+```text
+http://127.0.0.1:1422
+```
+
+The script runs Vite in the custom `ui` mode:
+
+```bash
+vite --mode ui --host 127.0.0.1 --port 1422 --strictPort --open
+```
+
+The normal app development commands are unchanged:
+
+```bash
+pnpm dev:app   # Tauri app + Rust backend
+pnpm dev:vite  # frontend dev server for Tauri dev
+```
+
+## Scenarios
+
+UI Lab reads `?scenario=` from the URL. If no scenario is provided, it uses
+`rich`.
+
+| URL | Purpose |
+| --- | --- |
+| `/?scenario=rich` | Default realistic library with folders, albums, ratings, favorites, tags, images, and videos |
+| `/?scenario=empty` | First-run state with no folders or media |
+| `/?scenario=busy` | Background workers with pending thumbnail, metadata, embedding, caption, and tagging jobs |
+| `/?scenario=duplicates` | Duplicate Finder opened with duplicate groups already available |
+| `/?scenario=album` | Gallery opened directly into an album |
+| `/?scenario=errors` | Broken thumbnails, folder scan errors, failed embeddings, failed tagging, and metadata issues |
+| `/?scenario=huge` | Large mock library for virtualization and layout checks |
+
+Examples:
+
+```text
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=duplicates
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=errors
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=huge
+```
+
+## How It Works
+
+`src/main.tsx` bootstraps the app asynchronously. In `ui` mode it imports
+`src/dev/setupMockTauri.ts` first, then imports the real `App`.
+
+That order matters because static imports are hoisted. The Tauri mocks must be
+installed before `App`, the store, the title bar, or visual components import
+Tauri APIs.
+
+The mock setup installs:
+
+- `mockWindows("main")` for window APIs used by the title bar
+- `mockConvertFileSrc("windows")` as a baseline Tauri file URL mock
+- `mockIPC(..., { shouldMockEvents: true })` for `invoke`, `listen`, and `emit`
+
+The in-memory backend lives in:
+
+```text
+src/dev/mockBackend.ts
+src/dev/mockFixtures.ts
+src/dev/mockScenarios.ts
+src/dev/applyMockScenario.ts
+```
+
+Happy-path fixture media is generated from existing onboarding images and
+website screenshots into:
+
+```text
+public/dev-media/fixture-*.webp
+```
+
+The pack is deliberately small and deterministic, but varied enough for browser
+screenshots: square, portrait, landscape, monochrome, tinted, framed, and
+interface-like crops. Synthetic or deliberately broken fixture paths can still
+use the `mock://` scheme described below.
+
+## Mock Media
+
+Visual components should use `mediaSrc(...)` instead of calling
+`convertFileSrc(...)` directly:
+
+```ts
+import { mediaSrc } from "../lib/mediaSrc";
+
+const src = mediaSrc(image.thumbnail_path);
+```
+
+In normal Tauri modes, `mediaSrc` delegates to `convertFileSrc`. In UI Lab,
+root-relative asset URLs such as `/dev-media/fixture-01.webp` are returned
+as-is. Paths beginning with `mock://` are also served from `public/dev-media`:
+
+```text
+mock://thumb-1.svg -> /dev-media/thumb-1.svg
+```
+
+Use `mediaSrc` when adding components that render thumbnails, album covers,
+preview images, or video posters.
+
+## Adding A Mock Command
+
+If the browser console logs an unmocked command, add it to
+`src/dev/mockBackend.ts`.
+
+Prefer returning realistic data for commands that affect visible UI. For actions
+that would touch the machine, return a safe no-op:
+
+```ts
+case "open_app_data_folder":
+  return null;
+```
+
+When adding fixture data, keep it shaped like the real store/Rust contracts.
+Most frontend-facing types are exported from `src/store.ts`, so the mocks can
+stay type-checked against the real UI.
+
+## Adding A Scenario
+
+1. Add the scenario name to `MockScenario` and `SCENARIOS` in
+   `src/dev/mockScenarios.ts`.
+2. Adjust fixture creation in `src/dev/mockFixtures.ts`.
+3. If the scenario should open a specific view, add that behavior in
+   `src/dev/applyMockScenario.ts`.
+4. Visit `http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=your-scenario` and check for console
+   errors.
+
+## What UI Lab Is For
+
+UI Lab is intended for:
+
+- visual iteration on the real app shell
+- layout and responsive checks
+- state-heavy views like Explore, Timeline, Duplicates, albums, and Settings
+- AI-agent screenshot/browser inspection
+- safe UI work without filesystem or Rust-side effects
+
+It is not a replacement for Tauri app testing. Validate native behavior with
+`pnpm dev:app` when touching:
+
+- file or folder pickers
+- filesystem permissions
+- real thumbnail/video loading
+- window drag, minimize, maximize, or close behavior
+- Rust backend performance
+- updater installation
+- WebView2-specific behavior
+
+## Verification
+
+Useful checks after changing UI Lab:
+
+```bash
+pnpm exec tsc --noEmit
+pnpm build:vite
+pnpm dev:ui
+```
+
+Then smoke-test at least:
+
+```text
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=rich
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=empty
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=duplicates
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=errors
+http://127.0.0.1:1422/?scenario=huge
+```

package.json

@@ -5,17 +5,19 @@
   "license": "MIT",
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
-    "build:app": "tauri build",
+    "build:app:cpu": "tauri build -- --no-default-features",
+    "build:app:cuda": "tauri build --config src-tauri/tauri.cuda.conf.json",
     "build:vite": "tsc && vite build",
     "build:web": "cd website && tsc && vite build",
+    "changelog:add": "node tools/changelog-add.mjs",
     "clean:app": "cd src-tauri && cargo clean",
     "dev:app": "tauri dev",
     "dev:app:cpu": "tauri dev -- --no-default-features",
-    "dev:web": "cd website && pnpm dev",
-    "build:app:cpu": "tauri build -- --no-default-features",
-    "build:app:cuda": "tauri build --config src-tauri/tauri.cuda.conf.json",
-    "changelog:add": "node tools/changelog-add.mjs",
+    "dev:ui": "vite --mode ui --host 127.0.0.1 --port 1422 --strictPort --open",
     "dev:vite": "vite",
+    "dev:web": "cd website && pnpm dev",
+    "format:app": "cd src-tauri && cargo fmt",
+    "format:check": "cd src-tauri && cargo fmt --check",
     "preview": "vite preview",
     "tauri": "tauri"
   },
@@ -35,9 +37,11 @@
     "zustand": "^5.0.12"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
+    "@playwright/test": "^1.61.1",
     "@tailwindcss/vite": "^4.2.2",
     "@tauri-apps/cli": "^2",
     "@types/d3-force": "^3.0.10",
+    "@types/node": "^26.0.1",
     "@types/react": "^19.1.8",
     "@types/react-dom": "^19.1.6",
     "@vitejs/plugin-react": "^4.6.0",

playwright.config.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';
+
+/**
+ * Read environment variables from file.
+ * https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv
+ */
+// import dotenv from 'dotenv';
+// import path from 'path';
+// dotenv.config({ path: path.resolve(__dirname, '.env') });
+
+/**
+ * See https://playwright.dev/docs/test-configuration.
+ */
+export default defineConfig({
+  testDir: './tests',
+  /* Run tests in files in parallel */
+  fullyParallel: true,
+  /* Fail the build on CI if you accidentally left test.only in the source code. */
+  forbidOnly: !!process.env.CI,
+  /* Retry on CI only */
+  retries: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
+  /* Opt out of parallel tests on CI. */
+  workers: process.env.CI ? 1 : undefined,
+  /* Reporter to use. See https://playwright.dev/docs/test-reporters */
+  reporter: 'html',
+  /* Shared settings for all the projects below. See https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-testoptions. */
+  use: {
+    /* Base URL to use in actions like `await page.goto('')`. */
+    // baseURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
+
+    /* Collect trace when retrying the failed test. See https://playwright.dev/docs/trace-viewer */
+    trace: 'on-first-retry',
+  },
+
+  /* Configure projects for major browsers */
+  projects: [
+    {
+      name: 'chromium',
+      use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'] },
+    },
+
+    {
+      name: 'firefox',
+      use: { ...devices['Desktop Firefox'] },
+    },
+
+    {
+      name: 'webkit',
+      use: { ...devices['Desktop Safari'] },
+    },
+
+    /* Test against mobile viewports. */
+    // {
+    //   name: 'Mobile Chrome',
+    //   use: { ...devices['Pixel 5'] },
+    // },
+    // {
+    //   name: 'Mobile Safari',
+    //   use: { ...devices['iPhone 12'] },
+    // },
+
+    /* Test against branded browsers. */
+    // {
+    //   name: 'Microsoft Edge',
+    //   use: { ...devices['Desktop Edge'], channel: 'msedge' },
+    // },
+    // {
+    //   name: 'Google Chrome',
+    //   use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'], channel: 'chrome' },
+    // },
+  ],
+
+  /* Run your local dev server before starting the tests */
+  // webServer: {
+  //   command: 'npm run start',
+  //   url: 'http://localhost:3000',
+  //   reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
+  // },
+});

pnpm-lock.yaml

@@ -48,15 +48,21 @@ importers:
         specifier: ^5.0.12
         version: 5.0.12(@types/react@19.2.14)(react@19.2.4)
     devDependencies:
+      '@playwright/test':
+        specifier: ^1.61.1
+        version: 1.61.1
       '@tailwindcss/vite':
         specifier: ^4.2.2
-        version: 4.2.2(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
+        version: 4.2.2(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
       '@tauri-apps/cli':
         specifier: ^2
         version: 2.10.1
       '@types/d3-force':
         specifier: ^3.0.10
         version: 3.0.10
+      '@types/node':
+        specifier: ^26.0.1
+        version: 26.0.1
       '@types/react':
         specifier: ^19.1.8
         version: 19.2.14
@@ -65,7 +71,7 @@ importers:
         version: 19.2.3(@types/react@19.2.14)
       '@vitejs/plugin-react':
         specifier: ^4.6.0
-        version: 4.7.0(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
+        version: 4.7.0(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
       tailwindcss:
         specifier: ^4.2.2
         version: 4.2.2
@@ -74,7 +80,7 @@ importers:
         version: 5.8.3
       vite:
         specifier: ^7.0.4
-        version: 7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
+        version: 7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
 
   website:
     dependencies:
@@ -96,7 +102,7 @@ importers:
     devDependencies:
       '@tailwindcss/vite':
         specifier: ^4.2.2
-        version: 4.2.2(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
+        version: 4.2.2(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
       '@types/react':
         specifier: ^19.1.8
         version: 19.2.14
@@ -105,7 +111,7 @@ importers:
         version: 19.2.3(@types/react@19.2.14)
       '@vitejs/plugin-react':
         specifier: ^4.6.0
-        version: 4.7.0(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
+        version: 4.7.0(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
       tailwindcss:
         specifier: ^4.2.2
         version: 4.2.2
@@ -114,10 +120,10 @@ importers:
         version: 5.8.3
       vite:
         specifier: ^7.0.4
-        version: 7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
+        version: 7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
       vite-imagetools:
         specifier: ^10.0.0
-        version: 10.0.0(rollup@4.60.1)(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
+        version: 10.0.0(rollup@4.60.1)(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))
 
 packages:
 
@@ -538,6 +544,11 @@ packages:
   '@jridgewell/trace-mapping@0.3.31':
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-zzNR+SdQSDJzc8joaeP8QQoCQr8NuYx2dIIytl1QeBEZHJ9uW6hebsrYgbz8hJwUQao3TWCMtmfV8Nu1twOLAw==}
 
+  '@playwright/test@1.61.1':
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-8nKv6+0RJSL9FE4jYOEGXnPeM/Hg12qZpmqzZjRh3qM0Y7c3z1mrOTfFLids72RDQYVh9WpLEfR5WdpNX4fkig==}
+    engines: {node: '>=18'}
+    hasBin: true
+
   '@rolldown/pluginutils@1.0.0-beta.27':
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-+d0F4MKMCbeVUJwG96uQ4SgAznZNSq93I3V+9NHA4OpvqG8mRCpGdKmK8l/dl02h2CCDHwW2FqilnTyDcAnqjA==}
 
@@ -906,6 +917,9 @@ packages:
   '@types/estree@1.0.8':
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-dWHzHa2WqEXI/O1E9OjrocMTKJl2mSrEolh1Iomrv6U+JuNwaHXsXx9bLu5gG7BUWFIN0skIQJQ/L1rIex4X6w==}
 
+  '@types/node@26.0.1':
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-fc3KiUoBt6kie0N9bIW3E47vZsuaMf0PM2AaUpLCLT0s/LvX1nxAim6Fc049cNxODPpGm6qRAuUOB86SkRuPQw==}
+
   '@types/react-dom@19.2.3':
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-jp2L/eY6fn+KgVVQAOqYItbF0VY/YApe5Mz2F0aykSO8gx31bYCZyvSeYxCHKvzHG5eZjc+zyaS5BrBWya2+kQ==}
     peerDependencies:
@@ -1010,6 +1024,11 @@ packages:
       react-dom:
         optional: true
 
+  fsevents@2.3.2:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-xiqMQR4xAeHTuB9uWm+fFRcIOgKBMiOBP+eXiyT7jsgVCq1bkVygt00oASowB7EdtpOHaaPgKt812P9ab+DDKA==}
+    engines: {node: ^8.16.0 || ^10.6.0 || >=11.0.0}
+    os: [darwin]
+
   fsevents@2.3.3:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-5xoDfX+fL7faATnagmWPpbFtwh/R77WmMMqqHGS65C3vvB0YHrgF+B1YmZ3441tMj5n63k0212XNoJwzlhffQw==}
     engines: {node: ^8.16.0 || ^10.6.0 || >=11.0.0}
@@ -1147,6 +1166,16 @@ packages:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-QP88BAKvMam/3NxH6vj2o21R6MjxZUAd6nlwAS/pnGvN9IVLocLHxGYIzFhg6fUQ+5th6P4dv4eW9jX3DSIj7A==}
     engines: {node: '>=12'}
 
+  playwright-core@1.61.1:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-h7Qlt6m4REp25qvIdvbDtVmD4LqVXfpRxhORv9L0jzETM05p4fuPJ3dKyuSXQxDSbXnmS79HAgi9589lGSpLkg==}
+    engines: {node: '>=18'}
+    hasBin: true
+
+  playwright@1.61.1:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-DWnY5o3YbLWK4GovuAVwpqL+1VwGNdUGrRr++8j8PtQQzvAVZUIMjKQ90fY689sEJZJBbZVw1rXaOKSTitkzPQ==}
+    engines: {node: '>=18'}
+    hasBin: true
+
   postcss@8.5.8:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-OW/rX8O/jXnm82Ey1k44pObPtdblfiuWnrd8X7GJ7emImCOstunGbXUpp7HdBrFQX6rJzn3sPT397Wp5aCwCHg==}
     engines: {node: ^10 || ^12 || >=14}
@@ -1208,6 +1237,9 @@ packages:
     engines: {node: '>=14.17'}
     hasBin: true
 
+  undici-types@8.3.0:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-j375ScV60dom+YkPFIfTLcOiPxkN/buHz5GobjLhixFuANaNs3C9l4GmrWqejgXWJ7BbJcFYpTEUkS1Ge8bpZQ==}
+
   update-browserslist-db@1.2.3:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-Js0m9cx+qOgDxo0eMiFGEueWztz+d4+M3rGlmKPT+T4IS/jP4ylw3Nwpu6cpTTP8R1MAC1kF4VbdLt3ARf209w==}
     hasBin: true
@@ -1597,6 +1629,10 @@ snapshots:
       '@jridgewell/resolve-uri': 3.1.2
       '@jridgewell/sourcemap-codec': 1.5.5
 
+  '@playwright/test@1.61.1':
+    dependencies:
+      playwright: 1.61.1
+
   '@rolldown/pluginutils@1.0.0-beta.27': {}
 
   '@rollup/pluginutils@5.4.0(rollup@4.60.1)':
@@ -1743,12 +1779,12 @@ snapshots:
       '@tailwindcss/oxide-win32-arm64-msvc': 4.2.2
       '@tailwindcss/oxide-win32-x64-msvc': 4.2.2
 
-  '@tailwindcss/vite@4.2.2(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))':
+  '@tailwindcss/vite@4.2.2(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))':
     dependencies:
       '@tailwindcss/node': 4.2.2
       '@tailwindcss/oxide': 4.2.2
       tailwindcss: 4.2.2
-      vite: 7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
+      vite: 7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
 
   '@tanstack/react-virtual@3.13.23(react-dom@19.2.4(react@19.2.4))(react@19.2.4)':
     dependencies:
@@ -1856,6 +1892,10 @@ snapshots:
 
   '@types/estree@1.0.8': {}
 
+  '@types/node@26.0.1':
+    dependencies:
+      undici-types: 8.3.0
+
   '@types/react-dom@19.2.3(@types/react@19.2.14)':
     dependencies:
       '@types/react': 19.2.14
@@ -1864,7 +1904,7 @@ snapshots:
     dependencies:
       csstype: 3.2.3
 
-  '@vitejs/plugin-react@4.7.0(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))':
+  '@vitejs/plugin-react@4.7.0(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0))':
     dependencies:
       '@babel/core': 7.29.0
       '@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-self': 7.27.1(@babel/core@7.29.0)
@@ -1872,7 +1912,7 @@ snapshots:
       '@rolldown/pluginutils': 1.0.0-beta.27
       '@types/babel__core': 7.20.5
       react-refresh: 0.17.0
-      vite: 7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
+      vite: 7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
     transitivePeerDependencies:
       - supports-color
 
@@ -1963,6 +2003,9 @@ snapshots:
       react: 19.2.4
       react-dom: 19.2.4(react@19.2.4)
 
+  fsevents@2.3.2:
+    optional: true
+
   fsevents@2.3.3:
     optional: true
 
@@ -2053,6 +2096,14 @@ snapshots:
 
   picomatch@4.0.4: {}
 
+  playwright-core@1.61.1: {}
+
+  playwright@1.61.1:
+    dependencies:
+      playwright-core: 1.61.1
+    optionalDependencies:
+      fsevents: 2.3.2
+
   postcss@8.5.8:
     dependencies:
       nanoid: 3.3.11
@@ -2151,22 +2202,24 @@ snapshots:
 
   typescript@5.8.3: {}
 
+  undici-types@8.3.0: {}
+
   update-browserslist-db@1.2.3(browserslist@4.28.2):
     dependencies:
       browserslist: 4.28.2
       escalade: 3.2.0
       picocolors: 1.1.1
 
-  vite-imagetools@10.0.0(rollup@4.60.1)(vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)):
+  vite-imagetools@10.0.0(rollup@4.60.1)(vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)):
     dependencies:
       '@rollup/pluginutils': 5.4.0(rollup@4.60.1)
       imagetools-core: 9.1.0
       sharp: 0.34.5
-      vite: 7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
+      vite: 7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0)
     transitivePeerDependencies:
       - rollup
 
-  vite@7.3.1(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0):
+  vite@7.3.1(@types/node@26.0.1)(jiti@2.6.1)(lightningcss@1.32.0):
     dependencies:
       esbuild: 0.27.7
       fdir: 6.5.0(picomatch@4.0.4)
@@ -2175,6 +2228,7 @@ snapshots:
       rollup: 4.60.1
       tinyglobby: 0.2.15
     optionalDependencies:
+      '@types/node': 26.0.1
       fsevents: 2.3.3
       jiti: 2.6.1
       lightningcss: 1.32.0

src-tauri/src/ai_tag_filter.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/// AI-generated tags that are too broad/noisy to be useful in this gallery.
+/// Edit this list to change what the tagger removes. Manual user tags are not
+/// affected.
+pub const AI_TAG_REMOVAL_LIST: &[&str] = &["1girl", "1boy", "no humans", "2girls", "2boys"];
+
+fn normalize_tag_for_removal(tag: &str) -> String {
+    tag.trim()
+        .chars()
+        .filter(|c| !matches!(c, ' ' | '_' | '-'))
+        .flat_map(char::to_lowercase)
+        .collect()
+}
+
+pub fn is_removed_ai_tag(tag: &str) -> bool {
+    let normalized = normalize_tag_for_removal(tag);
+    AI_TAG_REMOVAL_LIST
+        .iter()
+        .any(|blocked| normalize_tag_for_removal(blocked) == normalized)
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn removed_ai_tags_match_common_spellings() {
+        for tag in [
+            "1girl",
+            "1 girl",
+            "1_girl",
+            "1-girl",
+            "NO_HUMANS",
+            "no humans",
+        ] {
+            assert!(is_removed_ai_tag(tag), "{tag} should be removed");
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn removed_ai_tags_do_not_match_unrelated_tags() {
+        for tag in ["girl", "boy", "humans", "solo", "landscape"] {
+            assert!(!is_removed_ai_tag(tag), "{tag} should be kept");
+        }
+    }
+}

src-tauri/src/color.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+//! Dominant-color palette extraction for color search.
+//!
+//! Colors are sampled from the already-generated thumbnail (small, fast) rather
+//! than the full image. We coarse-quantize pixels into an RGB histogram, then
+//! return the most populated bins as representative colors with their weight
+//! (fraction of sampled pixels). Search then filters images whose palette has a
+//! color within a distance threshold of the query color.
+
+use image::RgbImage;
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+use std::path::Path;
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
+pub struct PaletteColor {
+    pub r: u8,
+    pub g: u8,
+    pub b: u8,
+    /// Fraction of sampled pixels (0.0–1.0) that fell in this color's bin.
+    pub weight: f32,
+}
+
+/// Bits kept per channel when binning. 4 bits → 16 levels/channel → 4096 bins:
+/// coarse enough to group near-identical shades, fine enough to separate hues.
+const QUANT_BITS: u32 = 4;
+/// Cap on sampled pixels so very large frames stay cheap; thumbnails are tiny so
+/// this rarely bites, but the backfill may read arbitrary thumbnail sizes.
+const MAX_SAMPLES: usize = 50_000;
+
+/// Extract up to `k` dominant colors from an RGB image, most-common first.
+pub fn extract_palette(img: &RgbImage, k: usize) -> Vec<PaletteColor> {
+    let pixels = img.as_raw();
+    let pixel_count = pixels.len() / 3;
+    if pixel_count == 0 {
+        return Vec::new();
+    }
+    let step = (pixel_count / MAX_SAMPLES).max(1);
+    let shift = 8 - QUANT_BITS;
+
+    // bin key → (sum_r, sum_g, sum_b, count); summing lets us return the bin's
+    // average color rather than the quantized corner.
+    let mut bins: HashMap<u16, (u64, u64, u64, u64)> = HashMap::new();
+    let mut total: u64 = 0;
+    for pixel in pixels.chunks_exact(3).step_by(step) {
+        let (r, g, b) = (pixel[0], pixel[1], pixel[2]);
+        let key = (((r as u16) >> shift) << (QUANT_BITS * 2))
+            | (((g as u16) >> shift) << QUANT_BITS)
+            | ((b as u16) >> shift);
+        let entry = bins.entry(key).or_insert((0, 0, 0, 0));
+        entry.0 += r as u64;
+        entry.1 += g as u64;
+        entry.2 += b as u64;
+        entry.3 += 1;
+        total += 1;
+    }
+    if total == 0 {
+        return Vec::new();
+    }
+
+    let mut entries: Vec<(u64, u64, u64, u64)> = bins.into_values().collect();
+    entries.sort_unstable_by_key(|entry| std::cmp::Reverse(entry.3));
+    entries
+        .into_iter()
+        .take(k)
+        .map(|(sum_r, sum_g, sum_b, count)| PaletteColor {
+            r: (sum_r / count) as u8,
+            g: (sum_g / count) as u8,
+            b: (sum_b / count) as u8,
+            weight: count as f32 / total as f32,
+        })
+        .collect()
+}
+
+/// Decode a thumbnail file and extract its palette. Used by the backfill pass.
+pub fn extract_palette_from_file(thumbnail_path: &Path, k: usize) -> Option<Vec<PaletteColor>> {
+    let img = image::ImageReader::open(thumbnail_path)
+        .ok()?
+        .decode()
+        .ok()?;
+    Some(extract_palette(&img.into_rgb8(), k))
+}
+
+/// Number of palette colors stored per image.
+pub const PALETTE_SIZE: usize = 5;
+
+/// Max squared RGB distance for a palette color to count as matching a query
+/// color (~70 units in RGB space). Tunable feel/precision of color search.
+pub const MATCH_DISTANCE_SQ: i64 = 4900;
+
+/// Minimum weight (fraction of pixels) a palette color must have to match, so
+/// trivial specks of a color don't trigger a match.
+pub const MATCH_MIN_WEIGHT: f64 = 0.05;

src-tauri/src/commands.rs

@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@ use crate::captioner::{
     self, CaptionAcceleration, CaptionDetail, CaptionModelStatus, CaptionRuntimeProbe,
     CaptionVisionProbe,
 };
-use crate::db::{self, DbPool, ExploreTagEntry, Folder, FolderJobProgress, ImageRecord, ImageTag};
+use crate::db::{
+    self, Album, DbPool, ExploreTagEntry, Folder, FolderJobProgress, ImageRecord, ImageTag,
+};
 use crate::embedder;
 use crate::hnsw_index;
 use crate::indexer::{self, WatcherHandle};
-use crate::tagger::{self, TaggerAcceleration, TaggerModelStatus, TaggerRuntimeProbe};
+use crate::tagger::{self, TaggerAcceleration, TaggerModel, TaggerModelStatus, TaggerRuntimeProbe};
 use crate::vector;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::collections::HashSet;
@@ -40,6 +42,9 @@ pub struct GetImagesParams {
     pub rating_min: Option<i64>,
     pub embedding_failed_only: Option<bool>,
     pub tagging_failed_only: Option<bool>,
+    /// Optional `[r, g, b]` color filter — matches images whose palette contains
+    /// a prominent color near this one.
+    pub color: Option<[u8; 3]>,
     pub sort: Option<String>,
     pub offset: Option<i64>,
     pub limit: Option<i64>,
@@ -56,6 +61,9 @@ pub struct UpdateImageDetailsParams {
 pub struct FindSimilarImagesParams {
     pub image_id: i64,
     pub folder_id: Option<i64>,
+    /// When set, restrict results to images in this album (takes precedence
+    /// over `folder_id`). Used by the "Similar: Album" scope.
+    pub album_id: Option<i64>,
     pub offset: Option<usize>,
     pub limit: Option<usize>,
     pub threshold: Option<f32>,
@@ -70,6 +78,8 @@ pub struct FindSimilarByRegionParams {
     pub crop_w: f32,
     pub crop_h: f32,
     pub folder_id: Option<i64>,
+    /// Restrict to an album (takes precedence over `folder_id`).
+    pub album_id: Option<i64>,
     pub offset: Option<usize>,
     pub limit: Option<usize>,
 }
@@ -170,6 +180,19 @@ pub struct GetExploreTagsParams {
     pub limit: Option<usize>,
 }
 
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct GetRelatedTagsParams {
+    pub tag: String,
+    pub folder_id: Option<i64>,
+    pub limit: Option<usize>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Serialize)]
+pub struct RelatedTagEntry {
+    pub tag: String,
+    pub shared_count: i64,
+}
+
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
 pub struct SearchTagsAutocompleteParams {
     pub query: String,
@@ -557,6 +580,7 @@ pub async fn get_images(
     let rating_min = params.rating_min.unwrap_or(0);
     let embedding_failed_only = params.embedding_failed_only.unwrap_or(false);
     let tagging_failed_only = params.tagging_failed_only.unwrap_or(false);
+    let color = params.color.map(|[r, g, b]| (r, g, b));
 
     let total = db::count_images(
         &conn,
@@ -567,6 +591,7 @@ pub async fn get_images(
         rating_min,
         embedding_failed_only,
         tagging_failed_only,
+        color,
     )
     .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
 
@@ -579,6 +604,7 @@ pub async fn get_images(
         rating_min,
         embedding_failed_only,
         tagging_failed_only,
+        color,
         sort,
         offset,
         limit,
@@ -702,6 +728,7 @@ pub async fn find_similar_images(
         &conn,
         params.image_id,
         params.folder_id,
+        params.album_id,
         threshold,
         offset,
         limit + 1,
@@ -747,8 +774,19 @@ pub async fn find_similar_by_region(
         )
         .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
 
-    // Search for similar images using the crop embedding
-    let image_ids = match params.folder_id {
+    // Search for similar images using the crop embedding. Album scope takes
+    // precedence over folder scope.
+    let image_ids = if let Some(album_id) = params.album_id {
+        vector::search_image_ids_by_embedding_in_album(
+            &conn,
+            &embedding,
+            album_id,
+            Some(params.image_id),
+            offset + limit + 1,
+        )
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?
+    } else {
+        match params.folder_id {
             Some(folder_id) => vector::search_image_ids_by_embedding_in_folder(
                 &conn,
                 &embedding,
@@ -766,6 +804,7 @@ pub async fn find_similar_by_region(
                 ids.retain(|&id| id != params.image_id);
                 ids
             }
+        }
     };
 
     let has_more = image_ids.len() > offset + limit;
@@ -1139,38 +1178,39 @@ pub async fn get_tag_cloud(
     db: State<'_, DbState>,
     folder_id: Option<i64>,
 ) -> Result<Vec<TagCloudEntry>, String> {
-    let embeddings_with_ids = {
-        let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
-        vector::get_all_image_embeddings_with_ids(&conn, folder_id).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?
-    };
-
-    let n = embeddings_with_ids.len();
-    if n < 5 {
-        return Ok(vec![]);
-    }
-
-    // Sort by ID for stable ordering; hash both IDs and embedding bytes so that
-    // replacing a file and regenerating its embedding invalidates the cache even
-    // when the set of image IDs hasn't changed.
-    let mut sorted_pairs: Vec<_> = embeddings_with_ids.iter().collect();
-    sorted_pairs.sort_unstable_by_key(|(id, _)| *id);
-    let current_hash = {
-        use xxhash_rust::xxh3::Xxh3;
-        let mut hasher = Xxh3::new();
-        for (id, embedding) in &sorted_pairs {
-            hasher.update(&id.to_le_bytes());
-            for val in embedding.iter() {
-                hasher.update(&val.to_le_bytes());
-            }
-        }
-        hasher.digest()
-    };
     let folder_scope = match folder_id {
         Some(id) => format!("folder_{id}"),
         None => "all".to_string(),
     };
 
-    // Try to return a valid SQLite cache
+    // Build a cheap cache key from a hash of the embedded image-ID set plus the
+    // global monotonic embedding revision. The ID-set hash catches membership
+    // changes (add/remove, or moving an image between folders — even when the
+    // count is unchanged); the revision catches an image being re-embedded in
+    // place (same IDs, new vector). Together they validate the cache WITHOUT
+    // reading and unpacking every embedding blob — which for a large library is
+    // hundreds of MB and was the real cause of the multi-second Explore stall
+    // even on a cache hit.
+    let (count, current_hash) = {
+        let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        let (count, ids_hash) =
+            vector::embedding_ids_signature(&conn, folder_id).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        let revision = vector::get_embedding_revision(&conn).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        let hash = {
+            use xxhash_rust::xxh3::Xxh3;
+            let mut hasher = Xxh3::new();
+            hasher.update(&ids_hash.to_le_bytes());
+            hasher.update(revision.as_bytes());
+            hasher.digest()
+        };
+        (count, hash)
+    };
+
+    if count < 5 {
+        return Ok(vec![]);
+    }
+
+    // Try to return a valid SQLite cache before loading any embeddings.
     {
         let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
         if let Some(json) = db::get_tag_cloud_cache(&conn, &folder_scope, current_hash)
@@ -1186,8 +1226,17 @@ pub async fn get_tag_cloud(
         }
     }
 
-    // Cache miss — run k-means
+    // Cache miss — now pay the cost of loading embeddings and running k-means.
+    let embeddings_with_ids = {
+        let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        vector::get_all_image_embeddings_with_ids(&conn, folder_id).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?
+    };
+    if embeddings_with_ids.len() < 5 {
+        return Ok(vec![]);
+    }
+
     let ids: Vec<i64> = embeddings_with_ids.iter().map(|(id, _)| *id).collect();
+    let n = embeddings_with_ids.len();
     let points: Vec<Vec<f32>> = embeddings_with_ids
         .into_iter()
         .map(|(_, emb)| emb)
@@ -1237,9 +1286,12 @@ pub async fn get_tag_cloud(
         });
     }
 
-    // Persist to SQLite — ignore write errors (cache is best-effort)
+    // Persist to SQLite. The cache is best-effort, but a silent write failure here
+    // would defeat the whole optimization (every visit would recompute), so log it.
     if let Ok(json) = serde_json::to_string(&entries) {
-        let _ = db::set_tag_cloud_cache(&conn, &folder_scope, current_hash, &json);
+        if let Err(e) = db::set_tag_cloud_cache(&conn, &folder_scope, current_hash, &json) {
+            eprintln!("failed to persist tag-cloud cache for {folder_scope}: {e}");
+        }
     }
 
     Ok(entries)
@@ -1251,7 +1303,28 @@ pub async fn get_explore_tags(
     params: GetExploreTagsParams,
 ) -> Result<Vec<ExploreTagEntry>, String> {
     let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
-    db::get_explore_tags(&conn, params.folder_id, params.limit.unwrap_or(48))
+    db::get_explore_tags(&conn, params.folder_id, params.limit.unwrap_or(180))
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn get_related_tags(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: GetRelatedTagsParams,
+) -> Result<Vec<RelatedTagEntry>, String> {
+    let tag = params.tag.trim();
+    if tag.is_empty() {
+        return Ok(vec![]);
+    }
+
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::get_related_tags(&conn, tag, params.folder_id, params.limit.unwrap_or(16))
+        .map(|entries| {
+            entries
+                .into_iter()
+                .map(|(tag, shared_count)| RelatedTagEntry { tag, shared_count })
+                .collect()
+        })
         .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
 }
 
@@ -1647,6 +1720,119 @@ pub async fn get_images_by_ids(
     db::get_images_by_ids(&conn, &params.image_ids).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
 }
 
+/// Which acceleration variant this binary was compiled with. Used to badge the
+/// version in Settings so it's clear whether the CPU or CUDA build is running.
+#[tauri::command]
+pub fn get_build_variant() -> String {
+    if cfg!(feature = "candle-cuda") {
+        "cuda".to_string()
+    } else {
+        "cpu".to_string()
+    }
+}
+
+/// Camera/EXIF metadata for the lightbox info panel. Read on demand from the
+/// file (not stored in the DB) so it works on every already-indexed image
+/// without a reindex. All fields are optional — absent tags are simply omitted.
+#[derive(Serialize, Default)]
+pub struct ImageExif {
+    pub make: Option<String>,
+    pub model: Option<String>,
+    pub lens: Option<String>,
+    pub iso: Option<String>,
+    pub f_number: Option<String>,
+    pub exposure_time: Option<String>,
+    pub focal_length: Option<String>,
+    pub datetime_original: Option<String>,
+    pub gps_lat: Option<f64>,
+    pub gps_lon: Option<f64>,
+}
+
+fn gps_coord(exif: &exif::Exif, coord: exif::Tag, reference: exif::Tag) -> Option<f64> {
+    let (max_abs, positive_ref, negative_ref) = match (coord, reference) {
+        (exif::Tag::GPSLatitude, exif::Tag::GPSLatitudeRef) => (90.0, b'N', b'S'),
+        (exif::Tag::GPSLongitude, exif::Tag::GPSLongitudeRef) => (180.0, b'E', b'W'),
+        _ => return None,
+    };
+    let field = exif.get_field(coord, exif::In::PRIMARY)?;
+    if let exif::Value::Rational(ref parts) = field.value {
+        if parts.len() >= 3 {
+            let degrees = parts[0].to_f64() + parts[1].to_f64() / 60.0 + parts[2].to_f64() / 3600.0;
+            if !degrees.is_finite() || degrees < 0.0 || degrees > max_abs {
+                return None;
+            }
+            // Read the hemisphere straight from the ref tag's ASCII bytes
+            // ("N"/"S"/"E"/"W") rather than its formatted display string.
+            let ref_byte =
+                exif.get_field(reference, exif::In::PRIMARY)
+                    .and_then(|f| match &f.value {
+                        exif::Value::Ascii(values) => values.iter().flatten().next().copied(),
+                        _ => None,
+                    })?;
+            if ref_byte != positive_ref && ref_byte != negative_ref {
+                return None;
+            }
+            let signed = if ref_byte == negative_ref {
+                -degrees
+            } else {
+                degrees
+            };
+            return signed
+                .is_finite()
+                .then_some(signed.clamp(-max_abs, max_abs));
+        }
+    }
+    None
+}
+
+fn extract_image_exif(path: &Path) -> ImageExif {
+    let mut out = ImageExif::default();
+    let Ok(file) = std::fs::File::open(path) else {
+        return out;
+    };
+    let mut reader = std::io::BufReader::new(file);
+    let Ok(exif) = exif::Reader::new().read_from_container(&mut reader) else {
+        return out;
+    };
+
+    let text = |tag: exif::Tag| -> Option<String> {
+        let value = exif
+            .get_field(tag, exif::In::PRIMARY)?
+            .display_value()
+            .with_unit(&exif)
+            .to_string();
+        let trimmed = value.trim().trim_matches('"').trim().to_string();
+        (!trimmed.is_empty()).then_some(trimmed)
+    };
+
+    out.make = text(exif::Tag::Make);
+    out.model = text(exif::Tag::Model);
+    out.lens = text(exif::Tag::LensModel);
+    out.iso = text(exif::Tag::PhotographicSensitivity);
+    out.f_number = text(exif::Tag::FNumber);
+    out.exposure_time = text(exif::Tag::ExposureTime);
+    out.focal_length = text(exif::Tag::FocalLength);
+    out.datetime_original = text(exif::Tag::DateTimeOriginal);
+    out.gps_lat = gps_coord(&exif, exif::Tag::GPSLatitude, exif::Tag::GPSLatitudeRef);
+    out.gps_lon = gps_coord(&exif, exif::Tag::GPSLongitude, exif::Tag::GPSLongitudeRef);
+    out
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct GetImageExifParams {
+    pub image_id: i64,
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn get_image_exif(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: GetImageExifParams,
+) -> Result<ImageExif, String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let record = db::get_image_by_id(&conn, params.image_id).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    Ok(extract_image_exif(Path::new(&record.path)))
+}
+
 // ── k-means with cosine similarity (all vectors assumed to be unit-normalized) ──
 
 fn dot(a: &[f32], b: &[f32]) -> f32 {
@@ -1774,6 +1960,7 @@ pub struct FolderWorkerStates {
 
 #[tauri::command]
 pub async fn set_worker_paused(
+    app: AppHandle,
     db: State<'_, DbState>,
     worker: String,
     folder_id: i64,
@@ -1790,6 +1977,9 @@ pub async fn set_worker_paused(
         db::requeue_processing_tagging_jobs_for_folder(&conn, folder_id)
             .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
     }
+    if let Err(error) = persist_worker_pauses_if_enabled(&app) {
+        log::warn!("Failed to persist worker pause state: {error}");
+    }
     Ok(())
 }
 
@@ -1831,6 +2021,11 @@ pub struct SetTaggerAccelerationParams {
     pub acceleration: TaggerAcceleration,
 }
 
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct SetTaggerModelParams {
+    pub model: TaggerModel,
+}
+
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
 pub struct SetTaggerThresholdParams {
     pub threshold: f32,
@@ -1891,6 +2086,21 @@ pub async fn set_tagger_acceleration(
     tagger::set_tagger_acceleration(&app_dir, params.acceleration).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
 }
 
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn get_tagger_model(app: AppHandle) -> Result<TaggerModel, String> {
+    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    Ok(tagger::tagger_model(&app_dir))
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn set_tagger_model(
+    app: AppHandle,
+    params: SetTaggerModelParams,
+) -> Result<TaggerModel, String> {
+    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    tagger::set_tagger_model(&app_dir, params.model).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
 #[tauri::command]
 pub async fn probe_tagger_runtime(app: AppHandle) -> Result<TaggerRuntimeProbe, String> {
     let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
@@ -2061,12 +2271,236 @@ pub async fn remove_tag(db: State<'_, DbState>, params: RemoveTagParams) -> Resu
     db::remove_tag(&conn, params.tag_id).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
 }
 
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct RenameTagParams {
+    pub from: String,
+    pub to: String,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct DeleteTagParams {
+    pub tag: String,
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn rename_tag(db: State<'_, DbState>, params: RenameTagParams) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let from = params.from.trim();
+    let to = params.to.trim();
+    if from.is_empty() || to.is_empty() {
+        return Err("Tag names cannot be empty".to_string());
+    }
+    if from == to {
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::rename_tag(&conn, from, to).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn delete_tag(db: State<'_, DbState>, params: DeleteTagParams) -> Result<i64, String> {
+    let tag = params.tag.trim();
+    if tag.is_empty() {
+        return Err("Tag name cannot be empty".to_string());
+    }
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::delete_tag(&conn, tag).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Albums
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct CreateAlbumParams {
+    pub name: String,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct RenameAlbumParams {
+    pub album_id: i64,
+    pub new_name: String,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct DeleteAlbumParams {
+    pub album_id: i64,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct ReorderAlbumsParams {
+    pub album_ids: Vec<i64>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct DeleteAlbumsParams {
+    pub album_ids: Vec<i64>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct AlbumImagesParams {
+    pub album_id: i64,
+    pub image_ids: Vec<i64>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct GetAlbumImagesParams {
+    pub album_id: i64,
+    pub sort: Option<String>,
+    pub offset: Option<i64>,
+    pub limit: Option<i64>,
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn list_albums(db: State<'_, DbState>) -> Result<Vec<Album>, String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::list_albums(&conn).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn create_album(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: CreateAlbumParams,
+) -> Result<Album, String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let name = params.name.trim();
+    if name.is_empty() {
+        return Err("Album name cannot be empty".to_string());
+    }
+    db::create_album(&conn, name).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn rename_album(db: State<'_, DbState>, params: RenameAlbumParams) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let name = params.new_name.trim();
+    if name.is_empty() {
+        return Err("Album name cannot be empty".to_string());
+    }
+    db::rename_album(&conn, params.album_id, name).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn delete_album(db: State<'_, DbState>, params: DeleteAlbumParams) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::delete_album(&conn, params.album_id).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn reorder_albums(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: ReorderAlbumsParams,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::reorder_albums(&conn, &params.album_ids).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn delete_albums(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: DeleteAlbumsParams,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::delete_albums(&conn, &params.album_ids).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn add_images_to_album(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: AlbumImagesParams,
+) -> Result<i64, String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::add_images_to_album(&conn, params.album_id, &params.image_ids).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn remove_images_from_album(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: AlbumImagesParams,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::remove_images_from_album(&conn, params.album_id, &params.image_ids)
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn get_album_images(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: GetAlbumImagesParams,
+) -> Result<ImagesPage, String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let sort = params.sort.as_deref().unwrap_or("position");
+    let offset = params.offset.unwrap_or(0);
+    let limit = params.limit.unwrap_or(100);
+    let total = db::count_album_images(&conn, params.album_id).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let images = db::get_album_images(&conn, params.album_id, sort, offset, limit)
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    Ok(ImagesPage {
+        images,
+        total,
+        offset,
+        limit,
+    })
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Bulk image operations
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct BulkUpdateDetailsParams {
+    pub image_ids: Vec<i64>,
+    pub favorite: Option<bool>,
+    pub rating: Option<i64>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct BulkAddTagsParams {
+    pub image_ids: Vec<i64>,
+    pub tags: Vec<String>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct BulkRemoveTagParams {
+    pub image_ids: Vec<i64>,
+    pub tag: String,
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn bulk_update_details(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: BulkUpdateDetailsParams,
+) -> Result<Vec<ImageRecord>, String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::bulk_update_details(&conn, &params.image_ids, params.favorite, params.rating)
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn bulk_add_tags(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: BulkAddTagsParams,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::bulk_add_tags(&conn, &params.image_ids, &params.tags).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn bulk_remove_tag(
+    db: State<'_, DbState>,
+    params: BulkRemoveTagParams,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let conn = db.get().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    db::bulk_remove_tag_by_name(&conn, &params.image_ids, &params.tag).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Queue scope / folder-id persistence
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 const TAGGING_QUEUE_SCOPE_FILE: &str = "settings/tagging_queue_scope.txt";
 const TAGGING_QUEUE_FOLDER_IDS_FILE: &str = "settings/tagging_queue_folder_ids.txt";
+const WORKER_PAUSES_PERSIST_FILE: &str = "settings/worker_pauses_persist.txt";
+const WORKER_PAUSES_FILE: &str = "settings/worker_pauses.json";
 
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
 pub struct SetTaggingQueueScopeParams {
@@ -2138,6 +2572,67 @@ pub async fn set_tagging_queue_folder_ids(
     Ok(())
 }
 
+fn worker_pause_persistence_enabled(app_dir: &Path) -> bool {
+    std::fs::read_to_string(app_dir.join(WORKER_PAUSES_PERSIST_FILE))
+        .map(|value| value.trim() == "true")
+        .unwrap_or(false)
+}
+
+fn write_worker_pause_snapshot(app_dir: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let path = app_dir.join(WORKER_PAUSES_FILE);
+    if let Some(parent) = path.parent() {
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(parent).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    }
+    let json = serde_json::to_string_pretty(&indexer::snapshot_worker_paused_states())
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    std::fs::write(path, json).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+fn persist_worker_pauses_if_enabled(app: &AppHandle) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    if worker_pause_persistence_enabled(&app_dir) {
+        write_worker_pause_snapshot(&app_dir)?;
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+pub fn restore_persisted_worker_pauses(app_dir: &Path) {
+    if !worker_pause_persistence_enabled(app_dir) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    let path = app_dir.join(WORKER_PAUSES_FILE);
+    let Ok(content) = std::fs::read_to_string(path) else {
+        return;
+    };
+    match serde_json::from_str::<indexer::PersistedPausedWorkerFolders>(&content) {
+        Ok(states) => indexer::replace_worker_paused_states(states),
+        Err(error) => log::warn!("Failed to restore persisted worker pauses: {error}"),
+    }
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn get_worker_pauses_persist(app: AppHandle) -> Result<bool, String> {
+    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    Ok(worker_pause_persistence_enabled(&app_dir))
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn set_worker_pauses_persist(app: AppHandle, persist: bool) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let path = app_dir.join(WORKER_PAUSES_PERSIST_FILE);
+    if let Some(parent) = path.parent() {
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(parent).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    }
+    std::fs::write(path, if persist { "true" } else { "false" }).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    if persist {
+        write_worker_pause_snapshot(&app_dir)?;
+    } else {
+        let _ = std::fs::remove_file(app_dir.join(WORKER_PAUSES_FILE));
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // App data folder
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -2151,6 +2646,47 @@ pub async fn open_app_data_folder(app: AppHandle) -> Result<(), String> {
         .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
 }
 
+#[derive(Deserialize)]
+pub struct OpenMapLocationParams {
+    pub lat: f64,
+    pub lon: f64,
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn open_map_location(
+    app: AppHandle,
+    params: OpenMapLocationParams,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    use tauri_plugin_opener::OpenerExt;
+    if !params.lat.is_finite()
+        || !params.lon.is_finite()
+        || !(-90.0..=90.0).contains(&params.lat)
+        || !(-180.0..=180.0).contains(&params.lon)
+    {
+        return Err("Invalid map coordinates".to_string());
+    }
+
+    let url = format!(
+        "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat={lat:.6}&mlon={lon:.6}#map=15/{lat:.6}/{lon:.6}",
+        lat = params.lat,
+        lon = params.lon,
+    );
+    app.opener()
+        .open_url(url, None::<&str>)
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn open_changelog_url(app: AppHandle) -> Result<(), String> {
+    use tauri_plugin_opener::OpenerExt;
+    app.opener()
+        .open_url(
+            "https://github.com/JezzWTF/phokus/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md",
+            None::<&str>,
+        )
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Database maintenance
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -2430,3 +2966,33 @@ pub async fn set_onboarding_completed(app: AppHandle, completed: bool) -> Result
     )
     .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
 }
+
+const LAST_SEEN_VERSION_FILE: &str = "settings/last_seen_version.txt";
+
+/// The app version recorded on the previous launch. `None` when the file is
+/// absent (fresh install, or first launch since this was introduced) — the
+/// frontend uses that to decide whether to surface the "What's New" prompt.
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn get_last_seen_version(app: AppHandle) -> Result<Option<String>, String> {
+    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let path = app_dir.join(LAST_SEEN_VERSION_FILE);
+    if !path.exists() {
+        return Ok(None);
+    }
+    let content = std::fs::read_to_string(&path).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let trimmed = content.trim();
+    Ok(if trimmed.is_empty() {
+        None
+    } else {
+        Some(trimmed.to_string())
+    })
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+pub async fn set_last_seen_version(app: AppHandle, version: String) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let settings_dir = app_dir.join("settings");
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(&settings_dir).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    std::fs::write(settings_dir.join("last_seen_version.txt"), version.trim())
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
+}

src-tauri/src/db.rs

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use crate::vector;
+use crate::{ai_tag_filter, vector};
 use anyhow::Result;
 use r2d2::Pool;
 use r2d2_sqlite::SqliteConnectionManager;
@@ -34,6 +34,18 @@ pub struct Folder {
     pub sort_order: i64,
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+pub struct Album {
+    pub id: i64,
+    pub name: String,
+    pub cover_image_id: Option<i64>,
+    pub cover_thumbnail_path: Option<String>,
+    pub image_count: i64,
+    pub sort_order: i64,
+    pub created_at: String,
+    pub updated_at: String,
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct ImageRecord {
     pub id: i64,
@@ -285,6 +297,41 @@ pub fn migrate(conn: &Connection) -> Result<()> {
         CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_image_tags_image_id ON image_tags(image_id);
         CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_image_tags_source ON image_tags(source);
         CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_image_tags_tag ON image_tags(tag);
+
+        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS albums (
+            id             INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
+            name           TEXT NOT NULL,
+            cover_image_id INTEGER REFERENCES images(id) ON DELETE SET NULL,
+            sort_order     INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+            -- Forward-compat for smart albums (saved searches); unused in v1.
+            -- 'manual' = a curated set held in album_images.
+            kind           TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'manual',
+            query_json     TEXT,
+            created_at     TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT (datetime('now')),
+            updated_at     TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT (datetime('now'))
+        );
+
+        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS album_images (
+            album_id   INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES albums(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+            image_id   INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES images(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+            position   INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+            added_at   TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT (datetime('now')),
+            PRIMARY KEY (album_id, image_id)
+        );
+
+        CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_album_images_album ON album_images(album_id);
+        CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_album_images_image ON album_images(image_id);
+
+        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS image_colors (
+            image_id INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES images(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+            idx      INTEGER NOT NULL,
+            r        INTEGER NOT NULL,
+            g        INTEGER NOT NULL,
+            b        INTEGER NOT NULL,
+            weight   REAL NOT NULL,
+            PRIMARY KEY (image_id, idx)
+        );
+        CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_image_colors_image ON image_colors(image_id);
         ",
     )?;
 
@@ -331,6 +378,42 @@ pub fn migrate(conn: &Connection) -> Result<()> {
     )?;
 
     vector::migrate(conn)?;
+    remove_filtered_ai_tags(conn)?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn remove_filtered_ai_tags(conn: &Connection) -> Result<()> {
+    let mut stmt = conn.prepare("SELECT id, tag FROM image_tags WHERE source = 'ai'")?;
+    let filtered_ids = stmt
+        .query_map([], |row| {
+            Ok((row.get::<_, i64>(0)?, row.get::<_, String>(1)?))
+        })?
+        .filter_map(|row| match row {
+            Ok((id, tag)) if ai_tag_filter::is_removed_ai_tag(&tag) => Some(Ok(id)),
+            Ok(_) => None,
+            Err(error) => Some(Err(error)),
+        })
+        .collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?;
+    drop(stmt);
+
+    if filtered_ids.is_empty() {
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    {
+        let mut delete_stmt = tx.prepare("DELETE FROM image_tags WHERE id = ?1")?;
+        for id in &filtered_ids {
+            delete_stmt.execute([id])?;
+        }
+    }
+    tx.execute("DELETE FROM tag_cloud_cache", [])?;
+    tx.commit()?;
+
+    log::info!(
+        "Removed {} filtered AI tag(s) from existing library data",
+        filtered_ids.len()
+    );
     Ok(())
 }
 
@@ -1586,6 +1669,309 @@ pub fn reorder_folders(conn: &Connection, folder_ids: &[i64]) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+// ── Albums ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+fn map_album_row(row: &Row<'_>) -> rusqlite::Result<Album> {
+    Ok(Album {
+        id: row.get(0)?,
+        name: row.get(1)?,
+        cover_image_id: row.get(2)?,
+        cover_thumbnail_path: row.get(3)?,
+        image_count: row.get(4)?,
+        sort_order: row.get(5)?,
+        created_at: row.get(6)?,
+        updated_at: row.get(7)?,
+    })
+}
+
+/// SELECT that resolves each album's cover thumbnail (explicit cover, else the
+/// first member by position) and live image count. Shared by list/get-one.
+const ALBUM_SELECT: &str = "
+    SELECT a.id, a.name, a.cover_image_id,
+           (SELECT ci.thumbnail_path FROM images ci
+              WHERE ci.id = COALESCE(
+                  a.cover_image_id,
+                  (SELECT ai.image_id FROM album_images ai
+                     WHERE ai.album_id = a.id
+                     ORDER BY ai.position, ai.added_at LIMIT 1)
+              )) AS cover_thumbnail_path,
+           (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM album_images ai WHERE ai.album_id = a.id) AS image_count,
+           a.sort_order, a.created_at, a.updated_at
+    FROM albums a";
+
+pub fn list_albums(conn: &Connection) -> Result<Vec<Album>> {
+    let sql = format!("{ALBUM_SELECT} ORDER BY a.sort_order, a.id");
+    let mut stmt = conn.prepare(&sql)?;
+    let rows = stmt.query_map([], map_album_row)?;
+    Ok(rows.collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?)
+}
+
+pub fn get_album(conn: &Connection, album_id: i64) -> Result<Album> {
+    let sql = format!("{ALBUM_SELECT} WHERE a.id = ?1");
+    conn.query_row(&sql, [album_id], map_album_row)
+        .map_err(Into::into)
+}
+
+pub fn create_album(conn: &Connection, name: &str) -> Result<Album> {
+    let id: i64 = conn.query_row(
+        "INSERT INTO albums (name, sort_order)
+         VALUES (?1, COALESCE((SELECT MAX(sort_order) + 1 FROM albums), 1))
+         RETURNING id",
+        params![name],
+        |row| row.get(0),
+    )?;
+    get_album(conn, id)
+}
+
+pub fn rename_album(conn: &Connection, album_id: i64, new_name: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    conn.execute(
+        "UPDATE albums SET name = ?2, updated_at = datetime('now') WHERE id = ?1",
+        params![album_id, new_name],
+    )?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+pub fn delete_album(conn: &Connection, album_id: i64) -> Result<()> {
+    // album_images rows cascade away via the FK.
+    conn.execute("DELETE FROM albums WHERE id = ?1", [album_id])?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Delete many albums at once (membership rows cascade away via the FK).
+pub fn delete_albums(conn: &Connection, album_ids: &[i64]) -> Result<()> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    for album_id in album_ids {
+        tx.execute("DELETE FROM albums WHERE id = ?1", [album_id])?;
+    }
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+pub fn reorder_albums(conn: &Connection, album_ids: &[i64]) -> Result<()> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    for (index, album_id) in album_ids.iter().enumerate() {
+        tx.execute(
+            "UPDATE albums SET sort_order = ?2 WHERE id = ?1",
+            params![album_id, index as i64 + 1],
+        )?;
+    }
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Append images to an album (idempotent). Returns the number newly added.
+pub fn add_images_to_album(conn: &Connection, album_id: i64, image_ids: &[i64]) -> Result<i64> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    let mut next_position: i64 = tx.query_row(
+        "SELECT COALESCE(MAX(position) + 1, 0) FROM album_images WHERE album_id = ?1",
+        [album_id],
+        |row| row.get(0),
+    )?;
+    let mut added = 0i64;
+    for image_id in image_ids {
+        let changed = tx.execute(
+            "INSERT INTO album_images (album_id, image_id, position)
+             VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3)
+             ON CONFLICT(album_id, image_id) DO NOTHING",
+            params![album_id, image_id, next_position],
+        )?;
+        if changed > 0 {
+            next_position += 1;
+            added += 1;
+        }
+    }
+    tx.execute(
+        "UPDATE albums SET updated_at = datetime('now') WHERE id = ?1",
+        [album_id],
+    )?;
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(added)
+}
+
+pub fn remove_images_from_album(conn: &Connection, album_id: i64, image_ids: &[i64]) -> Result<()> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    for image_id in image_ids {
+        tx.execute(
+            "DELETE FROM album_images WHERE album_id = ?1 AND image_id = ?2",
+            params![album_id, image_id],
+        )?;
+    }
+    tx.execute(
+        "UPDATE albums SET updated_at = datetime('now') WHERE id = ?1",
+        [album_id],
+    )?;
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+pub fn count_album_images(conn: &Connection, album_id: i64) -> Result<i64> {
+    let count = conn.query_row(
+        "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM album_images WHERE album_id = ?1",
+        [album_id],
+        |row| row.get(0),
+    )?;
+    Ok(count)
+}
+
+pub fn get_album_images(
+    conn: &Connection,
+    album_id: i64,
+    sort: &str,
+    offset: i64,
+    limit: i64,
+) -> Result<Vec<ImageRecord>> {
+    // Default to curated order (album_images.position); otherwise honor the same
+    // sort vocabulary as get_images. Albums span folders, so no folder filter.
+    let order = match sort {
+        "name_asc" => "i.filename ASC",
+        "name_desc" => "i.filename DESC",
+        "date_asc" => "i.modified_at ASC NULLS LAST",
+        "date_desc" => "i.modified_at DESC NULLS LAST",
+        "size_asc" => "i.file_size ASC",
+        "size_desc" => "i.file_size DESC",
+        "rating_asc" => "i.rating ASC, i.modified_at DESC NULLS LAST",
+        "rating_desc" => "i.rating DESC, i.modified_at DESC NULLS LAST",
+        "duration_asc" => "i.duration_ms ASC NULLS LAST",
+        "duration_desc" => "i.duration_ms DESC NULLS LAST",
+        "taken_asc" => "COALESCE(i.taken_at, i.modified_at) ASC NULLS LAST",
+        "taken_desc" => "COALESCE(i.taken_at, i.modified_at) DESC NULLS LAST",
+        _ => "ai.position ASC",
+    };
+    let sql = format!(
+        "SELECT i.id, i.folder_id, i.path, i.filename, i.thumbnail_path, i.width, i.height, i.file_size, i.created_at, i.modified_at, i.taken_at, i.mime_type,
+                i.media_kind, i.duration_ms, i.video_codec, i.audio_codec, i.metadata_updated_at, i.metadata_error,
+                i.favorite, i.rating, i.embedding_status, i.embedding_model, i.embedding_updated_at, i.embedding_error,
+                i.generated_caption, i.caption_model, i.caption_updated_at, i.caption_error,
+                i.ai_rating, i.ai_tagger_model, i.ai_tagged_at, i.ai_tagger_error
+         FROM images i
+         JOIN album_images ai ON ai.image_id = i.id
+         WHERE ai.album_id = ?1
+         ORDER BY {order}
+         LIMIT ?2 OFFSET ?3"
+    );
+    let mut stmt = conn.prepare(&sql)?;
+    let rows = stmt.query_map(params![album_id, limit, offset], map_image_row)?;
+    Ok(rows.collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?)
+}
+
+// ── Bulk image operations ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/// Apply favorite and/or rating to many images at once; returns the updated rows.
+pub fn bulk_update_details(
+    conn: &Connection,
+    image_ids: &[i64],
+    favorite: Option<bool>,
+    rating: Option<i64>,
+) -> Result<Vec<ImageRecord>> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    for image_id in image_ids {
+        tx.execute(
+            "UPDATE images
+             SET favorite = COALESCE(?2, favorite),
+                 rating = COALESCE(?3, rating)
+             WHERE id = ?1",
+            params![image_id, favorite, rating],
+        )?;
+    }
+    tx.commit()?;
+    get_images_by_ids(conn, image_ids)
+}
+
+/// Add one or more user tags to many images at once.
+pub fn bulk_add_tags(conn: &Connection, image_ids: &[i64], tags: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    for image_id in image_ids {
+        for tag in tags {
+            let trimmed = tag.trim();
+            if trimmed.is_empty() {
+                continue;
+            }
+            tx.execute(
+                "INSERT INTO image_tags (image_id, tag, source, ai_model, confidence, created_at)
+                 VALUES (?1, ?2, 'user', NULL, NULL, datetime('now'))
+                 ON CONFLICT(image_id, tag) DO UPDATE SET
+                     source = 'user',
+                     ai_model = NULL,
+                     confidence = NULL
+                 WHERE source = 'ai'",
+                params![image_id, trimmed],
+            )?;
+        }
+    }
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Remove a tag (by name) from many images at once.
+pub fn bulk_remove_tag_by_name(conn: &Connection, image_ids: &[i64], tag: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    for image_id in image_ids {
+        tx.execute(
+            "DELETE FROM image_tags WHERE image_id = ?1 AND tag = ?2",
+            params![image_id, tag],
+        )?;
+    }
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+// ── Color palettes (color search) ──────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/// Replace an image's stored color palette. `colors` is `(r, g, b, weight)`.
+pub fn replace_image_colors(
+    conn: &Connection,
+    image_id: i64,
+    colors: &[(u8, u8, u8, f32)],
+) -> Result<()> {
+    conn.execute("DELETE FROM image_colors WHERE image_id = ?1", [image_id])?;
+    for (idx, (r, g, b, weight)) in colors.iter().enumerate() {
+        conn.execute(
+            "INSERT INTO image_colors (image_id, idx, r, g, b, weight)
+             VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6)",
+            params![
+                image_id,
+                idx as i64,
+                *r as i64,
+                *g as i64,
+                *b as i64,
+                *weight as f64
+            ],
+        )?;
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Images (with thumbnails) that have no stored palette yet — the backfill set.
+/// Returns `(image_id, thumbnail_path)`.
+pub fn get_images_missing_colors(conn: &Connection, limit: i64) -> Result<Vec<(i64, String)>> {
+    let mut stmt = conn.prepare(
+        "SELECT i.id, i.thumbnail_path
+         FROM images i
+         WHERE i.media_kind = 'image'
+           AND i.thumbnail_path IS NOT NULL
+           AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM image_colors c WHERE c.image_id = i.id)
+         LIMIT ?1",
+    )?;
+    let rows = stmt.query_map([limit], |row| {
+        Ok((row.get::<_, i64>(0)?, row.get::<_, String>(1)?))
+    })?;
+    Ok(rows.collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?)
+}
+
+/// Count of images still awaiting palette extraction (for backfill progress).
+pub fn count_images_missing_colors(conn: &Connection) -> Result<i64> {
+    let count = conn.query_row(
+        "SELECT COUNT(*)
+         FROM images i
+         WHERE i.media_kind = 'image'
+           AND i.thumbnail_path IS NOT NULL
+           AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM image_colors c WHERE c.image_id = i.id)",
+        [],
+        |row| row.get(0),
+    )?;
+    Ok(count)
+}
+
 pub fn repair_deferred_embedding_jobs(conn: &Connection) -> Result<usize> {
     let pattern = "No thumbnail available yet for%";
     let repaired = conn.execute(
@@ -1713,6 +2099,7 @@ pub fn get_images(
     rating_min: i64,
     embedding_failed_only: bool,
     tagging_failed_only: bool,
+    color: Option<(u8, u8, u8)>,
     sort: &str,
     offset: i64,
     limit: i64,
@@ -1737,6 +2124,10 @@ pub fn get_images(
     let favorites_flag = i64::from(favorites_only);
     let embedding_failed_flag = i64::from(embedding_failed_only);
     let tagging_failed_flag = i64::from(tagging_failed_only);
+    let (color_flag, qr, qg, qb) = match color {
+        Some((r, g, b)) => (1i64, r as i64, g as i64, b as i64),
+        None => (0, 0, 0, 0),
+    };
     let sql = format!(
         "SELECT id, folder_id, path, filename, thumbnail_path, width, height, file_size, created_at, modified_at, taken_at, mime_type,
                 media_kind, duration_ms, video_codec, audio_codec, metadata_updated_at, metadata_error,
@@ -1751,6 +2142,12 @@ pub fn get_images(
            AND rating >= ?5
            AND (?6 = 0 OR embedding_status = 'failed')
            AND (?7 = 0 OR ai_tagger_error IS NOT NULL)
+           AND (?10 = 0 OR EXISTS (
+               SELECT 1 FROM image_colors c
+               WHERE c.image_id = images.id
+                 AND c.weight >= ?15
+                 AND ((c.r - ?11)*(c.r - ?11) + (c.g - ?12)*(c.g - ?12) + (c.b - ?13)*(c.b - ?13)) <= ?14
+           ))
          ORDER BY {order}
          LIMIT ?8 OFFSET ?9"
     );
@@ -1765,7 +2162,13 @@ pub fn get_images(
             embedding_failed_flag,
             tagging_failed_flag,
             limit,
-            offset
+            offset,
+            color_flag,
+            qr,
+            qg,
+            qb,
+            crate::color::MATCH_DISTANCE_SQ,
+            crate::color::MATCH_MIN_WEIGHT
         ],
         map_image_row,
     )?;
@@ -1782,12 +2185,17 @@ pub fn count_images(
     rating_min: i64,
     embedding_failed_only: bool,
     tagging_failed_only: bool,
+    color: Option<(u8, u8, u8)>,
 ) -> Result<i64> {
     let search_pattern = search.map(|value| format!("%{value}%"));
 
     let favorites_flag = i64::from(favorites_only);
     let embedding_failed_flag = i64::from(embedding_failed_only);
     let tagging_failed_flag = i64::from(tagging_failed_only);
+    let (color_flag, qr, qg, qb) = match color {
+        Some((r, g, b)) => (1i64, r as i64, g as i64, b as i64),
+        None => (0, 0, 0, 0),
+    };
     let count = conn.query_row(
         "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM images
          WHERE (?1 IS NULL OR folder_id = ?1)
@@ -1796,7 +2204,13 @@ pub fn count_images(
            AND (?4 = 0 OR favorite = 1)
            AND rating >= ?5
            AND (?6 = 0 OR embedding_status = 'failed')
-           AND (?7 = 0 OR ai_tagger_error IS NOT NULL)",
+           AND (?7 = 0 OR ai_tagger_error IS NOT NULL)
+           AND (?8 = 0 OR EXISTS (
+               SELECT 1 FROM image_colors c
+               WHERE c.image_id = images.id
+                 AND c.weight >= ?13
+                 AND ((c.r - ?9)*(c.r - ?9) + (c.g - ?10)*(c.g - ?10) + (c.b - ?11)*(c.b - ?11)) <= ?12
+           ))",
         params![
             folder_id,
             search_pattern,
@@ -1804,7 +2218,13 @@ pub fn count_images(
             favorites_flag,
             rating_min,
             embedding_failed_flag,
-            tagging_failed_flag
+            tagging_failed_flag,
+            color_flag,
+            qr,
+            qg,
+            qb,
+            crate::color::MATCH_DISTANCE_SQ,
+            crate::color::MATCH_MIN_WEIGHT
         ],
         |row| row.get(0),
     )?;
@@ -2016,6 +2436,34 @@ pub fn get_explore_tags(
     Ok(rows)
 }
 
+pub fn get_related_tags(
+    conn: &Connection,
+    tag: &str,
+    folder_id: Option<i64>,
+    limit: usize,
+) -> Result<Vec<(String, i64)>> {
+    let mut stmt = conn.prepare(
+        "SELECT other.tag, COUNT(DISTINCT other.image_id) AS shared_count
+         FROM image_tags base
+         JOIN image_tags other ON other.image_id = base.image_id
+         JOIN images i ON i.id = base.image_id
+         WHERE base.tag = ?1
+           AND other.tag != base.tag
+           AND (?2 IS NULL OR i.folder_id = ?2)
+         GROUP BY other.tag
+         ORDER BY shared_count DESC, other.tag ASC
+         LIMIT ?3",
+    )?;
+
+    let rows = stmt
+        .query_map(params![tag, folder_id, limit as i64], |row| {
+            Ok((row.get::<_, String>(0)?, row.get::<_, i64>(1)?))
+        })?
+        .collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?;
+
+    Ok(rows)
+}
+
 type FailedEmbeddingRow = (i64, String, String, Option<String>);
 
 pub fn get_failed_embedding_images(
@@ -2338,6 +2786,35 @@ pub fn remove_tag(conn: &Connection, tag_id: i64) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Rename a tag across the whole library, or merge it into an existing tag when
+/// `to` already exists. Images that already carry `to` keep a single instance
+/// (the colliding source row is dropped).
+pub fn rename_tag(conn: &Connection, from: &str, to: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    // Move rows where the target tag isn't already on that image; UNIQUE
+    // collisions are skipped (OR IGNORE)…
+    tx.execute(
+        "UPDATE OR IGNORE image_tags SET tag = ?2 WHERE tag = ?1",
+        params![from, to],
+    )?;
+    // …then drop the now-duplicate leftovers still under the old name.
+    tx.execute("DELETE FROM image_tags WHERE tag = ?1", params![from])?;
+    // The tag-cloud cache keys on image-id hashes, not tag text, so a rename
+    // wouldn't invalidate it automatically — clear it.
+    tx.execute("DELETE FROM tag_cloud_cache", [])?;
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Delete a tag from every image in the library. Returns the number of rows removed.
+pub fn delete_tag(conn: &Connection, name: &str) -> Result<i64> {
+    let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    let removed = tx.execute("DELETE FROM image_tags WHERE tag = ?1", params![name])? as i64;
+    tx.execute("DELETE FROM tag_cloud_cache", [])?;
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(removed)
+}
+
 pub fn enqueue_missing_tagging_jobs_for_folder(conn: &Connection, folder_id: i64) -> Result<usize> {
     let inserted = conn.execute(
         "INSERT INTO tagging_jobs (image_id, status, attempts, last_error, created_at, updated_at)

src-tauri/src/hnsw_index.rs

@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ pub fn find_similar_image_matches(
     conn: &Connection,
     image_id: i64,
     folder_id: Option<i64>,
+    album_id: Option<i64>,
     threshold: f32,
     offset: usize,
     limit: usize,
@@ -103,10 +104,17 @@ pub fn find_similar_image_matches(
         None => return Ok(Vec::new()),
     };
 
-    // Fetch folder image IDs *before* acquiring the read lock so we don't hold
+    // Build the allowed-id set *before* acquiring the read lock so we don't hold
     // the lock across a potentially slow SQLite query, which would delay any
-    // concurrent ensure_index call waiting for a write lock.
-    let folder_image_ids: Option<Vec<i64>> = if let Some(folder_id) = folder_id {
+    // concurrent ensure_index call waiting for a write lock. Album scope takes
+    // precedence over folder scope; both reuse the HNSW filtered search.
+    let allowed_image_ids: Option<Vec<i64>> = if let Some(album_id) = album_id {
+        let mut stmt = conn.prepare("SELECT image_id FROM album_images WHERE album_id = ?1")?;
+        let ids = stmt
+            .query_map([album_id], |row| row.get::<_, i64>(0))?
+            .collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?;
+        Some(ids)
+    } else if let Some(folder_id) = folder_id {
         let ids = vector::get_all_image_embeddings_with_ids(conn, Some(folder_id))?
             .into_iter()
             .map(|(id, _)| id)
@@ -122,7 +130,7 @@ pub fn find_similar_image_matches(
     };
 
     let knbn = (offset + limit).max(limit).saturating_add(32);
-    let neighbours: Vec<Neighbour> = if let Some(image_ids) = folder_image_ids {
+    let neighbours: Vec<Neighbour> = if let Some(image_ids) = allowed_image_ids {
         let mut allowed_ids = image_ids
             .into_iter()
             .filter_map(|allowed_image_id| {

src-tauri/src/indexer.rs

@@ -3,18 +3,18 @@ use crate::db::{self, DbPool, EmbeddingJob, FolderJobProgress, ImageRecord, Inde
 use crate::embedder::{embedding_source_path, ClipImageEmbedder};
 use crate::media::{probe_video_metadata, MediaTools};
 use crate::storage::{detect_storage_profile, RuntimeAdaptiveProfile, StorageProfile};
-use crate::tagger::{self, WdTagger};
+use crate::tagger::{self, Tagger};
 use crate::thumbnail;
 use crate::vector;
 use anyhow::Result;
 use notify::{RecommendedWatcher, RecursiveMode, Watcher};
 use rayon::prelude::*;
-use serde::Serialize;
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex, OnceLock};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
-use tauri::{AppHandle, Emitter};
+use tauri::{AppHandle, Emitter, Manager};
 use walkdir::WalkDir;
 
 const IMAGE_EXTENSIONS: &[&str] = &[
@@ -41,6 +41,14 @@ struct PausedWorkerFolders {
     tagging: HashSet<i64>,
 }
 
+#[derive(Default, Deserialize, Serialize)]
+pub struct PersistedPausedWorkerFolders {
+    pub thumbnail: Vec<i64>,
+    pub metadata: Vec<i64>,
+    pub embedding: Vec<i64>,
+    pub tagging: Vec<i64>,
+}
+
 #[derive(Clone, Copy)]
 pub struct FolderWorkerPausedState {
     pub thumbnail: bool,
@@ -50,6 +58,41 @@ pub struct FolderWorkerPausedState {
     pub tagging: bool,
 }
 
+pub fn replace_worker_paused_states(states: PersistedPausedWorkerFolders) {
+    if let Ok(mut paused_folders) = PAUSED_WORKER_FOLDERS
+        .get_or_init(|| Mutex::new(PausedWorkerFolders::default()))
+        .lock()
+    {
+        paused_folders.thumbnail = states.thumbnail.into_iter().collect();
+        paused_folders.metadata = states.metadata.into_iter().collect();
+        paused_folders.embedding = states.embedding.into_iter().collect();
+        paused_folders.caption = HashSet::new();
+        paused_folders.tagging = states.tagging.into_iter().collect();
+    }
+}
+
+pub fn snapshot_worker_paused_states() -> PersistedPausedWorkerFolders {
+    let Ok(paused_folders) = PAUSED_WORKER_FOLDERS
+        .get_or_init(|| Mutex::new(PausedWorkerFolders::default()))
+        .lock()
+    else {
+        return PersistedPausedWorkerFolders::default();
+    };
+
+    let sorted = |set: &HashSet<i64>| {
+        let mut ids = set.iter().copied().collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        ids.sort_unstable();
+        ids
+    };
+
+    PersistedPausedWorkerFolders {
+        thumbnail: sorted(&paused_folders.thumbnail),
+        metadata: sorted(&paused_folders.metadata),
+        embedding: sorted(&paused_folders.embedding),
+        tagging: sorted(&paused_folders.tagging),
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn set_worker_paused(worker: &str, folder_id: i64, paused: bool) {
     if let Ok(mut paused_folders) = PAUSED_WORKER_FOLDERS
         .get_or_init(|| Mutex::new(PausedWorkerFolders::default()))
@@ -190,6 +233,13 @@ pub struct MediaUpdateBatch {
     pub images: Vec<ImageRecord>,
 }
 
+#[derive(Clone, Serialize)]
+pub struct ColorBackfillProgress {
+    pub processed: i64,
+    pub total: i64,
+    pub done: bool,
+}
+
 #[derive(Clone, Serialize)]
 pub struct MediaJobProgressEvent {
     pub progress: Vec<FolderJobProgress>,
@@ -323,7 +373,7 @@ pub fn start_caption_worker(app: AppHandle, pool: DbPool, app_data_dir: PathBuf)
 
 pub fn start_tagging_worker(app: AppHandle, pool: DbPool, app_data_dir: PathBuf) {
     std::thread::spawn(move || {
-        let mut tagger_instance: Option<WdTagger> = None;
+        let mut tagger_instance: Option<Box<dyn Tagger>> = None;
         log::info!("Tagging worker started.");
         loop {
             // If the acceleration setting changed, drop the cached session so
@@ -347,7 +397,51 @@ pub fn start_tagging_worker(app: AppHandle, pool: DbPool, app_data_dir: PathBuf)
     });
 }
 
+/// True when `path` lives inside Phokus's own app-data directory (thumbnail
+/// cache, database, downloaded models). If a user indexes an ancestor of this
+/// directory — e.g. their whole `Users` folder — the app would otherwise index
+/// its own thumbnails, generate thumbnails of those thumbnails, and loop
+/// forever. The whole subtree is pruned from folder scans and ignored by the
+/// watcher to break that cycle.
+///
+/// Comparison is component-aware (so a sibling like `…/phokus-backup` never
+/// matches) and case-insensitive on Windows — the indexed root may report a
+/// different casing than `app_data_dir` (e.g. `c:\users\…` vs `C:\Users\…`),
+/// and a case-sensitive prefix check there would silently let the loop back in.
+fn is_within_app_data(path: &Path, app_data_dir: Option<&Path>) -> bool {
+    let Some(dir) = app_data_dir else {
+        return false;
+    };
+    let mut base = dir.components();
+    let mut target = path.components();
+    loop {
+        let Some(base_component) = base.next() else {
+            // Consumed every component of the app-data dir while still matching →
+            // `path` is the app-data dir itself or a descendant.
+            return true;
+        };
+        let Some(target_component) = target.next() else {
+            // `path` is shorter than the app-data dir, so it cannot be inside it.
+            return false;
+        };
+        let matches = if cfg!(windows) {
+            base_component
+                .as_os_str()
+                .eq_ignore_ascii_case(target_component.as_os_str())
+        } else {
+            base_component == target_component
+        };
+        if !matches {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 fn do_index(app: AppHandle, pool: &DbPool, folder_id: i64, folder_path: PathBuf) -> Result<()> {
+    // Resolve our own app-data directory so the walk can skip it (see
+    // `is_within_app_data`). Resolution failure is non-fatal — we just lose the
+    // guard, which only matters when indexing an ancestor of the app data dir.
+    let app_data_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().ok();
     let existing_entries = {
         let conn = pool.get()?;
         db::get_folder_media_index(&conn, folder_id)?
@@ -364,6 +458,9 @@ fn do_index(app: AppHandle, pool: &DbPool, folder_id: i64, folder_path: PathBuf)
     let media_paths: Vec<PathBuf> = WalkDir::new(&folder_path)
         .follow_links(true)
         .into_iter()
+        // Prune our own app-data subtree before descending into it, so we never
+        // scan (and re-thumbnail) the thumbnail cache.
+        .filter_entry(|entry| !is_within_app_data(entry.path(), app_data_dir.as_deref()))
         .filter_map(|entry| match entry {
             Ok(e) if e.file_type().is_file() && is_supported_media(e.path()) => {
                 Some(e.path().to_path_buf())
@@ -737,6 +834,13 @@ fn persist_thumbnail_results(
                     width,
                     height,
                 )?);
+
+                // Store the dominant-color palette sampled during resizing.
+                if let Some(thumb) = &generated {
+                    if !thumb.palette.is_empty() {
+                        db::replace_image_colors(&tx, image_id, &thumb.palette)?;
+                    }
+                }
             }
 
             tx.commit()?;
@@ -767,6 +871,76 @@ fn is_avif_path(path: &Path) -> bool {
         .is_some_and(|ext| ext.eq_ignore_ascii_case("avif"))
 }
 
+/// One-shot background pass that samples a color palette from the (already
+/// generated) thumbnails of images indexed before color search existed. New
+/// images get their palette during thumbnail generation, so this only fills the
+/// historical gap. Emits `color-backfill-progress` so the UI can show a count.
+pub fn start_color_backfill(app: AppHandle, pool: DbPool) {
+    std::thread::spawn(move || {
+        let total = match pool.get() {
+            Ok(conn) => db::count_images_missing_colors(&conn).unwrap_or(0),
+            Err(_) => return,
+        };
+        if total == 0 {
+            return;
+        }
+        log::info!("Color backfill: sampling palettes for {total} images.");
+
+        let mut processed: i64 = 0;
+        loop {
+            let batch = match pool.get() {
+                Ok(conn) => db::get_images_missing_colors(&conn, 64).unwrap_or_default(),
+                Err(_) => break,
+            };
+            if batch.is_empty() {
+                break;
+            }
+
+            for (image_id, thumbnail_path) in batch {
+                let palette = crate::color::extract_palette_from_file(
+                    Path::new(&thumbnail_path),
+                    crate::color::PALETTE_SIZE,
+                );
+                let colors: Vec<(u8, u8, u8, f32)> = match palette {
+                    Some(colors) if !colors.is_empty() => colors
+                        .into_iter()
+                        .map(|c| (c.r, c.g, c.b, c.weight))
+                        .collect(),
+                    // Unreadable thumbnail: store a zero-weight sentinel so the
+                    // image isn't reprocessed forever (it just won't match).
+                    _ => vec![(0, 0, 0, 0.0)],
+                };
+                let _ = with_db_write_lock(|| {
+                    let conn = pool.get()?;
+                    db::replace_image_colors(&conn, image_id, &colors)
+                });
+                processed += 1;
+            }
+
+            let _ = app.emit(
+                "color-backfill-progress",
+                ColorBackfillProgress {
+                    processed,
+                    total,
+                    done: false,
+                },
+            );
+            // Yield so the backfill stays in the background under active use.
+            std::thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(15));
+        }
+
+        log::info!("Color backfill complete: {processed} images sampled.");
+        let _ = app.emit(
+            "color-backfill-progress",
+            ColorBackfillProgress {
+                processed,
+                total,
+                done: true,
+            },
+        );
+    });
+}
+
 /// Returns `Ok(true)` if a batch was claimed and processed, `Ok(false)` if
 /// the queue was empty.
 fn process_metadata_batch(
@@ -1105,7 +1279,7 @@ fn process_tagging_batch(
     app: &AppHandle,
     pool: &DbPool,
     app_data_dir: &Path,
-    tagger_instance: &mut Option<WdTagger>,
+    tagger_instance: &mut Option<Box<dyn Tagger>>,
 ) -> Result<bool> {
     if !tagger::tagger_model_status(app_data_dir).ready {
         return Ok(false);
@@ -1117,20 +1291,23 @@ fn process_tagging_batch(
 
     // Exclude actively-indexing folders for the same reason as the other
     // workers: don't compete with a running scan.
+    let batch_started_at = Instant::now();
     let mut excluded_folders = paused_folder_ids("tagging");
     excluded_folders.extend(active_indexing_folders());
     let batch_size = crate::tagger::tagger_batch_size(app_data_dir);
+    let claim_started_at = Instant::now();
     let jobs = with_db_write_lock(|| {
         let mut conn = pool.get()?;
         db::claim_tagging_jobs(&mut conn, &excluded_folders, batch_size)
     })?;
+    let claim_elapsed = claim_started_at.elapsed();
 
     if jobs.is_empty() {
         return Ok(false);
     }
 
     if tagger_instance.is_none() {
-        match WdTagger::new(app_data_dir) {
+        match tagger::create_active_tagger(app_data_dir) {
             Ok(model) => *tagger_instance = Some(model),
             Err(error) => {
                 with_db_write_lock(|| {
@@ -1157,21 +1334,45 @@ fn process_tagging_batch(
         .as_mut()
         .expect("tagger should be initialized before tagging batch processing");
 
-    let tag_results = jobs
+    // Resolve each job's source image (AVIF can't be decoded directly, so it
+    // falls back to its thumbnail), then tag the batch in small chunks (below).
+    let source_paths: Vec<PathBuf> = jobs
         .iter()
         .map(|job| {
-            let source_path = if is_avif_path(Path::new(&job.path)) {
-                job.thumbnail_path.as_deref().unwrap_or(&job.path)
+            if is_avif_path(Path::new(&job.path)) {
+                PathBuf::from(job.thumbnail_path.as_deref().unwrap_or(&job.path))
             } else {
-                &job.path
-            };
-            (
-                job.clone(),
-                tagger_ref.run(Path::new(source_path), tagger::DEFAULT_MAX_TAGS),
-            )
+                PathBuf::from(&job.path)
+            }
         })
-        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        .collect();
 
+    // Tag in small micro-batches instead of one wide forward pass. On a shared
+    // GPU every DirectML dispatch blocks the WebView2 compositor for its whole
+    // duration, so a 16-wide batch freezes the UI for seconds; small chunks keep
+    // each GPU lock short (and bound peak decode memory) while a brief yield
+    // between them lets the UI and other workers grab the GPU/CPU. The model is
+    // compute-bound here, so this costs almost no throughput.
+    let infer_started_at = Instant::now();
+    let mut outputs = Vec::with_capacity(source_paths.len());
+    let mut chunks = source_paths.chunks(tagger::TAGGER_INFER_CHUNK).peekable();
+    while let Some(chunk) = chunks.next() {
+        outputs.extend(tagger_ref.run_batch(chunk, tagger::DEFAULT_MAX_TAGS));
+        if chunks.peek().is_some() {
+            std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(
+                tagger::TAGGER_INFER_YIELD_MS,
+            ));
+        }
+    }
+    let infer_elapsed = infer_started_at.elapsed();
+
+    // Attribute the tags to the model that actually produced them, not a
+    // hardcoded one (WD vs JoyTag are both possible).
+    let tagger_model_name = tagger_ref.model_name();
+
+    let tag_results = jobs.iter().cloned().zip(outputs).collect::<Vec<_>>();
+
+    let write_started_at = Instant::now();
     let updated_images = with_db_write_lock(|| {
         let mut conn = pool.get()?;
         let tx = conn.transaction()?;
@@ -1201,7 +1402,7 @@ fn process_tagging_batch(
                         job.image_id,
                         &tag_pairs,
                         &output.rating,
-                        tagger::WD_TAGGER_MODEL_NAME,
+                        tagger_model_name,
                     )?;
                 }
                 Err(error) => {
@@ -1223,6 +1424,7 @@ fn process_tagging_batch(
             db::requeue_tagging_jobs(&conn, &image_ids)
         });
     })?;
+    let write_elapsed = write_started_at.elapsed();
 
     if !updated_images.is_empty() {
         let folder_ids = updated_images
@@ -1238,6 +1440,15 @@ fn process_tagging_batch(
         emit_folder_job_progress(app, pool, &folder_ids.into_iter().collect::<Vec<_>>(), true);
     }
 
+    log::info!(
+        "Tagging batch timing: {} items, claim {:?}, tag {:?}, write {:?}, total {:?}",
+        jobs.len(),
+        claim_elapsed,
+        infer_elapsed,
+        write_elapsed,
+        batch_started_at.elapsed()
+    );
+
     Ok(true)
 }
 
@@ -1513,6 +1724,10 @@ pub fn start_watcher(app: AppHandle, pool: DbPool, thumb_dir: PathBuf) -> Watche
 
     // Spawn the debounce loop on its own thread.
     let folder_map_thread = Arc::clone(&folder_map);
+    // `thumb_dir` is `<app data>/thumbnails`; its parent is the app-data root.
+    // Watched roots can be ancestors of it (e.g. a whole user profile), so we
+    // drop any event inside that subtree to avoid re-indexing our own cache.
+    let app_data_dir = thumb_dir.parent().map(Path::to_path_buf);
     std::thread::spawn(move || {
         // path → deadline: the earliest instant at which this path should be processed.
         let mut pending: HashMap<PathBuf, Instant> = HashMap::new();
@@ -1555,7 +1770,22 @@ pub fn start_watcher(app: AppHandle, pool: DbPool, thumb_dir: PathBuf) -> Watche
                     {
                         let old = event.paths[0].clone();
                         let new = event.paths[1].clone();
-                        if is_supported_media(&old) || is_supported_media(&new) {
+                        let old_in_app = is_within_app_data(&old, app_data_dir.as_deref());
+                        let new_in_app = is_within_app_data(&new, app_data_dir.as_deref());
+                        if old_in_app && new_in_app {
+                            // Internal app-data churn (e.g. thumbnail cache) — ignore.
+                        } else if old_in_app || new_in_app {
+                            // Only one side is app-data, so the rename pairing is
+                            // meaningless (we don't track app-data files). Handle the
+                            // legitimate side as an independent create/delete via the
+                            // normal debounce queue: a file moved out of app-data is
+                            // indexed as a create; one moved in is processed as a
+                            // delete (process_watcher_path sees it no longer exists).
+                            let legit = if old_in_app { new } else { old };
+                            if is_supported_media(&legit) {
+                                pending.insert(legit, now + WATCHER_DEBOUNCE);
+                            }
+                        } else if is_supported_media(&old) || is_supported_media(&new) {
                             // Remove either side from regular pending so it isn't
                             // processed as an independent delete/create.
                             pending.remove(&old);
@@ -1564,7 +1794,9 @@ pub fn start_watcher(app: AppHandle, pool: DbPool, thumb_dir: PathBuf) -> Watche
                         }
                     } else {
                         for path in event.paths {
-                            if is_supported_media(&path) {
+                            if is_supported_media(&path)
+                                && !is_within_app_data(&path, app_data_dir.as_deref())
+                            {
                                 pending.insert(path, now + WATCHER_DEBOUNCE);
                             }
                         }

src-tauri/src/lib.rs

@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+mod ai_tag_filter;
 mod captioner;
+mod color;
 mod commands;
 mod db;
 mod embedder;
@@ -45,6 +47,32 @@ pub fn run() {
         .plugin(tauri_plugin_fs::init())
         .plugin(tauri_plugin_notification::init())
         .setup(|app| {
+            // Fresh installs open at the fixed config size (1280×800) because the
+            // window-state plugin has nothing saved yet — too tall for laptops
+            // like 1366×768. Clamp the window to the monitor's work area (which
+            // already excludes the taskbar) and re-center it there, but only when
+            // it actually overflows, so a restored size/position on a roomier
+            // display is left untouched. Sizes are physical pixels on both sides,
+            // so this stays correct across display scaling.
+            if let Some(window) = app.get_webview_window("main") {
+                if let Ok(Some(monitor)) = window.current_monitor() {
+                    let area = monitor.work_area();
+                    let max_w = area.size.width.saturating_sub(32);
+                    let max_h = area.size.height.saturating_sub(32);
+                    if let Ok(size) = window.outer_size() {
+                        if size.width > max_w || size.height > max_h {
+                            let new_w = size.width.min(max_w);
+                            let new_h = size.height.min(max_h);
+                            let _ = window.set_size(tauri::PhysicalSize::new(new_w, new_h));
+                            let _ = window.set_position(tauri::PhysicalPosition::new(
+                                area.position.x + (area.size.width as i32 - new_w as i32) / 2,
+                                area.position.y + (area.size.height as i32 - new_h as i32) / 2,
+                            ));
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
             let app_dir = app
                 .path()
                 .app_data_dir()
@@ -91,6 +119,7 @@ pub fn run() {
 
             let thumb_dir = app_dir.join("thumbnails");
             std::fs::create_dir_all(&thumb_dir).expect("Failed to create thumbnail dir");
+            commands::restore_persisted_worker_pauses(&app_dir);
 
             // The asset protocol scope is no longer a blanket "**": thumbnails
             // are allowed statically in tauri.conf.json, and each indexed
@@ -122,6 +151,8 @@ pub fn run() {
             // Caption worker disabled — UI removed; keeping backend code intact for future use.
             // indexer::start_caption_worker(app.handle().clone(), pool.clone(), app_dir.clone());
             indexer::start_tagging_worker(app.handle().clone(), pool.clone(), app_dir.clone());
+            // Backfill color palettes for images indexed before color search existed.
+            indexer::start_color_backfill(app.handle().clone(), pool.clone());
 
             let watcher_handle = indexer::start_watcher(app.handle().clone(), pool.clone(), thumb_dir.clone());
 
@@ -165,14 +196,19 @@ pub fn run() {
             commands::suggest_image_tags,
             commands::set_worker_paused,
             commands::get_worker_states,
+            commands::get_worker_pauses_persist,
+            commands::set_worker_pauses_persist,
             commands::get_tag_cloud,
             commands::get_explore_tags,
+            commands::get_related_tags,
             commands::get_images_by_ids,
             commands::get_failed_embedding_images,
             commands::get_failed_tagging_images,
             commands::get_tagger_model_status,
             commands::get_tagger_acceleration,
             commands::set_tagger_acceleration,
+            commands::get_tagger_model,
+            commands::set_tagger_model,
             commands::probe_tagger_runtime,
             commands::get_tagger_threshold,
             commands::set_tagger_threshold,
@@ -185,6 +221,22 @@ pub fn run() {
             commands::get_image_tags,
             commands::add_user_tag,
             commands::remove_tag,
+            commands::rename_tag,
+            commands::delete_tag,
+            commands::get_image_exif,
+            commands::list_albums,
+            commands::create_album,
+            commands::rename_album,
+            commands::delete_album,
+            commands::delete_albums,
+            commands::reorder_albums,
+            commands::add_images_to_album,
+            commands::remove_images_from_album,
+            commands::get_album_images,
+            commands::bulk_update_details,
+            commands::bulk_add_tags,
+            commands::bulk_remove_tag,
+            commands::get_build_variant,
             commands::search_tags_autocomplete,
             commands::find_duplicates,
             commands::load_duplicate_scan_cache,
@@ -197,6 +249,8 @@ pub fn run() {
             commands::get_tagging_queue_folder_ids,
             commands::set_tagging_queue_folder_ids,
             commands::open_app_data_folder,
+            commands::open_map_location,
+            commands::open_changelog_url,
             commands::get_database_info,
             commands::vacuum_database,
             commands::rebuild_semantic_index,
@@ -208,6 +262,8 @@ pub fn run() {
             commands::retry_ffmpeg_download,
             commands::get_onboarding_completed,
             commands::set_onboarding_completed,
+            commands::get_last_seen_version,
+            commands::set_last_seen_version,
             commands::get_notifications_paused,
             commands::set_notifications_paused,
         ])

src-tauri/src/tagger.rs

@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
+use crate::ai_tag_filter;
 use anyhow::Result;
 use hf_hub::{api::sync::Api, Repo, RepoType};
 use image::{imageops::FilterType, DynamicImage, ImageReader};
 use ort::ep;
 use ort::session::{builder::GraphOptimizationLevel, Session};
 use ort::value::Tensor;
+use rayon::prelude::*;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
@@ -15,15 +17,27 @@ pub const WD_TAGGER_MODEL_NAME: &str = "wd-swinv2-tagger-v3";
 const TAGGER_ACCELERATION_FILE: &str = "settings/tagger_acceleration.txt";
 const TAGGER_THRESHOLD_FILE: &str = "settings/tagger_threshold.txt";
 const TAGGER_BATCH_SIZE_FILE: &str = "settings/tagger_batch_size.txt";
+const TAGGER_MODEL_FILE: &str = "settings/tagger_model.txt";
 
-// Files required on disk before the tagger can run.  The ONNX runtime DLLs
-// are shared with the captioner and live in the same `onnxruntime/` directory.
-const TAGGER_REQUIRED_FILES: &[&str] = &[
+pub const JOYTAG_MODEL_ID: &str = "fancyfeast/joytag";
+pub const JOYTAG_MODEL_NAME: &str = "joytag";
+
+// JoyTag preprocessing differs from the WD tagger: it expects RGB (not BGR),
+// CLIP-style mean/std normalization on [0,1] values (not raw [0,255]), and an
+// NCHW layout (not NHWC). These are the OpenAI CLIP normalization constants.
+const JOYTAG_MEAN: [f32; 3] = [0.481_454_66, 0.457_827_5, 0.408_210_73];
+const JOYTAG_STD: [f32; 3] = [0.268_629_54, 0.261_302_58, 0.275_777_11];
+// JoyTag's recommended detection threshold (used as the default; the user's
+// tagger_threshold setting still overrides it).
+const JOYTAG_DEFAULT_THRESHOLD: f32 = 0.4;
+
+// Shared ONNX Runtime DLLs (live in the caption model's `onnxruntime/` dir and
+// are reused by the tagger). The per-model weight + label files are listed by
+// `TaggerModel::download_files`.
+const TAGGER_RUNTIME_DLLS: &[&str] = &[
     "onnxruntime/onnxruntime.dll",
     "onnxruntime/onnxruntime_providers_shared.dll",
     "onnxruntime/DirectML.dll",
-    "model.onnx",
-    "selected_tags.csv",
 ];
 
 // Tags in these Danbooru categories are kept in the output.
@@ -37,6 +51,19 @@ const RATING_CATEGORY: u8 = 9;
 pub const DEFAULT_THRESHOLD: f32 = 0.35;
 pub const DEFAULT_MAX_TAGS: usize = 30;
 
+/// How many images are fed to the GPU in a single forward pass, regardless of
+/// how many the worker claims from the DB at once. The WD model is compute-
+/// bound on a shared GPU, so a wide batch buys little throughput but holds the
+/// GPU (and therefore the WebView2 compositor) hostage for its whole duration,
+/// freezing the UI. Small chunks keep each DirectML dispatch short — lower this
+/// for a smoother UI under heavy tagging, raise it for marginally higher
+/// throughput on a dedicated GPU.
+pub const TAGGER_INFER_CHUNK: usize = 4;
+
+/// Brief pause between inference chunks so the compositor and other workers can
+/// claim the GPU/CPU between dispatches. Negligible against per-chunk inference.
+pub const TAGGER_INFER_YIELD_MS: u64 = 40;
+
 /// Set to `true` by `set_tagger_acceleration` so the tagging worker loop
 /// knows to drop its cached `WdTagger` and reload with the new EP.
 pub static TAGGER_SESSION_DIRTY: AtomicBool = AtomicBool::new(false);
@@ -64,6 +91,61 @@ impl TaggerAcceleration {
     }
 }
 
+/// Which tagging model is active. Both produce a `TaggerOutput` (tags + an
+/// explicitness rating); they differ in vocabulary, preprocessing, and how the
+/// rating is derived. WD is Danbooru-trained (anime-leaning); JoyTag uses the
+/// Danbooru schema but generalizes to photographic content and is stronger on
+/// NSFW concepts.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Default, Deserialize, Eq, PartialEq, Serialize)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "lowercase")]
+pub enum TaggerModel {
+    #[default]
+    Wd,
+    JoyTag,
+}
+
+impl TaggerModel {
+    fn as_str(self) -> &'static str {
+        match self {
+            Self::Wd => "wd",
+            Self::JoyTag => "joytag",
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Hugging Face repo the model files are fetched from.
+    fn repo_id(self) -> &'static str {
+        match self {
+            Self::Wd => WD_TAGGER_MODEL_ID,
+            Self::JoyTag => JOYTAG_MODEL_ID,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Stable display/identifier name.
+    fn model_name(self) -> &'static str {
+        match self {
+            Self::Wd => WD_TAGGER_MODEL_NAME,
+            Self::JoyTag => JOYTAG_MODEL_NAME,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Subdirectory under `models/` where this model's files live.
+    fn dir_name(self) -> &'static str {
+        match self {
+            Self::Wd => "wd-swinv2-tagger-v3",
+            Self::JoyTag => "joytag",
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Files fetched from `repo_id` (the shared ONNX Runtime DLLs are handled
+    /// separately). `model.onnx` is the weights; the second is the label list.
+    fn download_files(self) -> &'static [&'static str] {
+        match self {
+            Self::Wd => &["model.onnx", "selected_tags.csv"],
+            Self::JoyTag => &["model.onnx", "top_tags.txt"],
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Status / probe types exposed to the frontend
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -138,14 +220,41 @@ struct TagEntry {
 // Path helpers
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+/// Directory of the *active* tagger model's files (driven by the
+/// `tagger_model` setting), e.g. `…/models/wd-swinv2-tagger-v3`.
 pub fn model_dir(app_data_dir: &Path) -> PathBuf {
-    app_data_dir.join("models").join("wd-swinv2-tagger-v3")
+    app_data_dir
+        .join("models")
+        .join(tagger_model(app_data_dir).dir_name())
 }
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Settings persistence
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+pub fn tagger_model(app_data_dir: &Path) -> TaggerModel {
+    let path = app_data_dir.join(TAGGER_MODEL_FILE);
+    let Ok(value) = std::fs::read_to_string(path) else {
+        return TaggerModel::default();
+    };
+    match value.trim().to_ascii_lowercase().as_str() {
+        "joytag" => TaggerModel::JoyTag,
+        _ => TaggerModel::Wd,
+    }
+}
+
+pub fn set_tagger_model(app_data_dir: &Path, model: TaggerModel) -> Result<TaggerModel> {
+    let path = app_data_dir.join(TAGGER_MODEL_FILE);
+    if let Some(parent) = path.parent() {
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(parent)?;
+    }
+    std::fs::write(path, model.as_str())?;
+    // Switching models means the cached session is for the wrong model; the
+    // worker drops and rebuilds it on the next batch (same flag as an EP change).
+    TAGGER_SESSION_DIRTY.store(true, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    Ok(model)
+}
+
 pub fn tagger_acceleration(app_data_dir: &Path) -> TaggerAcceleration {
     let path = app_data_dir.join(TAGGER_ACCELERATION_FILE);
     let Ok(value) = std::fs::read_to_string(path) else {
@@ -217,25 +326,27 @@ pub fn set_tagger_batch_size(app_data_dir: &Path, batch_size: usize) -> Result<u
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 pub fn tagger_model_status(app_data_dir: &Path) -> TaggerModelStatus {
+    let model = tagger_model(app_data_dir);
     let local_dir = model_dir(app_data_dir);
     // The ONNX runtime DLLs live in the caption model dir; reuse them.
     let caption_model_dir = app_data_dir.join("models").join("florence-2-base-ft");
-    let missing_files = TAGGER_REQUIRED_FILES
+
+    let mut missing_files: Vec<String> = TAGGER_RUNTIME_DLLS
         .iter()
-        .filter(|file| {
-            let path = if file.starts_with("onnxruntime/") {
-                caption_model_dir.join(file)
-            } else {
-                local_dir.join(file)
-            };
-            !path.exists()
-        })
+        .filter(|file| !caption_model_dir.join(file).exists())
         .map(|file| (*file).to_string())
-        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        .collect();
+    missing_files.extend(
+        model
+            .download_files()
+            .iter()
+            .filter(|file| !local_dir.join(file).exists())
+            .map(|file| (*file).to_string()),
+    );
 
     TaggerModelStatus {
-        model_id: WD_TAGGER_MODEL_ID,
-        model_name: WD_TAGGER_MODEL_NAME,
+        model_id: model.repo_id(),
+        model_name: model.model_name(),
         local_dir: local_dir.to_string_lossy().to_string(),
         ready: missing_files.is_empty(),
         missing_files,
@@ -246,19 +357,20 @@ pub fn prepare_tagger_model_with_progress(
     app_data_dir: &Path,
     emit_progress: impl Fn(TaggerModelProgress),
 ) -> Result<TaggerModelStatus> {
+    let model = tagger_model(app_data_dir);
     let local_dir = model_dir(app_data_dir);
     std::fs::create_dir_all(&local_dir)?;
 
     // The tagger shares the ONNX runtime DLLs with the captioner; download
     // them here so the tagger works even on a clean install where the caption
     // model has never been fetched (ensure_onnx_runtime only initializes).
-    const DOWNLOAD_FILES: &[&str] = &["model.onnx", "selected_tags.csv"];
+    let download_files = model.download_files();
     let caption_model_dir = crate::captioner::model_dir(app_data_dir);
     std::fs::create_dir_all(&caption_model_dir)?;
 
     // Unified step count across DLLs and tagger files so the bar is coherent.
     let dll_count = crate::captioner::missing_onnx_runtime_count(&caption_model_dir);
-    let model_pending = DOWNLOAD_FILES
+    let model_pending = download_files
         .iter()
         .filter(|file| !local_dir.join(file).exists())
         .count();
@@ -304,9 +416,9 @@ pub fn prepare_tagger_model_with_progress(
     // (timeout + resume), rather than hf-hub's download_with_progress, whose
     // agent has no read timeout and would hang on a stalled connection.
     let api = Api::new()?;
-    let repo = api.repo(Repo::new(WD_TAGGER_MODEL_ID.to_string(), RepoType::Model));
+    let repo = api.repo(Repo::new(model.repo_id().to_string(), RepoType::Model));
 
-    for file in DOWNLOAD_FILES {
+    for file in download_files {
         let destination = local_dir.join(file);
         if destination.exists() {
             continue;
@@ -410,11 +522,96 @@ pub fn probe_tagger_runtime(app_data_dir: &Path) -> Result<TaggerRuntimeProbe> {
 }
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-// Top-level inference entry point
+// Tagger trait + shared batch skeleton
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+/// A loaded tagging model. Implementations differ in vocabulary, preprocessing,
+/// and how the explicitness rating is derived, but all turn a batch of image
+/// paths into one `TaggerOutput` per path (in order), with per-image failures
+/// reflected in the individual `Result`s. Built for the active model by
+/// [`create_active_tagger`].
+pub trait Tagger {
+    fn run_batch(&mut self, image_paths: &[PathBuf], max_tags: usize) -> Vec<Result<TaggerOutput>>;
+
+    /// Stable name of this model, written to the DB as `ai_tagger_model` so
+    /// tags can be attributed to (and re-tagged across) models.
+    fn model_name(&self) -> &'static str;
+}
+
+/// Build the tagger for the currently-selected model.
+pub fn create_active_tagger(app_data_dir: &Path) -> Result<Box<dyn Tagger>> {
+    match tagger_model(app_data_dir) {
+        TaggerModel::Wd => Ok(Box::new(WdTagger::new(app_data_dir)?)),
+        TaggerModel::JoyTag => Ok(Box::new(JoyTagger::new(app_data_dir)?)),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Shared batch skeleton: pack the successfully-preprocessed images into one
+/// contiguous buffer, run a single batched forward pass via `infer`, and fall
+/// back to per-image inference if the batch fails (e.g. a model pinned to
+/// batch=1). Returns one result per input slot, in order — a decode failure
+/// stays attached to its own slot. `infer(pixels, count)` runs `count`
+/// contiguous images (`count * stride` floats) and returns `count` outputs.
+fn assemble_batch(
+    preprocessed: Vec<Result<Vec<f32>>>,
+    stride: usize,
+    model_label: &str,
+    mut infer: impl FnMut(&[f32], usize) -> Result<Vec<TaggerOutput>>,
+) -> Vec<Result<TaggerOutput>> {
+    let mut batch_slots: Vec<usize> = Vec::new();
+    let mut batch_pixels: Vec<f32> = Vec::with_capacity(preprocessed.len() * stride);
+    for (i, result) in preprocessed.iter().enumerate() {
+        if let Ok(pixels) = result {
+            batch_slots.push(i);
+            batch_pixels.extend_from_slice(pixels);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Seed each slot with its decode error; inference overwrites decoded slots.
+    let mut results: Vec<Result<TaggerOutput>> = preprocessed
+        .into_iter()
+        .map(|r| match r {
+            Ok(_) => Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
+                "tagging inference did not run for this image"
+            )),
+            Err(error) => Err(error),
+        })
+        .collect();
+
+    if batch_slots.is_empty() {
+        return results; // nothing decoded
+    }
+
+    match infer(&batch_pixels, batch_slots.len()) {
+        Ok(outputs) => {
+            // `infer` must return exactly one output per packed image; the zip
+            // below would otherwise silently leave trailing slots as errors.
+            debug_assert_eq!(outputs.len(), batch_slots.len());
+            for (&slot, output) in batch_slots.iter().zip(outputs) {
+                results[slot] = Ok(output);
+            }
+        }
+        Err(batch_error) => {
+            log::warn!(
+                "{model_label} batch inference failed for {} images, falling back to per-image: {batch_error}",
+                batch_slots.len()
+            );
+            for (k, &slot) in batch_slots.iter().enumerate() {
+                let one = &batch_pixels[k * stride..(k + 1) * stride];
+                results[slot] = infer(one, 1).and_then(|mut out| {
+                    out.drain(..)
+                        .next()
+                        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("tagger produced no output for image"))
+                });
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    results
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-// Tagger implementation
+// WD tagger implementation
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 pub struct WdTagger {
@@ -456,33 +653,34 @@ impl WdTagger {
 
         let session = create_tagger_session(&model_path, acceleration)?;
 
-        // Determine the input spatial size from the ONNX model graph.
-        // WD v3 models use (1, H, W, 3) where H == W, typically 448.
-        let input_size = {
+        // Determine the input spatial size (and batch axis, for diagnostics) from
+        // the ONNX model graph. WD v3 models use (N, H, W, 3) with H == W,
+        // typically 448, and a dynamic batch dimension (reported as -1/0) which
+        // batched inference relies on.
+        let (input_size, batch_axis) = {
             let inputs = session.inputs();
-            let dim = inputs
+            inputs
                 .first()
                 .and_then(|inp| {
                     if let ort::value::ValueType::Tensor { shape, .. } = inp.dtype() {
-                        shape
-                            .get(1)
-                            .and_then(|&d| if d > 0 { Some(d as usize) } else { None })
+                        let size = shape.get(1).copied().filter(|&d| d > 0).map(|d| d as usize);
+                        Some((size.unwrap_or(448), shape.first().copied()))
                     } else {
                         None
                     }
                 })
-                .unwrap_or(448);
-            dim
+                .unwrap_or((448, None))
         };
 
         let labels = load_labels(&labels_path)?;
 
         log::info!(
-            "WD tagger loaded in {:?} ({} labels, input {}x{}, {:?} acceleration)",
+            "WD tagger loaded in {:?} ({} labels, input {}x{}, batch axis {:?}, {:?} acceleration)",
             started_at.elapsed(),
             labels.len(),
             input_size,
             input_size,
+            batch_axis,
             acceleration,
         );
 
@@ -494,14 +692,17 @@ impl WdTagger {
         })
     }
 
-    pub fn run(&mut self, image_path: &Path, max_tags: usize) -> Result<TaggerOutput> {
-        let started_at = Instant::now();
-
-        let image_array = preprocess_image(image_path, self.input_size)?;
-        let batch_size = 1usize;
+    /// Run `count` already-preprocessed images (contiguous `[count, H, W, 3]`
+    /// pixels) through the model in one forward pass.
+    fn infer_batch(
+        &mut self,
+        pixels: &[f32],
+        count: usize,
+        max_tags: usize,
+    ) -> Result<Vec<TaggerOutput>> {
         let input = Tensor::from_array((
-            [batch_size, self.input_size, self.input_size, 3usize],
-            image_array.into_boxed_slice(),
+            [count, self.input_size, self.input_size, 3usize],
+            pixels.to_vec().into_boxed_slice(),
         ))
         .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
 
@@ -511,23 +712,40 @@ impl WdTagger {
             .run(ort::inputs! { input_name.as_str() => input })
             .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
 
-        let (_, probabilities) = outputs[0]
+        let (_, probs) = outputs[0]
             .try_extract_tensor::<f32>()
             .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
 
-        let probs: &[f32] = probabilities;
-
-        if probs.len() != self.labels.len() {
+        let n_labels = self.labels.len();
+        if probs.len() != count * n_labels {
             anyhow::bail!(
-                "Model output length {} does not match label count {}",
+                "Model output length {} does not match {} images x {} labels",
                 probs.len(),
-                self.labels.len()
+                count,
+                n_labels
             );
         }
 
-        // Collect rating scores (category 9) - pick the argmax as the rating.
-        let rating = self
-            .labels
+        // Borrow disjoint fields (not all of `self`) so this doesn't conflict
+        // with the mutable session borrow `outputs` still holds.
+        let labels = &self.labels;
+        let threshold = self.threshold;
+        Ok(probs
+            .chunks_exact(n_labels)
+            .map(|row| Self::tags_from_probs(labels, threshold, row, max_tags))
+            .collect())
+    }
+
+    /// Convert one image's class probabilities into its rating + sorted tags.
+    /// Associated (not `&self`) so callers can hold a disjoint session borrow.
+    fn tags_from_probs(
+        labels: &[TagEntry],
+        threshold: f32,
+        probs: &[f32],
+        max_tags: usize,
+    ) -> TaggerOutput {
+        // Rating (category 9): pick the argmax label as the rating.
+        let rating = labels
             .iter()
             .zip(probs.iter())
             .filter(|(entry, _)| entry.category == RATING_CATEGORY)
@@ -535,14 +753,14 @@ impl WdTagger {
             .map(|(entry, _)| entry.name.clone())
             .unwrap_or_else(|| "general".to_string());
 
-        // Collect general + character tags above threshold, sorted by confidence.
-        let mut tags: Vec<TagResult> = self
-            .labels
+        // General + character tags above threshold, sorted by confidence.
+        let mut tags: Vec<TagResult> = labels
             .iter()
             .zip(probs.iter())
             .filter(|(entry, prob)| {
                 (entry.category == GENERAL_CATEGORY || entry.category == CHARACTER_CATEGORY)
-                    && **prob >= self.threshold
+                    && **prob >= threshold
+                    && !ai_tag_filter::is_removed_ai_tag(&entry.name)
             })
             .map(|(entry, prob)| TagResult {
                 tag: entry.name.clone(),
@@ -553,16 +771,178 @@ impl WdTagger {
         tags.sort_by(|a, b| b.confidence.total_cmp(&a.confidence));
         tags.truncate(max_tags);
 
+        TaggerOutput { tags, rating }
+    }
+}
+
+impl Tagger for WdTagger {
+    fn run_batch(&mut self, image_paths: &[PathBuf], max_tags: usize) -> Vec<Result<TaggerOutput>> {
+        if image_paths.is_empty() {
+            return Vec::new();
+        }
+        let input_size = self.input_size;
+        let preprocessed: Vec<Result<Vec<f32>>> = image_paths
+            .par_iter()
+            .map(|path| preprocess_image(path, input_size))
+            .collect();
+        assemble_batch(
+            preprocessed,
+            input_size * input_size * 3,
+            "WD tagger",
+            |pixels, count| self.infer_batch(pixels, count, max_tags),
+        )
+    }
+
+    fn model_name(&self) -> &'static str {
+        WD_TAGGER_MODEL_NAME
+    }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// JoyTag implementation
+// JoyTag uses the Danbooru tag schema but generalizes to photographic content
+// and is strong on NSFW concepts. It has no rating output, so the explicitness
+// rating is derived from its NSFW tags (see `joytag_rating`). Input is NCHW,
+// RGB, CLIP-normalized — see `preprocess_joytag`.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+pub struct JoyTagger {
+    session: Session,
+    labels: Vec<String>,
+    threshold: f32,
+    input_size: usize,
+}
+
+impl JoyTagger {
+    pub fn new(app_data_dir: &Path) -> Result<Self> {
+        let started_at = Instant::now();
+
+        let status = tagger_model_status(app_data_dir);
+        if !status.ready {
+            anyhow::bail!(
+                "JoyTag model is missing {} required file(s): {}",
+                status.missing_files.len(),
+                status.missing_files.join(", ")
+            );
+        }
+
+        let local_dir = model_dir(app_data_dir);
+
+        // Shared ONNX runtime DLLs (see WdTagger::new).
+        let caption_model_dir = app_data_dir.join("models").join("florence-2-base-ft");
+        crate::captioner::ensure_onnx_runtime(&caption_model_dir).map_err(|e| {
+            anyhow::anyhow!(
+                "ONNX Runtime not initialised — download the Florence-2 caption model first \
+                 to get the shared runtime DLLs. Original error: {e}"
+            )
+        })?;
+
+        let acceleration = tagger_acceleration(app_data_dir);
+        let threshold = joytag_threshold(app_data_dir);
+        let model_path = local_dir.join("model.onnx");
+        let labels_path = local_dir.join("top_tags.txt");
+
+        let session = create_tagger_session(&model_path, acceleration)?;
+
+        // JoyTag uses NCHW (N, 3, H, W); the spatial size lives at axis 2.
+        let (input_size, batch_axis) = {
+            let inputs = session.inputs();
+            inputs
+                .first()
+                .and_then(|inp| {
+                    if let ort::value::ValueType::Tensor { shape, .. } = inp.dtype() {
+                        let size = shape.get(2).copied().filter(|&d| d > 0).map(|d| d as usize);
+                        Some((size.unwrap_or(448), shape.first().copied()))
+                    } else {
+                        None
+                    }
+                })
+                .unwrap_or((448, None))
+        };
+
+        let labels = load_joytag_labels(&labels_path)?;
+
         log::info!(
-            "WD tagger: {} tags (threshold={}, rating={}) in {:?} for {}",
-            tags.len(),
-            self.threshold,
-            rating,
+            "JoyTag loaded in {:?} ({} tags, input {}x{}, batch axis {:?}, {:?} acceleration)",
             started_at.elapsed(),
-            image_path.display(),
+            labels.len(),
+            input_size,
+            input_size,
+            batch_axis,
+            acceleration,
         );
 
-        Ok(TaggerOutput { tags, rating })
+        Ok(Self {
+            session,
+            labels,
+            threshold,
+            input_size,
+        })
+    }
+
+    /// Run `count` already-preprocessed images (contiguous `[count, 3, H, W]`
+    /// pixels) through the model in one forward pass.
+    fn infer_batch(
+        &mut self,
+        pixels: &[f32],
+        count: usize,
+        max_tags: usize,
+    ) -> Result<Vec<TaggerOutput>> {
+        let input = Tensor::from_array((
+            [count, 3usize, self.input_size, self.input_size],
+            pixels.to_vec().into_boxed_slice(),
+        ))
+        .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
+
+        let input_name: String = self.session.inputs()[0].name().to_string();
+        let outputs = self
+            .session
+            .run(ort::inputs! { input_name.as_str() => input })
+            .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
+
+        let (_, logits) = outputs[0]
+            .try_extract_tensor::<f32>()
+            .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
+
+        let n_labels = self.labels.len();
+        if logits.len() != count * n_labels {
+            anyhow::bail!(
+                "Model output length {} does not match {} images x {} labels",
+                logits.len(),
+                count,
+                n_labels
+            );
+        }
+
+        let labels = &self.labels;
+        let threshold = self.threshold;
+        Ok(logits
+            .chunks_exact(n_labels)
+            .map(|row| joytag_tags_from_logits(labels, threshold, row, max_tags))
+            .collect())
+    }
+}
+
+impl Tagger for JoyTagger {
+    fn run_batch(&mut self, image_paths: &[PathBuf], max_tags: usize) -> Vec<Result<TaggerOutput>> {
+        if image_paths.is_empty() {
+            return Vec::new();
+        }
+        let input_size = self.input_size;
+        let preprocessed: Vec<Result<Vec<f32>>> = image_paths
+            .par_iter()
+            .map(|path| preprocess_joytag(path, input_size))
+            .collect();
+        assemble_batch(
+            preprocessed,
+            input_size * input_size * 3,
+            "JoyTag",
+            |pixels, count| self.infer_batch(pixels, count, max_tags),
+        )
+    }
+
+    fn model_name(&self) -> &'static str {
+        JOYTAG_MODEL_NAME
     }
 }
 
@@ -581,6 +961,22 @@ fn create_tagger_session(path: &Path, acceleration: TaggerAcceleration) -> Resul
         TaggerAcceleration::Auto | TaggerAcceleration::Directml
     );
 
+    // Intra-op thread count. For DirectML the matmuls run on the GPU, so a
+    // single CPU thread for the few CPU-side ops avoids needlessly contending
+    // with the other workers. The CPU EP, however, is compute-bound and would
+    // otherwise be pinned to one core (~15x slower than it needs to be), so give
+    // it most of the logical cores while leaving a couple free for the UI and a
+    // possible concurrent scan. Tagging is the lowest-priority worker, so when
+    // it runs the heavier workers are idle. (Auto only lands on CPU when
+    // DirectML is unavailable — rare on Windows — and stays single-threaded;
+    // CPU-bound users can select the CPU provider explicitly for the speedup.)
+    let intra_threads = match acceleration {
+        TaggerAcceleration::Cpu => std::thread::available_parallelism()
+            .map(|p| p.get().saturating_sub(2).max(1))
+            .unwrap_or(2),
+        TaggerAcceleration::Auto | TaggerAcceleration::Directml => 1,
+    };
+
     let builder = builder
         .with_memory_pattern(!use_directml)
         .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
@@ -588,18 +984,18 @@ fn create_tagger_session(path: &Path, acceleration: TaggerAcceleration) -> Resul
         .with_parallel_execution(false)
         .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
     let builder = builder
-        .with_intra_threads(1)
+        .with_intra_threads(intra_threads)
         .map_err(|error| anyhow::anyhow!("{error}"))?;
 
     let mut builder = match acceleration {
         TaggerAcceleration::Cpu => {
-            log::info!("WD tagger: using CPU execution provider");
+            log::info!("Tagger: using CPU execution provider ({intra_threads} intra-op threads)");
             builder
         }
         TaggerAcceleration::Auto => builder
             .with_execution_providers([ep::DirectML::default().build().fail_silently()])
             .unwrap_or_else(|error| {
-                log::info!("WD tagger: DirectML unavailable, falling back to CPU");
+                log::info!("Tagger: DirectML unavailable, falling back to CPU");
                 error.recover()
             }),
         TaggerAcceleration::Directml => builder
@@ -641,12 +1037,134 @@ fn load_labels(path: &Path) -> Result<Vec<TagEntry>> {
 }
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-// Image preprocessing
-// WD tagger expects: (1, H, W, 3) float32, raw [0,255] values, BGR channel
-// order, padded to square with white (255,255,255).
+// JoyTag: label loading, threshold, rating derivation
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-fn preprocess_image(image_path: &Path, target_size: usize) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
+/// JoyTag labels: one tag per line, index == output position. Underscores are
+/// replaced with spaces to match the display style used elsewhere.
+fn load_joytag_labels(path: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
+    let content = std::fs::read_to_string(path)?;
+    let labels: Vec<String> = content
+        .lines()
+        .map(str::trim)
+        .filter(|line| !line.is_empty())
+        .map(|line| line.replace('_', " "))
+        .collect();
+    if labels.is_empty() {
+        anyhow::bail!("top_tags.txt is empty or could not be parsed");
+    }
+    Ok(labels)
+}
+
+/// JoyTag detection threshold. Honours the shared `tagger_threshold` setting if
+/// the user has set it, otherwise uses JoyTag's recommended default (0.4).
+fn joytag_threshold(app_data_dir: &Path) -> f32 {
+    match std::fs::read_to_string(app_data_dir.join(TAGGER_THRESHOLD_FILE)) {
+        Ok(value) => value
+            .trim()
+            .parse::<f32>()
+            .unwrap_or(JOYTAG_DEFAULT_THRESHOLD)
+            .clamp(0.01, 1.0),
+        Err(_) => JOYTAG_DEFAULT_THRESHOLD,
+    }
+}
+
+fn sigmoid(x: f32) -> f32 {
+    1.0 / (1.0 + (-x).exp())
+}
+
+// Explicitness buckets for deriving a rating from JoyTag's tags (highest match
+// wins). Names use spaces, since underscores are stripped on load. Tunable.
+const JOYTAG_EXPLICIT_TAGS: &[&str] = &[
+    "sex",
+    "vaginal",
+    "anal",
+    "oral",
+    "fellatio",
+    "cunnilingus",
+    "penis",
+    "pussy",
+    "cum",
+    "ejaculation",
+    "erection",
+    "handjob",
+    "paizuri",
+    "masturbation",
+];
+const JOYTAG_QUESTIONABLE_TAGS: &[&str] = &[
+    "nude",
+    "completely nude",
+    "nipples",
+    "topless",
+    "bottomless",
+    "pubic hair",
+    "areola",
+    "areolae",
+];
+const JOYTAG_SENSITIVE_TAGS: &[&str] = &[
+    "lingerie",
+    "underwear",
+    "panties",
+    "swimsuit",
+    "bikini",
+    "cleavage",
+    "bra",
+    "midriff",
+];
+
+/// Derive an explicitness rating from JoyTag's tags. JoyTag has no rating
+/// output, so this maps its NSFW-content tags onto the WD-style buckets.
+fn joytag_rating(tags: &[TagResult]) -> String {
+    let has = |bucket: &[&str]| tags.iter().any(|t| bucket.contains(&t.tag.as_str()));
+    if has(JOYTAG_EXPLICIT_TAGS) {
+        "explicit".to_string()
+    } else if has(JOYTAG_QUESTIONABLE_TAGS) {
+        "questionable".to_string()
+    } else if has(JOYTAG_SENSITIVE_TAGS) {
+        "sensitive".to_string()
+    } else {
+        "general".to_string()
+    }
+}
+
+/// Convert one image's JoyTag logits into sorted tags + a derived rating.
+fn joytag_tags_from_logits(
+    labels: &[String],
+    threshold: f32,
+    logits: &[f32],
+    max_tags: usize,
+) -> TaggerOutput {
+    let mut tags: Vec<TagResult> = labels
+        .iter()
+        .zip(logits.iter())
+        .filter_map(|(name, logit)| {
+            let confidence = sigmoid(*logit);
+            (confidence >= threshold && !ai_tag_filter::is_removed_ai_tag(name)).then(|| {
+                TagResult {
+                    tag: name.clone(),
+                    confidence,
+                }
+            })
+        })
+        .collect();
+    tags.sort_by(|a, b| b.confidence.total_cmp(&a.confidence));
+
+    // Derive the rating from all kept tags before truncating to max_tags.
+    let rating = joytag_rating(&tags);
+    tags.truncate(max_tags);
+
+    TaggerOutput { tags, rating }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Image preprocessing
+// Both taggers pad to square with white and resize to the model input size;
+// they differ only in channel order, value range, and tensor layout.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Decode an image, composite any alpha onto white, pad to a centered square,
+/// and resize to `target_size`. Shared by both taggers.
+fn decode_pad_resize(image_path: &Path, target_size: usize) -> Result<image::RgbImage> {
     let image = ImageReader::open(image_path)?.decode()?;
 
     // Composite any alpha channel onto a white background.
@@ -657,22 +1175,25 @@ fn preprocess_image(image_path: &Path, target_size: usize) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
     image::imageops::overlay(&mut canvas_rgba, &image_rgba, 0, 0);
     let image_rgb = DynamicImage::ImageRgba8(canvas_rgba).to_rgb8();
 
-    // Pad to square.
+    // Pad to a centered square.
     let max_dim = width.max(height);
     let pad_left = (max_dim - width) / 2;
     let pad_top = (max_dim - height) / 2;
     let mut square = image::RgbImage::from_pixel(max_dim, max_dim, image::Rgb([255, 255, 255]));
     image::imageops::overlay(&mut square, &image_rgb, pad_left as i64, pad_top as i64);
 
-    // Resize to model input size.
-    let resized = image::imageops::resize(
+    // Resize to model input size (CatmullRom ≈ PIL BICUBIC).
+    Ok(image::imageops::resize(
         &square,
         target_size as u32,
         target_size as u32,
         FilterType::CatmullRom,
-    );
+    ))
+}
 
-    // Flatten to (H, W, 3) float32 in BGR order, values in [0, 255].
+/// WD tagger input: (N, H, W, 3) float32, raw [0,255] values, BGR order.
+fn preprocess_image(image_path: &Path, target_size: usize) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
+    let resized = decode_pad_resize(image_path, target_size)?;
     let mut pixel_values = vec![0.0f32; target_size * target_size * 3];
     for (x, y, pixel) in resized.enumerate_pixels() {
         let base = (y as usize * target_size + x as usize) * 3;
@@ -681,6 +1202,21 @@ fn preprocess_image(image_path: &Path, target_size: usize) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
         pixel_values[base + 1] = f32::from(pixel[1]); // G
         pixel_values[base + 2] = f32::from(pixel[0]); // R
     }
-
+    Ok(pixel_values)
+}
+
+/// JoyTag input: (N, 3, H, W) float32, RGB, CLIP-normalized ((x/255 − mean)/std).
+fn preprocess_joytag(image_path: &Path, target_size: usize) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
+    let resized = decode_pad_resize(image_path, target_size)?;
+    let plane = target_size * target_size;
+    let mut pixel_values = vec![0.0f32; 3 * plane];
+    for (x, y, pixel) in resized.enumerate_pixels() {
+        let idx = y as usize * target_size + x as usize;
+        // Channel-major (NCHW): R plane, then G, then B.
+        for c in 0..3 {
+            pixel_values[c * plane + idx] =
+                (f32::from(pixel[c]) / 255.0 - JOYTAG_MEAN[c]) / JOYTAG_STD[c];
+        }
+    }
     Ok(pixel_values)
 }

src-tauri/src/thumbnail.rs

@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ pub struct GeneratedThumbnail {
     pub path: PathBuf,
     pub width: Option<i64>,
     pub height: Option<i64>,
+    /// Dominant-color palette `(r, g, b, weight)` sampled while resizing. Empty
+    /// when the thumbnail already existed (the color backfill handles those).
+    pub palette: Vec<(u8, u8, u8, f32)>,
 }
 
 pub fn generate_image_thumbnail(image_path: &Path, cache_dir: &Path) -> Result<GeneratedThumbnail> {
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@ pub fn generate_image_thumbnail(image_path: &Path, cache_dir: &Path) -> Result<G
             path: out_path,
             width: original_dimensions.0,
             height: original_dimensions.1,
+            palette: Vec::new(),
         });
     }
 
@@ -47,6 +51,12 @@ pub fn generate_image_thumbnail(image_path: &Path, cache_dir: &Path) -> Result<G
     let thumb = image::RgbImage::from_raw(dst_width, dst_height, dst.buffer().to_vec())
         .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("failed to construct resized thumbnail buffer"))?;
 
+    // Sample the dominant-color palette from the resized buffer before encoding.
+    let palette = crate::color::extract_palette(&thumb, crate::color::PALETTE_SIZE)
+        .into_iter()
+        .map(|color| (color.r, color.g, color.b, color.weight))
+        .collect();
+
     if let Some(parent) = out_path.parent() {
         std::fs::create_dir_all(parent)?;
     }
@@ -58,6 +68,7 @@ pub fn generate_image_thumbnail(image_path: &Path, cache_dir: &Path) -> Result<G
         path: out_path,
         width: original_dimensions.0,
         height: original_dimensions.1,
+        palette,
     })
 }
 
@@ -166,6 +177,7 @@ pub fn generate_video_thumbnail(
             path: out_path,
             width: None,
             height: None,
+            palette: Vec::new(),
         });
     }
 
@@ -231,6 +243,7 @@ pub fn generate_video_thumbnail(
                 path: out_path,
                 width: None,
                 height: None,
+                palette: Vec::new(),
             });
         }
         last_error = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).to_string();
@@ -255,6 +268,7 @@ pub fn generate_avif_thumbnail(
             path: out_path,
             width: original_dimensions.0,
             height: original_dimensions.1,
+            palette: Vec::new(),
         });
     }
 
@@ -282,10 +296,19 @@ pub fn generate_avif_thumbnail(
         .output()?;
 
     if output.status.success() && out_path.exists() {
+        // AVIF is decoded by FFmpeg, so there's no in-memory RGB buffer here;
+        // sample the palette by reading the JPEG thumbnail we just wrote.
+        let palette =
+            crate::color::extract_palette_from_file(&out_path, crate::color::PALETTE_SIZE)
+                .unwrap_or_default()
+                .into_iter()
+                .map(|color| (color.r, color.g, color.b, color.weight))
+                .collect();
         return Ok(GeneratedThumbnail {
             path: out_path,
             width: original_dimensions.0,
             height: original_dimensions.1,
+            palette,
         });
     }
 

src-tauri/src/vector.rs

@@ -263,6 +263,44 @@ pub fn get_embedding_revision(conn: &Connection) -> Result<String> {
 
 /// Returns all stored image embeddings with their image IDs, optionally filtered to one folder.
 /// Each entry is `(image_id, normalized_f32_embedding)`.
+/// Returns `(count, hash)` over the stored embedding image IDs for the scope in a
+/// single ordered pass, without loading any embedding blobs. The hash covers the
+/// exact set of IDs, so it is membership-sensitive: adding, removing, or moving an
+/// image between folders changes it even when the count happens to stay the same.
+/// Used (together with the embedding revision, which catches an image being
+/// re-embedded in place) as the cheap tag-cloud cache key so a cache hit doesn't
+/// have to read and unpack hundreds of MB of embeddings just to validate freshness.
+pub fn embedding_ids_signature(conn: &Connection, folder_id: Option<i64>) -> Result<(i64, u64)> {
+    use xxhash_rust::xxh3::Xxh3;
+    let mut hasher = Xxh3::new();
+    let mut count: i64 = 0;
+    let mut hash_row = |id: i64| {
+        hasher.update(&id.to_le_bytes());
+        count += 1;
+    };
+    match folder_id {
+        Some(fid) => {
+            let mut stmt = conn.prepare(
+                "SELECT image_id FROM image_vec
+                 WHERE image_id IN (SELECT id FROM images WHERE folder_id = ?1)
+                 ORDER BY image_id",
+            )?;
+            let mut rows = stmt.query([fid])?;
+            while let Some(row) = rows.next()? {
+                hash_row(row.get(0)?);
+            }
+        }
+        None => {
+            let mut stmt = conn.prepare("SELECT image_id FROM image_vec ORDER BY image_id")?;
+            let mut rows = stmt.query([])?;
+            while let Some(row) = rows.next()? {
+                hash_row(row.get(0)?);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    Ok((count, hasher.digest()))
+}
+
 pub fn get_all_image_embeddings_with_ids(
     conn: &Connection,
     folder_id: Option<i64>,
@@ -372,6 +410,41 @@ pub fn search_image_ids_by_embedding_in_folder(
     Ok(rows.collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?)
 }
 
+/// Brute-force cosine search scoped to a single album (membership via
+/// `album_images`), ordered by ascending distance. Mirrors the folder-scoped
+/// variant for region-based similarity search.
+pub fn search_image_ids_by_embedding_in_album(
+    conn: &Connection,
+    embedding: &[f32],
+    album_id: i64,
+    exclude_image_id: Option<i64>,
+    limit: usize,
+) -> Result<Vec<i64>> {
+    if embedding.len() != CLIP_VECTOR_DIM {
+        return Err(anyhow!(
+            "expected {}-dimensional embedding, got {}",
+            CLIP_VECTOR_DIM,
+            embedding.len()
+        ));
+    }
+
+    let packed = pack_f32(embedding);
+    let exclude_id = exclude_image_id.unwrap_or(-1);
+    let mut stmt = conn.prepare(
+        "SELECT v.image_id
+         FROM image_vec v
+         JOIN album_images ai ON ai.image_id = v.image_id
+         WHERE ai.album_id = ?2
+           AND v.image_id != ?3
+         ORDER BY vec_distance_cosine(v.embedding, vec_f32(?1)) ASC
+         LIMIT ?4",
+    )?;
+    let rows = stmt.query_map((&packed, album_id, exclude_id, limit as i64), |row| {
+        row.get::<_, i64>(0)
+    })?;
+    Ok(rows.collect::<rusqlite::Result<Vec<_>>>()?)
+}
+
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 pub fn search_caption_ids_by_embedding(
     conn: &Connection,

src/App.tsx

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import { TitleBar } from "./components/TitleBar";
 import { SettingsModal } from "./components/SettingsModal";
 import { FolderPickerModal } from "./components/FolderPickerModal";
 import { UpdateToast } from "./components/UpdateToast";
+import { WhatsNewToast } from "./components/WhatsNewToast";
+import { WhatsNewModal } from "./components/WhatsNewModal";
 import { OnboardingOverlay } from "./components/onboarding/OnboardingOverlay";
 import { DemoPanel } from "./components/DemoPanel";
 import { initializeNotifications } from "./notifications";
@@ -22,31 +24,42 @@ export default function App() {
   const loadImages = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadImages);
   const loadCaptionModelStatus = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadCaptionModelStatus);
   const loadDuplicateScanCache = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadDuplicateScanCache);
+  const loadAlbums = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadAlbums);
   const loadMutedFolderIds = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadMutedFolderIds);
   const loadNotificationsPaused = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadNotificationsPaused);
+  const loadWorkerPausesPersist = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadWorkerPausesPersist);
   const subscribeToProgress = useGalleryStore((state) => state.subscribeToProgress);
   const loadAppVersion = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadAppVersion);
   const checkForUpdates = useGalleryStore((state) => state.checkForUpdates);
   const loadFfmpegStatus = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadFfmpegStatus);
   const loadOnboardingCompleted = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadOnboardingCompleted);
+  const initWhatsNew = useGalleryStore((state) => state.initWhatsNew);
   const activeView = useGalleryStore((state) => state.activeView);
 
   useEffect(() => {
     void initializeNotifications();
     void loadMutedFolderIds();
     void loadNotificationsPaused();
-    void loadAppVersion();
+    void loadWorkerPausesPersist();
     void loadFfmpegStatus();
     void loadOnboardingCompleted();
+    // Load the app version first so the What's New toast/modal (which read
+    // appVersion from the store) have it before the greeting can appear.
+    void loadAppVersion().then(() => initWhatsNew());
     // Quiet launch check — dev builds have no signed artifacts to update to.
     if (import.meta.env.PROD) {
       void checkForUpdates({ quiet: true });
     }
-    loadFolders().then(() => {
+    loadFolders().then(async () => {
       void loadBackgroundJobProgress();
       void loadCaptionModelStatus();
       void loadDuplicateScanCache();
-      return loadImages(true);
+      await loadAlbums();
+      await loadImages(true);
+      if (import.meta.env.MODE === "ui") {
+        const { applyMockScenario } = await import("./dev/applyMockScenario");
+        applyMockScenario();
+      }
     });
     let unlisten: (() => void) | undefined;
     subscribeToProgress().then((fn) => {
@@ -96,6 +109,8 @@ export default function App() {
       <SettingsModal />
       <FolderPickerModal />
       <UpdateToast />
+      <WhatsNewToast />
+      <WhatsNewModal />
       <OnboardingOverlay />
       {import.meta.env.DEV && <DemoPanel />}
     </div>

src/changelog.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+// Parses the project CHANGELOG.md (imported raw at build time) into structured
+// data so the "What's New" UI can render it nicely instead of dumping markdown.
+// Keeping the changelog as the single source of truth means there's no separate
+// per-release copy to maintain — whatever ships in CHANGELOG.md is what users see.
+import changelogRaw from "../CHANGELOG.md?raw";
+
+export interface ChangelogItem {
+  /** The bold lead-in at the start of a bullet (e.g. "Custom multi-folder picker"), if any. */
+  lead: string | null;
+  /** The remaining descriptive text. May still contain inline `code` / **bold** markers. */
+  body: string;
+}
+
+export interface ChangelogSection {
+  /** "Added" | "Changed" | "Fixed" | "Removed" | "Deprecated" | "Security" */
+  title: string;
+  items: ChangelogItem[];
+}
+
+export interface ChangelogEntry {
+  version: string;
+  date: string | null;
+  sections: ChangelogSection[];
+}
+
+// "## [0.1.1] — 2026-06-23" / "## [Unreleased]"
+const VERSION_HEADING = /^##\s+\[([^\]]+)\]\s*(?:[—–-]\s*(.+?)\s*)?$/;
+// "### Added"
+const SECTION_HEADING = /^###\s+(.+?)\s*$/;
+// "- bullet text"
+const BULLET = /^[-*]\s+(.*)$/;
+// Leading "**Title**" optionally followed by an em dash, used as the item's lead-in.
+// (Item text is whitespace-collapsed before matching, so no dotAll flag needed.)
+const LEAD = /^\*\*(.+?)\*\*\s*(?:[—–-]\s*)?(.*)$/;
+
+function toItem(text: string): ChangelogItem {
+  const collapsed = text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
+  const match = collapsed.match(LEAD);
+  if (match) {
+    return { lead: match[1].trim(), body: match[2].trim() };
+  }
+  return { lead: null, body: collapsed };
+}
+
+function parseChangelog(raw: string): ChangelogEntry[] {
+  const lines = raw.split(/\r?\n/);
+  const entries: ChangelogEntry[] = [];
+
+  let entry: ChangelogEntry | null = null;
+  let section: ChangelogSection | null = null;
+  let buffer: string[] = [];
+
+  const flushItem = () => {
+    if (section && buffer.length > 0) {
+      section.items.push(toItem(buffer.join(" ")));
+    }
+    buffer = [];
+  };
+
+  for (const line of lines) {
+    const versionMatch = line.match(VERSION_HEADING);
+    if (versionMatch) {
+      flushItem();
+      section = null;
+      entry = { version: versionMatch[1].trim(), date: versionMatch[2]?.trim() ?? null, sections: [] };
+      entries.push(entry);
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Stop collecting once we leave the changelog body (e.g. link-reference defs at EOF).
+    if (!entry) continue;
+
+    const sectionMatch = line.match(SECTION_HEADING);
+    if (sectionMatch) {
+      flushItem();
+      section = { title: sectionMatch[1].trim(), items: [] };
+      entry.sections.push(section);
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    const bulletMatch = line.match(BULLET);
+    if (bulletMatch) {
+      flushItem();
+      buffer.push(bulletMatch[1]);
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    if (line.trim() === "") {
+      // A blank line ends a (possibly wrapped) multi-line bullet.
+      flushItem();
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Indented continuation of the current wrapped bullet.
+    if (buffer.length > 0) {
+      buffer.push(line.trim());
+    }
+  }
+
+  flushItem();
+  return entries.map((e) => ({ ...e, sections: e.sections.filter((s) => s.items.length > 0) }));
+}
+
+const ENTRIES = parseChangelog(changelogRaw);
+
+export function getChangelogForVersion(version: string | null | undefined): ChangelogEntry | null {
+  if (!version) return null;
+  // Strip leading "v" and any build suffix (e.g. "-ui", "-dev", "-beta.1") so
+  // dev/UI-lab builds still resolve to the correct changelog entry.
+  const normalized = version.replace(/^v/, "").replace(/-[a-z].*/i, "");
+  // Never surface the in-progress [Unreleased] section to users.
+  if (normalized.toLowerCase() === "unreleased") return null;
+  return ENTRIES.find((e) => e.version.replace(/^v/, "") === normalized) ?? null;
+}

src/components/BackgroundTasks.tsx

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ interface Task {
   id: number;
   name: string;
   stages: TaskStage[];
+  isActive: boolean;
   hasFailedEmbeddings: boolean;
   hasFailedTagging: boolean;
   hasFailedCaptions: boolean;
@@ -156,6 +157,18 @@ export function BackgroundTasks() {
         const captionReady = jobs?.caption_ready ?? 0;
         const captionFailed = jobs?.caption_failed ?? 0;
 
+        // A folder is "actively processing" when something is genuinely moving:
+        // an in-progress scan, or pending work on a worker that isn't paused.
+        // Captions have no per-folder pause toggle, so any caption work counts.
+        const paused = workerPaused[folder.id];
+        const isActive =
+          (!!index && !index.done) ||
+          (thumbnailPending > 0 && !(paused?.thumbnail ?? false)) ||
+          (metadataPending > 0 && !(paused?.metadata ?? false)) ||
+          (embeddingPending > 0 && !(paused?.embedding ?? false)) ||
+          (taggingPending > 0 && !(paused?.tagging ?? false)) ||
+          captionPending > 0;
+
         const pendingMediaWork = thumbnailPending + metadataPending + embeddingPending + taggingPending + captionPending;
         const embeddingProcessed = embeddingReady + embeddingFailed;
         const embeddingTotal = embeddingProcessed + embeddingPending;
@@ -262,6 +275,7 @@ export function BackgroundTasks() {
           id: folder.id,
           name: folder.name,
           stages,
+          isActive,
           hasFailedEmbeddings,
           hasFailedTagging,
           hasFailedCaptions,
@@ -273,8 +287,12 @@ export function BackgroundTasks() {
         };
       })
       .filter((t): t is Task => t !== null)
-      .filter((t) => dismissed[t.id] !== t.snapshot);
-  }, [folders, indexingProgress, mediaJobProgress, dismissed]);
+      .filter((t) => dismissed[t.id] !== t.snapshot)
+      // Surface actively-processing folders first so a paused folder never holds
+      // the primary (collapsed) slot while another is genuinely working. Array
+      // sort is stable, so folders within each group keep their existing order.
+      .sort((a, b) => Number(b.isActive) - Number(a.isActive));
+  }, [folders, indexingProgress, mediaJobProgress, workerPaused, dismissed]);
 
   // Synthetic task for duplicate scanning — negative id so dismiss/retry are suppressed
   const duplicateScanTask: Task | null = duplicateScanning ? {
@@ -294,6 +312,7 @@ export function BackgroundTasks() {
         : null,
       failed: false,
     }],
+    isActive: true,
     hasFailedEmbeddings: false,
     hasFailedTagging: false,
     hasFailedCaptions: false,

src/components/BulkActionBar.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,276 @@
+import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+import { BulkTagPopover } from "./bulk/BulkTagPopover";
+
+type Panel = "tag" | "rating" | "album" | "delete" | null;
+
+export function BulkActionBar() {
+  const selectedCount = useGalleryStore((state) => state.gallerySelectedIds.size);
+  const selectedIds = useGalleryStore((state) => state.gallerySelectedIds);
+  const clearGallerySelection = useGalleryStore((state) => state.clearGallerySelection);
+  const selectAllGallery = useGalleryStore((state) => state.selectAllGallery);
+  const loadedCount = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadedCount);
+  const totalImages = useGalleryStore((state) => state.totalImages);
+  const bulkSetFavorite = useGalleryStore((state) => state.bulkSetFavorite);
+  const bulkSetRating = useGalleryStore((state) => state.bulkSetRating);
+  const bulkDeleteSelected = useGalleryStore((state) => state.bulkDeleteSelected);
+  const activeView = useGalleryStore((state) => state.activeView);
+  const selectedAlbumId = useGalleryStore((state) => state.selectedAlbumId);
+  const albums = useGalleryStore((state) => state.albums);
+  const addToAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.addToAlbum);
+  const removeFromAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.removeFromAlbum);
+  const createAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.createAlbum);
+
+  const [panel, setPanel] = useState<Panel>(null);
+  const [deleting, setDeleting] = useState(false);
+  const [creatingAlbum, setCreatingAlbum] = useState(false);
+  const [newAlbumName, setNewAlbumName] = useState("");
+  const barRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
+
+  // Close any open popover when clicking outside the bar.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const onPointerDown = (event: PointerEvent) => {
+      if (barRef.current?.contains(event.target as Node)) return;
+      setPanel(null);
+    };
+    window.addEventListener("pointerdown", onPointerDown);
+    return () => window.removeEventListener("pointerdown", onPointerDown);
+  }, []);
+
+  // Reset transient UI whenever the selection empties.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (selectedCount === 0) {
+      setPanel(null);
+      setNewAlbumName("");
+    }
+  }, [selectedCount]);
+
+  if (selectedCount === 0) return null;
+
+  const ids = Array.from(selectedIds);
+  const inAlbumView = activeView === "album" && selectedAlbumId !== null;
+  const togglePanel = (next: Exclude<Panel, null>) => setPanel((current) => (current === next ? null : next));
+
+  const handleDelete = async () => {
+    setDeleting(true);
+    try {
+      await bulkDeleteSelected();
+    } finally {
+      setDeleting(false);
+      setPanel(null);
+    }
+  };
+
+  const handlePickAlbum = async (albumId: number) => {
+    await addToAlbum(albumId, ids);
+    setPanel(null);
+  };
+
+  const handleCreateAlbum = async () => {
+    const name = newAlbumName.trim();
+    if (!name || creatingAlbum) return;
+    setCreatingAlbum(true);
+    try {
+      const album = await createAlbum(name);
+      await addToAlbum(album.id, ids);
+      setNewAlbumName("");
+      setPanel(null);
+    } finally {
+      setCreatingAlbum(false);
+    }
+  };
+
+  const btn = "rounded-md px-2.5 py-1.5 text-xs font-medium transition-colors";
+  const btnIdle = `${btn} text-gray-300 hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white`;
+  const btnActive = `${btn} bg-white/10 text-white`;
+
+  return (
+    <div
+      ref={barRef}
+      className="pointer-events-auto absolute bottom-6 left-1/2 z-30 flex -translate-x-1/2 items-center gap-1 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/95 px-2 py-1.5 shadow-2xl shadow-black/50 backdrop-blur"
+      onClick={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
+    >
+      <div className="flex items-center gap-2 px-1.5">
+        <span className="text-xs font-medium text-white">{selectedCount} selected</span>
+        {loadedCount < totalImages || loadedCount > selectedCount ? (
+          <button
+            className="text-[11px] text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:text-gray-300"
+            onClick={selectAllGallery}
+            title={loadedCount < totalImages ? "Selects loaded items only" : "Select all loaded"}
+          >
+            Select all{loadedCount < totalImages ? " loaded" : ""}
+          </button>
+        ) : null}
+      </div>
+
+      <div className="h-5 w-px bg-white/10" />
+
+      <div className="relative">
+        <button className={panel === "tag" ? btnActive : btnIdle} onClick={() => togglePanel("tag")}>
+          Tag
+        </button>
+        {panel === "tag" ? <BulkTagPopover onClose={() => setPanel(null)} /> : null}
+      </div>
+
+      <div className="relative">
+        <button className={panel === "rating" ? btnActive : btnIdle} onClick={() => togglePanel("rating")}>
+          Rating
+        </button>
+        {panel === "rating" ? (
+          <div
+            data-bulk-popover
+            className="absolute bottom-full left-1/2 mb-2 flex -translate-x-1/2 items-center gap-1 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 p-2 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur"
+          >
+            {Array.from({ length: 5 }, (_, index) => {
+              const rating = index + 1;
+              return (
+                <button
+                  key={rating}
+                  className="rounded-md p-1 text-white/25 transition-colors hover:bg-white/5 hover:text-amber-300"
+                  onClick={async () => {
+                    await bulkSetRating(rating);
+                    setPanel(null);
+                  }}
+                  title={`Set ${rating} star${rating === 1 ? "" : "s"}`}
+                >
+                  <svg className="h-4 w-4" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 20 20">
+                    <path d="M9.049 2.927c.3-.921 1.603-.921 1.902 0l1.07 3.292a1 1 0 00.95.69h3.462c.969 0 1.371 1.24.588 1.81l-2.8 2.034a1 1 0 00-.364 1.118l1.07 3.292c.3.921-.755 1.688-1.54 1.118l-2.8-2.034a1 1 0 00-1.176 0l-2.8 2.034c-.784.57-1.838-.197-1.539-1.118l1.07-3.292a1 1 0 00-.364-1.118L2.98 8.72c-.783-.57-.38-1.81.588-1.81H7.03a1 1 0 00.951-.69l1.07-3.292z" />
+                  </svg>
+                </button>
+              );
+            })}
+            <button
+              className="ml-1 rounded-md border border-white/10 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] text-gray-400 transition-colors hover:bg-white/5 hover:text-white"
+              onClick={async () => {
+                await bulkSetRating(0);
+                setPanel(null);
+              }}
+            >
+              Clear
+            </button>
+          </div>
+        ) : null}
+      </div>
+
+      <button className={btnIdle} onClick={() => void bulkSetFavorite(true)} title="Mark as favorite">
+        Favorite
+      </button>
+
+      <div className="relative">
+        <button className={panel === "album" ? btnActive : btnIdle} onClick={() => togglePanel("album")}>
+          Add to album
+        </button>
+        {panel === "album" ? (
+          <div
+            data-bulk-popover
+            className="absolute bottom-full left-1/2 mb-2 w-60 -translate-x-1/2 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 p-2 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur"
+          >
+            <div className="max-h-48 overflow-y-auto">
+              {albums.length === 0 ? (
+                <p className="px-2 py-2 text-[11px] text-gray-600">No albums yet — create one below.</p>
+              ) : (
+                albums.map((album) => (
+                  <button
+                    key={album.id}
+                    className="flex w-full items-center justify-between gap-2 rounded-md px-2 py-1.5 text-left text-xs text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/5 hover:text-white"
+                    onClick={() => void handlePickAlbum(album.id)}
+                  >
+                    <span className="truncate">{album.name}</span>
+                    <span className="shrink-0 text-[10px] text-gray-600">{album.image_count}</span>
+                  </button>
+                ))
+              )}
+            </div>
+            <form
+              className="mt-1 flex gap-1 border-t border-white/[0.06] pt-2"
+              onSubmit={(event) => {
+                event.preventDefault();
+                void handleCreateAlbum();
+              }}
+            >
+              <input
+                className="min-w-0 flex-1 rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-1 text-xs text-white placeholder-gray-600 focus:border-white/20 focus:outline-none"
+                placeholder="New album…"
+                value={newAlbumName}
+                onChange={(event) => setNewAlbumName(event.target.value)}
+                disabled={creatingAlbum}
+              />
+              <button
+                type="submit"
+                className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-1 text-xs text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white disabled:opacity-50"
+                disabled={creatingAlbum || !newAlbumName.trim()}
+              >
+                Add
+              </button>
+            </form>
+          </div>
+        ) : null}
+      </div>
+
+      {inAlbumView ? (
+        <button
+          className={`${btn} text-amber-300/90 hover:bg-amber-500/10 hover:text-amber-200`}
+          onClick={() => void removeFromAlbum(selectedAlbumId, ids)}
+        >
+          Remove from album
+        </button>
+      ) : null}
+
+      <div className="h-5 w-px bg-white/10" />
+
+      <div className="relative">
+        <button
+          className={panel === "delete" ? `${btn} bg-red-500/15 text-red-300` : `${btn} text-gray-300 hover:bg-red-500/10 hover:text-red-300`}
+          onClick={() => togglePanel("delete")}
+          disabled={deleting}
+          title="Delete files from disk"
+        >
+          {deleting ? "Deleting…" : "Delete"}
+        </button>
+        {panel === "delete" ? (
+          <div
+            data-bulk-popover
+            className="absolute bottom-full left-1/2 mb-2 w-64 -translate-x-1/2 rounded-xl border border-red-500/30 bg-gray-950/98 p-3 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur"
+          >
+            <div className="mb-1 flex items-center gap-1.5 text-red-300">
+              <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5 shrink-0" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2}
+                  d="M12 9v2m0 4h.01M10.29 3.86L1.82 18a2 2 0 001.71 3h16.94a2 2 0 001.71-3L13.71 3.86a2 2 0 00-3.42 0z" />
+              </svg>
+              <p className="text-xs font-semibold">Delete from disk</p>
+            </div>
+            <p className="mb-2.5 text-[11px] leading-relaxed text-gray-400">
+              Permanently delete {selectedCount} file{selectedCount === 1 ? "" : "s"} from your computer.
+              This removes the actual file{selectedCount === 1 ? "" : "s"} from disk and cannot be undone.
+            </p>
+            <div className="flex justify-end gap-1.5">
+              <button
+                className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2.5 py-1 text-[11px] text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white"
+                onClick={() => setPanel(null)}
+              >
+                Cancel
+              </button>
+              <button
+                className="rounded-md bg-red-500/20 px-2.5 py-1 text-[11px] font-medium text-red-300 transition-colors hover:bg-red-500/30 hover:text-red-200 disabled:opacity-50"
+                onClick={() => void handleDelete()}
+                disabled={deleting}
+              >
+                {deleting ? "Deleting…" : `Delete ${selectedCount} from disk`}
+              </button>
+            </div>
+          </div>
+        ) : null}
+      </div>
+
+      <button
+        className="rounded-md p-1.5 text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:bg-white/[0.06] hover:text-white"
+        onClick={clearGallerySelection}
+        title="Clear selection"
+      >
+        <svg className="h-4 w-4" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+          <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2} d="M6 18L18 6M6 6l12 12" />
+        </svg>
+      </button>
+    </div>
+  );
+}

src/components/ColorFilter.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { AnimatePresence, motion } from "framer-motion";
+import { useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+import { Tooltip } from "./Tooltip";
+
+type Rgb = [number, number, number];
+
+// Representative colors for the quick-pick swatches. Each is just an RGB the
+// distance filter matches against — not a hard bucket.
+const SWATCHES: { name: string; rgb: Rgb }[] = [
+  { name: "Red", rgb: [226, 59, 59] },
+  { name: "Orange", rgb: [232, 134, 46] },
+  { name: "Yellow", rgb: [242, 207, 46] },
+  { name: "Green", rgb: [76, 175, 80] },
+  { name: "Teal", rgb: [31, 182, 166] },
+  { name: "Blue", rgb: [59, 125, 216] },
+  { name: "Purple", rgb: [139, 92, 246] },
+  { name: "Pink", rgb: [236, 72, 153] },
+  { name: "Brown", rgb: [139, 90, 43] },
+  { name: "Black", rgb: [26, 26, 26] },
+  { name: "White", rgb: [245, 245, 245] },
+  { name: "Gray", rgb: [154, 160, 166] },
+];
+
+function rgbEquals(a: Rgb | null, b: Rgb): boolean {
+  return a !== null && a[0] === b[0] && a[1] === b[1] && a[2] === b[2];
+}
+
+function toHex([r, g, b]: Rgb): string {
+  return `#${[r, g, b].map((n) => n.toString(16).padStart(2, "0")).join("")}`;
+}
+
+function fromHex(hex: string): Rgb {
+  const n = parseInt(hex.slice(1), 16);
+  return [(n >> 16) & 255, (n >> 8) & 255, n & 255];
+}
+
+export function ColorFilter() {
+  const colorFilter = useGalleryStore((state) => state.colorFilter);
+  const setColorFilter = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setColorFilter);
+  const colorBackfill = useGalleryStore((state) => state.colorBackfill);
+  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
+  const ref = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
+
+  const isActive = colorFilter !== null;
+  const isCustom = isActive && !SWATCHES.some((swatch) => rgbEquals(colorFilter, swatch.rgb));
+
+  // Collapse the panel when clicking elsewhere.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!open) return;
+    const onPointerDown = (event: PointerEvent) => {
+      if (ref.current && !ref.current.contains(event.target as Node)) setOpen(false);
+    };
+    window.addEventListener("pointerdown", onPointerDown);
+    return () => window.removeEventListener("pointerdown", onPointerDown);
+  }, [open]);
+
+  return (
+    <div ref={ref} className="relative ml-1 flex shrink-0 items-center border-l border-white/6 pl-2">
+      {/* Trigger — a single palette icon; shows the active color as a dot when a
+          filter is applied so the collapsed state still communicates it. */}
+      <Tooltip label={isActive ? "Color filter active" : "Filter by color"} delay={400}>
+        <button
+          className={`relative flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-lg px-2 py-1.5 transition-colors ${
+            open || isActive ? "bg-white/10 text-white" : "text-gray-500 hover:bg-white/5 hover:text-gray-200"
+          }`}
+          onClick={() => setOpen((value) => !value)}
+          aria-label="Filter by color"
+        >
+          <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+            <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={1.6}
+              d="M12 3a9 9 0 100 18c.83 0 1.5-.67 1.5-1.5 0-.39-.15-.74-.39-1.01-.23-.26-.39-.61-.39-1 0-.83.67-1.5 1.5-1.5H16a5 5 0 005-5c0-4.42-4.03-8-9-8z" />
+            <circle cx="7.5" cy="11.5" r="1" fill="currentColor" stroke="none" />
+            <circle cx="11.5" cy="7.5" r="1" fill="currentColor" stroke="none" />
+            <circle cx="15.5" cy="9.5" r="1" fill="currentColor" stroke="none" />
+          </svg>
+          {isActive ? (
+            <span
+              className="h-3 w-3 rounded-full border border-white/30"
+              style={{ backgroundColor: toHex(colorFilter as Rgb) }}
+            />
+          ) : null}
+        </button>
+      </Tooltip>
+
+      <AnimatePresence initial={false}>
+        {open ? (
+          // Right-aligned popover so it never widens the toolbar row or gets
+          // pushed off-screen on narrow windows. Swatches wrap into a compact
+          // grid instead of a single long horizontal strip.
+          <motion.div
+            initial={{ opacity: 0, y: -4, scale: 0.98 }}
+            animate={{ opacity: 1, y: 0, scale: 1 }}
+            exit={{ opacity: 0, y: -4, scale: 0.98 }}
+            transition={{ duration: 0.14, ease: "easeOut" }}
+            className="absolute right-0 top-full z-30 mt-2 w-max rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 p-2.5 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur light-theme:border-gray-700/50"
+          >
+            <div className="grid grid-cols-7 gap-1.5">
+              {SWATCHES.map((swatch) => {
+                const active = rgbEquals(colorFilter, swatch.rgb);
+                return (
+                  <Tooltip label= {swatch.name} followCursor>
+                  <button
+                    key={swatch.name}
+                    aria-label={`Filter by ${swatch.name}`}
+                    className={`h-5 w-5 shrink-0 rounded-full border transition-transform ${
+                      active ? "scale-110 border-white/40 ring-2 ring-white/70" : "border-white/15 hover:scale-110"
+                    }`}
+                    style={{ backgroundColor: toHex(swatch.rgb) }}
+                    onClick={() => setColorFilter(active ? null : swatch.rgb)}
+                  />
+                </Tooltip>
+                );
+              })}
+              <Tooltip label= "Custom Colour" followCursor>
+              {/* Custom color picker — rainbow until a custom color is chosen. */}
+              <label
+                className={`relative h-5 w-5 shrink-0 cursor-pointer overflow-hidden rounded-full border ${
+                  isCustom ? "border-white/40 ring-2 ring-white/70" : "border-white/15 hover:scale-110"
+                }`}
+                style={
+                  isCustom
+                    ? { backgroundColor: toHex(colorFilter as Rgb) }
+                    : { background: "conic-gradient(red, orange, yellow, lime, cyan, blue, magenta, red)" }
+                }
+              >
+                <input
+                  type="color"
+                  className="absolute inset-0 cursor-pointer opacity-0"
+                  value={colorFilter ? toHex(colorFilter) : "#3b7dd8"}
+                  onChange={(event) => setColorFilter(fromHex(event.target.value))}
+                />
+              </label></Tooltip>
+            </div>
+
+            {isActive || (colorBackfill && colorBackfill.total > 0) ? (
+              <div className="mt-2 flex items-center justify-between gap-3 border-t border-white/6 pt-2 light-theme:border-gray-700/40">
+                {colorBackfill && colorBackfill.total > 0 ? (
+                  <span
+                    className="text-[10px] text-gray-600"
+                    title="Sampling colors from existing thumbnails — color search fills in as this runs"
+                  >
+                    sampling {colorBackfill.processed.toLocaleString()}/{colorBackfill.total.toLocaleString()}
+                  </span>
+                ) : <span />}
+                {isActive ? (
+                  <button
+                    className="shrink-0 rounded px-1 text-[11px] text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:text-gray-200"
+                    onClick={() => setColorFilter(null)}
+                    title="Clear color filter"
+                  >
+                    Clear
+                  </button>
+                ) : null}
+              </div>
+            ) : null}
+          </motion.div>
+        ) : null}
+      </AnimatePresence>
+    </div>
+  );
+}

src/components/DemoPanel.tsx

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ const DEMO_UPDATE_VERSION = "0.2.0";
 
 export function DemoPanel() {
   const folders = useGalleryStore((state) => state.folders);
+  const appVersion = useGalleryStore((state) => state.appVersion);
   const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
   const downloadTimer = useRef<number | null>(null);
 
@@ -160,6 +161,18 @@ export function DemoPanel() {
     });
   };
 
+  // --- What's New flow ------------------------------------------------------
+  // Drives the post-update greeting without needing a real version change. The
+  // toast + modal pull their content from the bundled changelog for the running
+  // app version, so the current release's notes are what render.
+
+  const showWhatsNewToast = () =>
+    useGalleryStore.setState({ whatsNewToast: appVersion ?? DEMO_UPDATE_VERSION, whatsNewOpen: false });
+
+  const openWhatsNewModal = () => useGalleryStore.setState({ whatsNewOpen: true, whatsNewToast: null });
+
+  const resetWhatsNew = () => useGalleryStore.setState({ whatsNewOpen: false, whatsNewToast: null });
+
   if (!open) return null;
 
   const injectBtn =
@@ -215,6 +228,24 @@ export function DemoPanel() {
           Reset updater state
         </button>
       </div>
+
+      <div className="my-3 h-px bg-amber-400/20" />
+
+      <p className="mb-1.5 text-[11px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-amber-200/60">What's new</p>
+      <p className="mb-2 text-[11px] leading-snug text-amber-200/70">
+        Post-update greeting for v{appVersion ?? "—"}, sourced from the bundled changelog.
+      </p>
+      <div className="flex flex-col gap-1.5">
+        <button className={injectBtn} onClick={showWhatsNewToast}>
+          Show "What's new" toast
+        </button>
+        <button className={injectBtn} onClick={openWhatsNewModal}>
+          Open "What's new" modal
+        </button>
+        <button className={neutralBtn} onClick={resetWhatsNew}>
+          Reset What's New state
+        </button>
+      </div>
     </div>
   );
 }

src/components/DuplicateFinder.tsx

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import { useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { useVirtualizer } from "@tanstack/react-virtual";
-import { convertFileSrc } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
 import { DuplicateGroup, useGalleryStore } from "../store";
 import { FolderScopeDropdown } from "./FolderScopeDropdown";
+import { mediaSrc } from "../lib/mediaSrc";
 
 function formatBytes(bytes: number): string {
   if (bytes >= 1_073_741_824) return `${(bytes / 1_073_741_824).toFixed(1)} GB`;
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function DuplicateGroupCard({ group }: { group: DuplicateGroup }) {
       <div className="flex flex-wrap gap-3">
         {group.images.map((image) => {
           const isSelected = selectedIds.has(image.id);
-          const src = image.thumbnail_path ? convertFileSrc(image.thumbnail_path) : null;
+          const src = mediaSrc(image.thumbnail_path);
           return (
             <button
               key={image.id}
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ export function DuplicateFinder() {
   const deleteSelectedDuplicates = useGalleryStore((state) => state.deleteSelectedDuplicates);
 
   const [deleting, setDeleting] = useState(false);
+  const [confirmingDelete, setConfirmingDelete] = useState(false);
   const [deleteResult, setDeleteResult] = useState<string | null>(null);
 
   // Virtualize the group list so a large result set (e.g. thousands of pairs)
@@ -153,6 +154,7 @@ export function DuplicateFinder() {
 
   const handleDelete = async () => {
     setDeleting(true);
+    setConfirmingDelete(false);
     setDeleteResult(null);
     try {
       const deleted = await deleteSelectedDuplicates();
@@ -222,13 +224,48 @@ export function DuplicateFinder() {
                 >
                   Deselect all
                 </button>
+                <div className="relative">
                   <button
                     className="rounded-lg border border-red-400/25 bg-red-500/10 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-red-300 transition-colors hover:bg-red-500/15 disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:opacity-40"
-                  onClick={handleDelete}
+                    onClick={() => setConfirmingDelete((v) => !v)}
                     disabled={deleting}
                   >
                     {deleting ? "Deleting…" : `Delete ${selectedCount} file${selectedCount === 1 ? "" : "s"}`}
                   </button>
+                  {confirmingDelete && !deleting ? (
+                    <>
+                      {/* Click-away backdrop */}
+                      <div className="fixed inset-0 z-40" onClick={() => setConfirmingDelete(false)} />
+                      <div className="absolute right-0 top-full z-50 mt-2 w-72 rounded-xl border border-red-500/30 bg-gray-950/98 p-3 text-left shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
+                        <div className="mb-1 flex items-center gap-1.5 text-red-300">
+                          <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5 shrink-0" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                            <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2}
+                              d="M12 9v2m0 4h.01M10.29 3.86L1.82 18a2 2 0 001.71 3h16.94a2 2 0 001.71-3L13.71 3.86a2 2 0 00-3.42 0z" />
+                          </svg>
+                          <p className="text-xs font-semibold">Delete from disk</p>
+                        </div>
+                        <p className="mb-2.5 text-[11px] leading-relaxed text-gray-400">
+                          Permanently delete {selectedCount} file{selectedCount === 1 ? "" : "s"} from your computer.
+                          This removes the actual file{selectedCount === 1 ? "" : "s"} from disk and cannot be undone.
+                        </p>
+                        <div className="flex justify-end gap-1.5">
+                          <button
+                            className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2.5 py-1 text-[11px] text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white"
+                            onClick={() => setConfirmingDelete(false)}
+                          >
+                            Cancel
+                          </button>
+                          <button
+                            className="rounded-md bg-red-500/20 px-2.5 py-1 text-[11px] font-medium text-red-300 transition-colors hover:bg-red-500/30 hover:text-red-200"
+                            onClick={handleDelete}
+                          >
+                            Delete {selectedCount} from disk
+                          </button>
+                        </div>
+                      </div>
+                    </>
+                  ) : null}
+                </div>
               </>
             ) : null}
             <button

src/components/Gallery.tsx

@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import { useEffect, useLayoutEffect, useRef, useCallback, useMemo, useState } from "react";
 import { useVirtualizer } from "@tanstack/react-virtual";
-import { convertFileSrc } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
 import { ImageRecord, parseSearchValue, tileSizeForZoom, useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+import { BulkActionBar } from "./BulkActionBar";
+import { Tooltip } from "./Tooltip";
+import { mediaSrc } from "../lib/mediaSrc";
 
 const GAP = 6;
 
@@ -30,8 +32,7 @@ export function ContextMenu({
 }) {
   const openImage = useGalleryStore((state) => state.openImage);
   const updateImageDetails = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateImageDetails);
-  const loadSimilarImages = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadSimilarImages);
-  const similarScope = useGalleryStore((state) => state.similarScope);
+  const findSimilar = useGalleryStore((state) => state.findSimilar);
   const canFindSimilar = image.embedding_status === "ready";
 
   return (
@@ -59,9 +60,9 @@ export function ContextMenu({
             ? "text-gray-200 hover:bg-white/5 hover:text-white"
             : "text-gray-600 cursor-not-allowed"
         }`}
-        onClick={async () => {
+        onClick={() => {
           if (!canFindSimilar) return;
-          await loadSimilarImages(image.id, similarScope === "current_folder" ? image.folder_id : null, true, image.folder_id);
+          findSimilar(image.id, image.folder_id);
           onClose();
         }}
         disabled={!canFindSimilar}
@@ -112,24 +113,70 @@ export function ImageTile({
 }: {
   image: ImageRecord;
   onClick: () => void;
-  onContextMenu: (event: React.MouseEvent<HTMLButtonElement>) => void;
+  onContextMenu: (event: React.MouseEvent<HTMLDivElement>) => void;
 }) {
   const [loaded, setLoaded] = useState(false);
   const [errored, setErrored] = useState(false);
-  const loadSimilarImages = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadSimilarImages);
-  const similarScope = useGalleryStore((state) => state.similarScope);
+  const findSimilar = useGalleryStore((state) => state.findSimilar);
+  const selected = useGalleryStore((state) => state.gallerySelectedIds.has(image.id));
+  const selectionActive = useGalleryStore((state) => state.gallerySelectedIds.size > 0);
+  const toggleGallerySelected = useGalleryStore((state) => state.toggleGallerySelected);
   const canFindSimilar = image.embedding_status === "ready";
 
-  const src = image.thumbnail_path ? convertFileSrc(image.thumbnail_path) : null;
+  const src = mediaSrc(image.thumbnail_path);
 
   return (
-    <button
-      className="media-dark-surface group relative overflow-hidden rounded-xl bg-white/[0.04] text-left focus:outline-none"
+    <Tooltip label={image.filename} delay={500} block followCursor>
+    <div
+      className={`media-dark-surface group relative overflow-hidden rounded-xl bg-white/[0.04] text-left focus:outline-none transition-shadow ${
+        selected ? "ring-2 ring-inset ring-blue-400/80" : ""
+      }`}
       style={{ width: "100%", aspectRatio: "1 / 1" }}
-      onClick={onClick}
       onContextMenu={onContextMenu}
-      title={image.filename}
     >
+      {/* Full-tile click target — opens, or toggles selection while selecting.
+          A real button (over the non-interactive tile div) keeps it keyboard-
+          accessible without nesting buttons. */}
+      <button
+        type="button"
+        className="absolute inset-0 z-10 cursor-pointer focus:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-blue-400/80"
+        aria-label={`Open ${image.filename}`}
+        onClick={(event) => {
+          event.stopPropagation();
+          if (selectionActive) toggleGallerySelected(image.id);
+          else onClick();
+        }}
+        onDoubleClick={(event) => {
+          event.stopPropagation();
+          onClick();
+        }}
+      />
+      {/* Selection corner — a top-left zone that reveals the checkbox only when
+          hovered (not the whole tile) and toggles selection on click. The
+          checkbox stays visible once the item is selected. */}
+      <button
+        type="button"
+        role="checkbox"
+        aria-checked={selected}
+        aria-label={selected ? "Deselect" : "Select"}
+        className="group/cb absolute top-0 left-0 z-20 h-11 w-11 cursor-pointer"
+        onClick={(event) => {
+          event.stopPropagation();
+          toggleGallerySelected(image.id);
+        }}
+      >
+        <div
+          className={`absolute top-2 left-2 flex h-5 w-5 items-center justify-center rounded-full border transition-all duration-150 ${
+            selected
+              ? "border-blue-400 bg-blue-500 text-white opacity-100"
+              : "border-white/70 bg-black/40 text-transparent opacity-0 backdrop-blur-sm group-hover/cb:opacity-100"
+          }`}
+        >
+          <svg className="h-3 w-3" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+            <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={3} d="M5 13l4 4L19 7" />
+          </svg>
+        </div>
+      </button>
       {/* Image / placeholder */}
       {src && !errored ? (
         <>
@@ -173,6 +220,17 @@ export function ImageTile({
 
       {/* Persistent badges — only shown when meaningful */}
       <div className="absolute top-2 right-2 flex flex-col items-end gap-1 pointer-events-none">
+        {image.embedding_status === "failed" && (
+          <div
+            className="flex items-center gap-1 rounded-md bg-black/60 px-1.5 py-0.5 text-[10px] font-medium text-amber-400 backdrop-blur-sm"
+            title={image.embedding_error ?? "Embedding failed"}
+          >
+            <svg className="h-2.5 w-2.5 shrink-0" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+              <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2.5}
+                d="M12 9v2m0 4h.01M10.29 3.86L1.82 18a2 2 0 001.71 3h16.94a2 2 0 001.71-3L13.71 3.86a2 2 0 00-3.42 0z" />
+            </svg>
+          </div>
+        )}
         {image.favorite && (
           <div className="rounded-full bg-black/50 p-1 text-rose-400 backdrop-blur-sm">
             <svg className="h-2.5 w-2.5" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 20 20">
@@ -196,21 +254,6 @@ export function ImageTile({
         )}
       </div>
 
-      {/* Embedding failed badge — top-left */}
-      {image.embedding_status === "failed" && (
-        <div
-          className="absolute top-2 left-2 pointer-events-none"
-          title={image.embedding_error ?? "Embedding failed"}
-        >
-          <div className="flex items-center gap-1 rounded-md bg-black/60 px-1.5 py-0.5 text-[10px] font-medium text-amber-400 backdrop-blur-sm">
-            <svg className="h-2.5 w-2.5 shrink-0" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
-              <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2.5}
-                d="M12 9v2m0 4h.01M10.29 3.86L1.82 18a2 2 0 001.71 3h16.94a2 2 0 001.71-3L13.71 3.86a2 2 0 00-3.42 0z" />
-            </svg>
-          </div>
-        </div>
-      )}
-
       {/* Hover overlay — slides up from bottom */}
       <div className="absolute inset-0 bg-gradient-to-t from-black/85 via-black/30 to-transparent opacity-0 group-hover:opacity-100 transition-opacity duration-200 pointer-events-none" />
 
@@ -230,7 +273,7 @@ export function ImageTile({
             <span />
           )}
           <button
-            className={`rounded-md px-2 py-0.5 text-[10px] transition-colors pointer-events-auto backdrop-blur-sm ${
+            className={`relative z-20 rounded-md px-2 py-0.5 text-[10px] transition-colors pointer-events-auto backdrop-blur-sm focus:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-blue-400/80 ${
               canFindSimilar
                 ? "bg-white/10 text-white/80 hover:bg-white/20 hover:text-white"
                 : "bg-white/5 text-white/30 cursor-not-allowed"
@@ -238,7 +281,7 @@ export function ImageTile({
             onClick={(event) => {
               event.stopPropagation();
               if (!canFindSimilar) return;
-              void loadSimilarImages(image.id, similarScope === "current_folder" ? image.folder_id : null, true, image.folder_id);
+              findSimilar(image.id, image.folder_id);
             }}
             disabled={!canFindSimilar}
           >
@@ -246,7 +289,8 @@ export function ImageTile({
           </button>
         </div>
       </div>
-    </button>
+    </div>
+    </Tooltip>
   );
 }
 
@@ -338,7 +382,8 @@ export function Gallery() {
   }, []);
 
   return (
-    <div ref={parentRef} className="relative flex-1 overflow-y-auto overflow-x-hidden min-h-0 bg-gray-950">
+    <div className="relative flex-1 min-h-0">
+    <div ref={parentRef} className="absolute inset-0 overflow-y-auto overflow-x-hidden bg-gray-950">
       {images.length === 0 && loadingImages ? (
         <div className="flex flex-1 flex-col items-center justify-center gap-4 text-center px-8 absolute inset-0">
           <div className="rounded-2xl border border-white/[0.06] bg-white/[0.02] p-8 min-w-72">
@@ -448,5 +493,10 @@ export function Gallery() {
         />
       ) : null}
     </div>
+
+    {/* Pinned to the bottom of the gallery viewport — outside the scroll
+        container so it stays put while the grid scrolls. */}
+    <BulkActionBar />
+    </div>
   );
 }

src/components/Lightbox.tsx

@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import { useEffect, useCallback, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { motion, AnimatePresence } from "framer-motion";
-import { convertFileSrc } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
+import { invoke } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
 import { revealItemInDir } from "@tauri-apps/plugin-opener";
-import { useGalleryStore, ImageTag, AiRating } from "../store";
+import { useGalleryStore, ImageTag, ImageExif, AiRating } from "../store";
 import { VideoPlayer } from "./VideoPlayer";
+import { mediaSrc } from "../lib/mediaSrc";
 
 function formatBytes(bytes: number): string {
   if (bytes < 1024) return `${bytes} B`;
@@ -144,15 +145,18 @@ export function Lightbox() {
   const closeImage = useGalleryStore((state) => state.closeImage);
   const images = useGalleryStore((state) => state.images);
   const openImage = useGalleryStore((state) => state.openImage);
-  const loadSimilarImages = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadSimilarImages);
-  const loadSimilarByRegion = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadSimilarByRegion);
-  const similarScope = useGalleryStore((state) => state.similarScope);
+  const findSimilar = useGalleryStore((state) => state.findSimilar);
+  const findSimilarByRegion = useGalleryStore((state) => state.findSimilarByRegion);
   const updateImageDetails = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateImageDetails);
   const getImageTags = useGalleryStore((state) => state.getImageTags);
   const addUserTag = useGalleryStore((state) => state.addUserTag);
   const removeTag = useGalleryStore((state) => state.removeTag);
   const taggerModelStatus = useGalleryStore((state) => state.taggerModelStatus);
   const queueTaggingForImage = useGalleryStore((state) => state.queueTaggingForImage);
+  const albums = useGalleryStore((state) => state.albums);
+  const addToAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.addToAlbum);
+  const createAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.createAlbum);
+  const getImageExif = useGalleryStore((state) => state.getImageExif);
 
   // Tracks the image id that is currently displayed, used to discard async
   // tag mutations that resolve after the user has navigated to another image.
@@ -164,12 +168,17 @@ export function Lightbox() {
   const [isPanning, setIsPanning] = useState(false);
   const lastPanPointRef = useRef({ x: 0, y: 0 });
   const [imageTags, setImageTags] = useState<ImageTag[]>([]);
+  const [imageExif, setImageExif] = useState<ImageExif | null>(null);
   const [tagInput, setTagInput] = useState("");
   const [tagAdding, setTagAdding] = useState(false);
   const [tagsExpanded, setTagsExpanded] = useState(false);
   const [taggingQueued, setTaggingQueued] = useState(false);
 
   // Region selection state
+  const [albumMenuOpen, setAlbumMenuOpen] = useState(false);
+  const [albumAddedTo, setAlbumAddedTo] = useState<number | null>(null);
+  const [newAlbumName, setNewAlbumName] = useState("");
+  const [albumAdding, setAlbumAdding] = useState(false);
   const [regionSelectMode, setRegionSelectMode] = useState(false);
   const [isDragging, setIsDragging] = useState(false);
   const [dragRect, setDragRect] = useState<DragRect | null>(null);
@@ -215,6 +224,7 @@ export function Lightbox() {
   useEffect(() => {
     setView(IDENTITY_VIEW);
     setImageTags([]);
+    setImageExif(null);
     setTagInput("");
     setTagsExpanded(false);
     setTaggingQueued(false);
@@ -233,6 +243,20 @@ export function Lightbox() {
     return () => { cancelled = true; };
   }, [selectedImage?.id, selectedImage?.ai_tagged_at, getImageTags]);
 
+  // EXIF is read on demand from the file (not stored), so it works on every
+  // already-indexed image without a reindex. Only meaningful for images.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!selectedImage || selectedImage.media_kind !== "image") {
+      setImageExif(null);
+      return;
+    }
+    let cancelled = false;
+    void getImageExif(selectedImage.id)
+      .then((exif) => { if (!cancelled) setImageExif(exif); })
+      .catch(() => { if (!cancelled) setImageExif(null); });
+    return () => { cancelled = true; };
+  }, [selectedImage?.id, selectedImage?.media_kind, getImageExif]);
+
   // Reset the queued state once the worker finishes so the button is usable again
   useEffect(() => {
     if (selectedImage?.ai_tagged_at) setTaggingQueued(false);
@@ -361,12 +385,10 @@ export function Lightbox() {
       exitRegionMode();
       setRegionSearching(true);
 
-      const folderId =
-        similarScope === "current_folder" ? selectedImage.folder_id : null;
-      void loadSimilarByRegion(selectedImage.id, crop, folderId, selectedImage.folder_id)
+      void findSimilarByRegion(selectedImage.id, crop, selectedImage.folder_id)
         .finally(() => setRegionSearching(false));
     },
-    [isPanning, isDragging, dragRect, selectedImage, similarScope, loadSimilarByRegion, exitRegionMode],
+    [isPanning, isDragging, dragRect, selectedImage, findSimilarByRegion, exitRegionMode],
   );
 
   // Build the CSS rect for the selection overlay (viewport-relative)
@@ -454,12 +476,12 @@ export function Lightbox() {
                     transition={{ duration: 0.12 }}
                   >
                     {selectedImage.media_kind === "video" ? (
-                      <VideoPlayer src={convertFileSrc(selectedImage.path)} />
+                      <VideoPlayer src={mediaSrc(selectedImage.path) ?? ""} />
                     ) : (
                       <>
                         <img
                           ref={imgRef}
-                          src={convertFileSrc(selectedImage.path)}
+                          src={mediaSrc(selectedImage.path) ?? ""}
                           alt={selectedImage.filename}
                           className="max-w-full rounded-2xl shadow-2xl"
                           draggable={false}
@@ -496,7 +518,7 @@ export function Lightbox() {
                 </AnimatePresence>
               </div>
 
-              <div className="lightbox-panel flex w-72 shrink-0 flex-col border-l border-white/5 bg-gray-900/95">
+              <div className="lightbox-panel flex w-64 shrink-0 flex-col border-l border-white/5 bg-gray-900/95 lg:w-72">
                 <div className="flex shrink-0 items-center justify-between px-5 pt-5 pb-4">
                   <div className="min-w-0">
                     <p className="truncate text-sm font-medium text-white">{selectedImage.filename}</p>
@@ -513,18 +535,25 @@ export function Lightbox() {
                       </svg>
                     </button>
                     <button
-                      className={`rounded-full border px-3 py-1.5 text-xs ${
+                      className={`flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full border px-2 py-1.5 text-xs lg:px-3 ${
                         canFindSimilar
                           ? "border-white/10 bg-white/5 text-gray-300 hover:text-white"
                           : "border-white/5 bg-white/[0.03] text-gray-600 cursor-not-allowed"
                       }`}
                       onClick={() => {
                         if (!canFindSimilar) return;
-                        void loadSimilarImages(selectedImage.id, similarScope === "current_folder" ? selectedImage.folder_id : null, true, selectedImage.folder_id);
+                        void findSimilar(selectedImage.id, selectedImage.folder_id);
                       }}
                       disabled={!canFindSimilar}
+                      title={canFindSimilar ? "Find similar images" : "Embeddings not ready"}
                     >
-                      {canFindSimilar ? "Similar" : "Embeddings not ready"}
+                      <svg className="h-4 w-4 shrink-0" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                        <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={1.6}
+                          d="M13 3l1.55 4.65L19 9.2l-4.45 1.55L13 15.4l-1.55-4.65L7 9.2l4.45-1.55L13 3z" />
+                        <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={1.6}
+                          d="M5.5 14.5l.8 2.2 2.2.8-2.2.8-.8 2.2-.8-2.2L2.5 17.5l2.2-.8.8-2.2z" />
+                      </svg>
+                      <span className="hidden lg:inline">{canFindSimilar ? "Similar" : "Embeddings not ready"}</span>
                     </button>
                   </div>
                   <button className="rounded p-1 text-gray-400 hover:text-white" onClick={closeImage}>
@@ -582,7 +611,8 @@ export function Lightbox() {
                 )}
 
                 <div className="min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-y-auto px-5 pb-4 space-y-4 text-sm">
-                  <div>
+                  <div className="grid grid-cols-2 gap-x-6 gap-y-4">
+                  <div className="col-span-2">
                     <p className="mb-1 text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Rating</p>
                     <div className="flex items-center gap-1">
                       {Array.from({ length: 5 }, (_, index) => {
@@ -645,7 +675,7 @@ export function Lightbox() {
                       </div>
 
                       {selectedImage.metadata_error ? (
-                        <div>
+                        <div className="col-span-2">
                           <p className="mb-1 text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Metadata</p>
                           <p className="text-amber-300">{selectedImage.metadata_error}</p>
                         </div>
@@ -663,18 +693,19 @@ export function Lightbox() {
                     <p className="text-white">{formatBytes(selectedImage.file_size)}</p>
                   </div>
 
-                  <div>
+                  <div className="col-span-2">
                     <p className="mb-1 text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Modified</p>
                     <p className="text-white">{formatDate(selectedImage.modified_at)}</p>
                   </div>
 
-                  <div>
+                  <div className="col-span-2">
                     <p className="mb-1 text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Embedding</p>
                     <p className="text-white">{embeddingLabel(selectedImage.embedding_status, selectedImage.embedding_model)}</p>
                     {selectedImage.embedding_error ? (
                       <p className="mt-1 text-xs text-amber-300">{selectedImage.embedding_error}</p>
                     ) : null}
                   </div>
+                  </div>
 
                   <div>
                     <div className="mb-2 flex items-center justify-between">
@@ -780,6 +811,129 @@ export function Lightbox() {
                     </form>
                   </div>
 
+                  <div className="relative">
+                    <div className="mb-2 flex items-center justify-between">
+                      <p className="text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Albums</p>
+                      <button
+                        className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-0.5 text-[10px] text-gray-400 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white"
+                        onClick={() => { setAlbumMenuOpen((v) => !v); setAlbumAddedTo(null); }}
+                      >
+                        Add to album
+                      </button>
+                    </div>
+                    {albumMenuOpen ? (
+                      <div className="rounded-lg border border-white/10 bg-white/[0.03] p-1.5">
+                        <div className="max-h-40 overflow-y-auto">
+                          {albums.length === 0 ? (
+                            <p className="px-2 py-1.5 text-[11px] text-gray-600">No albums yet — create one below.</p>
+                          ) : (
+                            albums.map((album) => (
+                              <button
+                                key={album.id}
+                                className="flex w-full items-center justify-between gap-2 rounded-md px-2 py-1 text-left text-xs text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/5 hover:text-white"
+                                onClick={() => {
+                                  if (albumAdding) return;
+                                  setAlbumAdding(true);
+                                  void addToAlbum(album.id, [selectedImage.id])
+                                    .then(() => setAlbumAddedTo(album.id))
+                                    .catch(() => undefined)
+                                    .finally(() => setAlbumAdding(false));
+                                }}
+                                disabled={albumAdding}
+                              >
+                                <span className="truncate">{album.name}</span>
+                                {albumAddedTo === album.id ? (
+                                  <span className="shrink-0 text-[10px] text-emerald-400">Added</span>
+                                ) : (
+                                  <span className="shrink-0 text-[10px] text-gray-600">{album.image_count}</span>
+                                )}
+                              </button>
+                            ))
+                          )}
+                        </div>
+                        <form
+                          className="mt-1 flex gap-1 border-t border-white/[0.06] pt-1.5"
+                          onSubmit={(e) => {
+                            e.preventDefault();
+                            const name = newAlbumName.trim();
+                            if (!name || albumAdding) return;
+                            setAlbumAdding(true);
+                            void createAlbum(name)
+                              .then(async (album) => {
+                                await addToAlbum(album.id, [selectedImage.id]);
+                                setAlbumAddedTo(album.id);
+                                setNewAlbumName("");
+                              })
+                              .catch(() => undefined)
+                              .finally(() => setAlbumAdding(false));
+                          }}
+                        >
+                          <input
+                            className="min-w-0 flex-1 rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-1 text-xs text-white placeholder-gray-600 focus:border-white/20 focus:outline-none"
+                            placeholder="New album…"
+                            value={newAlbumName}
+                            onChange={(e) => setNewAlbumName(e.target.value)}
+                            disabled={albumAdding}
+                          />
+                          <button
+                            type="submit"
+                            className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-1 text-xs text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white disabled:opacity-50"
+                            disabled={albumAdding || !newAlbumName.trim()}
+                          >
+                            Add
+                          </button>
+                        </form>
+                      </div>
+                    ) : null}
+                  </div>
+
+                  {imageExif &&
+                  (imageExif.make ||
+                    imageExif.model ||
+                    imageExif.lens ||
+                    imageExif.f_number ||
+                    imageExif.exposure_time ||
+                    imageExif.iso ||
+                    imageExif.focal_length ||
+                    (imageExif.gps_lat != null && imageExif.gps_lon != null)) ? (
+                    <div>
+                      <p className="mb-2 text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Camera</p>
+                      <div className="space-y-1.5">
+                        {imageExif.make || imageExif.model ? (
+                          <p className="text-sm text-white">
+                            {[imageExif.make, imageExif.model].filter(Boolean).join(" ")}
+                          </p>
+                        ) : null}
+                        {imageExif.lens ? <p className="text-xs text-gray-400">{imageExif.lens}</p> : null}
+                        {imageExif.f_number || imageExif.exposure_time || imageExif.iso || imageExif.focal_length ? (
+                          <div className="flex flex-wrap gap-x-3 gap-y-1 text-xs text-gray-400">
+                            {imageExif.f_number ? <span>{imageExif.f_number}</span> : null}
+                            {imageExif.exposure_time ? <span>{imageExif.exposure_time}</span> : null}
+                            {imageExif.iso ? <span>ISO {imageExif.iso}</span> : null}
+                            {imageExif.focal_length ? <span>{imageExif.focal_length}</span> : null}
+                          </div>
+                        ) : null}
+                        {imageExif.gps_lat != null && imageExif.gps_lon != null ? (
+                          <button
+                            className="inline-flex items-center gap-1 text-xs text-sky-400 transition-colors hover:text-sky-300"
+                            title="Open location in your browser"
+                            onClick={() =>
+                              void invoke("open_map_location", {
+                                params: { lat: imageExif.gps_lat, lon: imageExif.gps_lon },
+                              })
+                            }
+                          >
+                            {imageExif.gps_lat.toFixed(5)}, {imageExif.gps_lon.toFixed(5)}
+                            <svg className="h-3 w-3" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                              <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2}
+                                d="M10 6H6a2 2 0 00-2 2v10a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2v-4M14 4h6m0 0v6m0-6L10 14" />
+                            </svg>
+                          </button>
+                        ) : null}
+                      </div>
+                    </div>
+                  ) : null}
+
                   <div>
                     <div className="mb-1 flex items-center justify-between">
                       <p className="text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Path</p>
@@ -805,7 +959,7 @@ export function Lightbox() {
           </div>
 
           <button
-            className="absolute right-80 top-1/2 z-10 -translate-y-1/2 rounded-full bg-white/10 p-3 text-white transition-colors hover:bg-white/20 disabled:opacity-20"
+            className="absolute right-72 top-1/2 z-10 -translate-y-1/2 rounded-full bg-white/10 p-3 text-white transition-colors hover:bg-white/20 disabled:opacity-20 lg:right-80"
             disabled={currentIndex >= images.length - 1 || regionSelectMode}
             onClick={(event) => {
               event.stopPropagation();

src/components/SettingsModal.tsx

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import { useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from "react";
-import { AppTheme, CleanupOrphanedThumbnailsResult, DatabaseInfo, OrphanedThumbnailsInfo, TaggerAcceleration, TaggingQueueScope, VacuumResult, useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+import { AppTheme, CleanupOrphanedThumbnailsResult, DatabaseInfo, OrphanedThumbnailsInfo, TaggerAcceleration, TaggerModel, TaggingQueueScope, VacuumResult, useGalleryStore } from "../store";
 import { FfmpegStatusRow } from "./onboarding/StepWelcome";
 import { ThemedDropdown } from "./ThemedDropdown";
+import { getChangelogForVersion } from "../changelog";
 
 type SettingsSection = "workspace" | "general";
 
@@ -99,6 +100,44 @@ function ScopeButton({ scope, current, onSelect, children }: {
   );
 }
 
+// Display metadata for each selectable tagging model.
+const TAGGER_MODELS: Record<TaggerModel, { name: string; tab: string; description: string }> = {
+  wd: {
+    name: "WD SwinV2 Tagger v3",
+    tab: "WD (anime)",
+    description:
+      "Anime-focused vision model by SmilingWolf. Generates booru-style tags with configurable confidence thresholds.",
+  },
+  joytag: {
+    name: "JoyTag",
+    tab: "JoyTag (general)",
+    description:
+      "Booru-schema tagger that also handles photographic content and is strong on NSFW concepts. The explicitness rating is derived from its tags.",
+  },
+};
+
+function TaggerModelButton({ model, current, onSelect, children }: {
+  model: TaggerModel;
+  current: TaggerModel;
+  onSelect: (model: TaggerModel) => void;
+  children: React.ReactNode;
+}) {
+  const active = model === current;
+  return (
+    <button
+      type="button"
+      className={`rounded-md border px-3 py-1.5 text-xs transition-colors ${
+        active
+          ? "border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 text-emerald-200 light-theme:border-emerald-600/50 light-theme:bg-emerald-100 light-theme:text-emerald-700"
+          : "border-transparent text-gray-500 hover:bg-white/[0.06] hover:text-gray-200 light-theme:text-gray-600 light-theme:hover:bg-gray-900 light-theme:hover:text-white"
+      }`}
+      onClick={() => onSelect(model)}
+    >
+      {children}
+    </button>
+  );
+}
+
 function TaggerAccelerationButton({ acceleration, current, onSelect, children }: {
   acceleration: TaggerAcceleration;
   current: TaggerAcceleration;
@@ -128,6 +167,8 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
   const [taggerClearing, setTaggerClearing] = useState(false);
   const [taggerAccelerationSaving, setTaggerAccelerationSaving] = useState(false);
   const [taggerAccelerationError, setTaggerAccelerationError] = useState<string | null>(null);
+  const [taggerModelSwitching, setTaggerModelSwitching] = useState(false);
+  const [taggerModelSwitchError, setTaggerModelSwitchError] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [taggerThresholdDraft, setTaggerThresholdDraft] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [taggerThresholdSaving, setTaggerThresholdSaving] = useState(false);
   const [taggerThresholdError, setTaggerThresholdError] = useState<string | null>(null);
@@ -172,6 +213,9 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
   const deleteTaggerModel = useGalleryStore((state) => state.deleteTaggerModel);
   const loadTaggerAcceleration = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadTaggerAcceleration);
   const setTaggerAcceleration = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setTaggerAcceleration);
+  const taggerModel = useGalleryStore((state) => state.taggerModel);
+  const loadTaggerModel = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadTaggerModel);
+  const setTaggerModel = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setTaggerModel);
   const loadTaggerThreshold = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadTaggerThreshold);
   const setTaggerThreshold = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setTaggerThreshold);
   const loadTaggerBatchSize = useGalleryStore((state) => state.loadTaggerBatchSize);
@@ -184,20 +228,26 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
   const openAppDataFolder = useGalleryStore((state) => state.openAppDataFolder);
   const notificationsPaused = useGalleryStore((state) => state.notificationsPaused);
   const setNotificationsPaused = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setNotificationsPaused);
+  const workerPausesPersist = useGalleryStore((state) => state.workerPausesPersist);
+  const setWorkerPausesPersist = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setWorkerPausesPersist);
   const getDatabaseInfo = useGalleryStore((state) => state.getDatabaseInfo);
   const vacuumDatabase = useGalleryStore((state) => state.vacuumDatabase);
   const rebuildSemanticIndex = useGalleryStore((state) => state.rebuildSemanticIndex);
   const getOrphanedThumbnailsInfo = useGalleryStore((state) => state.getOrphanedThumbnailsInfo);
   const cleanupOrphanedThumbnails = useGalleryStore((state) => state.cleanupOrphanedThumbnails);
   const appVersion = useGalleryStore((state) => state.appVersion);
+  const buildVariant = useGalleryStore((state) => state.buildVariant);
   const updateStatus = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateStatus);
   const updateVersion = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateVersion);
+  const updateProgress = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateProgress);
   const updateError = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateError);
   const checkForUpdates = useGalleryStore((state) => state.checkForUpdates);
   const installUpdate = useGalleryStore((state) => state.installUpdate);
+  const openWhatsNew = useGalleryStore((state) => state.openWhatsNew);
   const openOnboarding = useGalleryStore((state) => state.openOnboarding);
   const theme = useGalleryStore((state) => state.theme);
   const setTheme = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setTheme);
+  const openTagManager = useGalleryStore((state) => state.openTagManager);
   const lightboxAutoplay = useGalleryStore((state) => state.lightboxAutoplay);
   const setLightboxAutoplay = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setLightboxAutoplay);
   const lightboxAutoMute = useGalleryStore((state) => state.lightboxAutoMute);
@@ -206,6 +256,7 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!settingsOpen) return;
     void loadTaggerModelStatus();
+    void loadTaggerModel();
     void loadTaggerAcceleration();
     void loadTaggerThreshold();
     void loadTaggerBatchSize();
@@ -217,7 +268,7 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
     };
     window.addEventListener("keydown", handleKeyDown);
     return () => window.removeEventListener("keydown", handleKeyDown);
-  }, [settingsOpen, loadTaggerModelStatus, loadTaggerAcceleration, loadTaggerThreshold, loadTaggerBatchSize, loadTaggingQueueScope, loadTaggingQueueFolderIds, setSettingsOpen]);
+  }, [settingsOpen, loadTaggerModelStatus, loadTaggerModel, loadTaggerAcceleration, loadTaggerThreshold, loadTaggerBatchSize, loadTaggingQueueScope, loadTaggingQueueFolderIds, setSettingsOpen]);
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!settingsOpen || activeSection !== "general") return;
@@ -361,10 +412,39 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
             {activeSection === "workspace" ? (
               <div className="mt-8 space-y-9">
                 <SettingsGroup title="Model">
+                  <SettingsItem label="Tagging model" description="Choose which model generates tags. JoyTag suits photos and NSFW; WD is anime-focused. Switching may require a one-time download.">
+                    <div className="flex flex-col items-end gap-1.5">
+                      <div className="flex rounded-lg border border-white/[0.07] p-0.5 light-theme:border-gray-300/80">
+                        {(["wd", "joytag"] as const).map((model) => (
+                          <TaggerModelButton
+                            key={model}
+                            model={model}
+                            current={taggerModel}
+                            onSelect={(nextModel) => {
+                              if (nextModel === taggerModel) return;
+                              setTaggerModelSwitching(true);
+                              setTaggerModelSwitchError(null);
+                              void setTaggerModel(nextModel)
+                                .catch((error: unknown) => setTaggerModelSwitchError(String(error)))
+                                .finally(() => setTaggerModelSwitching(false));
+                            }}
+                          >
+                            {TAGGER_MODELS[model].tab}
+                          </TaggerModelButton>
+                        ))}
+                      </div>
+                      {taggerModelSwitchError ? (
+                        <p className="text-[11px] text-amber-300">{taggerModelSwitchError}</p>
+                      ) : (
+                        <p className="text-[11px] text-gray-600">{taggerModelSwitching ? "Switching..." : `Current: ${TAGGER_MODELS[taggerModel].name}`}</p>
+                      )}
+                    </div>
+                  </SettingsItem>
+
                   <SettingsItem
                     label={
                       <>
-                        WD SwinV2 Tagger v3{" "}
+                        {TAGGER_MODELS[taggerModel].name}{" "}
                         <span className="ml-1.5 align-middle">
                           <StatusPill tone={taggerReady ? "ready" : taggerModelPreparing ? "busy" : "muted"}>
                             {taggerReady ? "Installed" : taggerModelPreparing ? "Preparing" : "Not installed"}
@@ -372,7 +452,7 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
                         </span>
                       </>
                     }
-                    description="Anime-focused vision model by SmilingWolf. Generates booru-style tags with configurable confidence thresholds."
+                    description={TAGGER_MODELS[taggerModel].description}
                   >
                     <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
                       {taggerReady ? (
@@ -465,7 +545,7 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
                       {taggerThresholdError ? (
                         <p className="text-[11px] text-amber-300">{taggerThresholdError}</p>
                       ) : (
-                        <p className="text-[11px] text-gray-600">{taggerThresholdSaving ? "Saving..." : "Default: 0.35"}</p>
+                        <p className="text-[11px] text-gray-600">{taggerThresholdSaving ? "Saving..." : `Default: ${taggerModel === "joytag" ? "0.4" : "0.35"}`}</p>
                       )}
                     </div>
                   </SettingsItem>
@@ -607,6 +687,17 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
 
                   {taggerQueueStatus ? <p className="pt-3 text-xs text-gray-500">{taggerQueueStatus}</p> : null}
                 </SettingsGroup>
+
+                <SettingsGroup title="Tag library" description="Review and clean up the tags across your library.">
+                  <SettingsItem label="Manage tags" description="Open the tag manager in Explore to search, rename, and delete tags.">
+                    <button
+                      className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/[0.055] px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white light-theme:border-gray-700/50 light-theme:bg-gray-900 light-theme:text-white light-theme:hover:bg-gray-800 light-theme:hover:text-white"
+                      onClick={openTagManager}
+                    >
+                      Open tag manager
+                    </button>
+                  </SettingsItem>
+                </SettingsGroup>
               </div>
             ) : (
               <div className="mt-8 space-y-9">
@@ -659,6 +750,11 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
                     label={
                       <span className="inline-flex items-center gap-2.5">
                         <span>Phokus {appVersion ? `v${appVersion}` : "—"}</span>
+                        {buildVariant ? (
+                          <StatusPill tone={buildVariant === "cuda" ? "ready" : "muted"}>
+                            {buildVariant === "cuda" ? "CUDA" : "CPU"}
+                          </StatusPill>
+                        ) : null}
                         {updateStatus === "available" || updateStatus === "downloading" || updateStatus === "installing" ? (
                           <StatusPill tone="busy">v{updateVersion} available</StatusPill>
                         ) : updateStatus === "upToDate" ? (
@@ -670,7 +766,24 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
                       updateStatus === "error" ? (
                         <span className="text-amber-300/90">Update check failed: {updateError}</span>
                       ) : updateStatus === "downloading" || updateStatus === "installing" ? (
-                        "Downloading update — the app will restart when it finishes."
+                        <span className="block">
+                          <span className="text-gray-400">
+                            {updateStatus === "installing"
+                              ? "Installing update…"
+                              : updateProgress !== null
+                                ? `Downloading update — ${Math.round(updateProgress * 100)}%`
+                                : "Downloading update…"}
+                          </span>
+                          <span className="mt-2 block h-1 overflow-hidden rounded-full bg-white/10">
+                            <span
+                              className={`block h-full rounded-full bg-emerald-400/80 transition-[width] duration-200 ${
+                                updateProgress === null ? "w-full animate-pulse" : ""
+                              }`}
+                              style={updateProgress !== null ? { width: `${Math.round(updateProgress * 100)}%` } : undefined}
+                            />
+                          </span>
+                          <span className="mt-1 block text-gray-600">The app will restart when it finishes.</span>
+                        </span>
                       ) : (
                         "Updates are checked quietly at launch and installed only when you choose."
                       )
@@ -678,7 +791,7 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
                   >
                     {updateStatus === "available" ? (
                       <button
-                        className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25 light-theme:border-emerald-600/50 light-theme:bg-emerald-100 light-theme:text-emerald-700 light-theme:hover:bg-emerald-200"
+                        className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25"
                         onClick={() => void installUpdate()}
                       >
                         Install &amp; restart
@@ -693,6 +806,19 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
                       </button>
                     )}
                   </SettingsItem>
+                  {getChangelogForVersion(appVersion) ? (
+                    <SettingsItem
+                      label="What's new"
+                      description={`See what changed in Phokus v${appVersion}.`}
+                    >
+                      <button
+                        className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/[0.055] px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white light-theme:border-gray-700/50 light-theme:bg-gray-900 light-theme:text-white light-theme:hover:bg-gray-800 light-theme:hover:text-white"
+                        onClick={openWhatsNew}
+                      >
+                        View changes
+                      </button>
+                    </SettingsItem>
+                  ) : null}
                 </SettingsGroup>
 
                 <SettingsGroup title="Setup">
@@ -742,6 +868,19 @@ export function SettingsModal() {
                       <span className={`inline-block h-4 w-4 transform rounded-full bg-white shadow transition-transform ${notificationsPaused ? "translate-x-4" : "translate-x-0"}`} />
                     </button>
                   </SettingsItem>
+                  <SettingsItem
+                    label="Keep background pauses after restart"
+                    description="When enabled, folders you pause from the sidebar or background bar stay paused the next time Phokus opens."
+                  >
+                    <button
+                      role="switch"
+                      aria-checked={workerPausesPersist}
+                      className={`relative inline-flex h-5 w-9 shrink-0 cursor-pointer rounded-full border-2 border-transparent transition-colors focus:outline-none ${workerPausesPersist ? "bg-sky-500" : "bg-white/15"}`}
+                      onClick={() => setWorkerPausesPersist(!workerPausesPersist)}
+                    >
+                      <span className={`inline-block h-4 w-4 transform rounded-full bg-white shadow transition-transform ${workerPausesPersist ? "translate-x-4" : "translate-x-0"}`} />
+                    </button>
+                  </SettingsItem>
                 </SettingsGroup>
 
                 <SettingsGroup title="Maintenance">

src/components/Sidebar.tsx

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import { useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { Reorder, useDragControls } from "framer-motion";
 import { open } from "@tauri-apps/plugin-dialog";
-import { useGalleryStore, Folder, IndexProgress } from "../store";
+import { useGalleryStore, Folder, Album, IndexProgress } from "../store";
 import { ThemedDropdown } from "./ThemedDropdown";
+import { mediaSrc } from "../lib/mediaSrc";
 
 interface ContextMenuState {
   folderId: number;
@@ -339,6 +340,270 @@ function FolderItem({
   );
 }
 
+function AlbumContextMenu({
+  x,
+  y,
+  onClose,
+  onRename,
+  onDelete,
+}: {
+  x: number;
+  y: number;
+  onClose: () => void;
+  onRename: () => void;
+  onDelete: () => void;
+}) {
+  const ref = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const handleDown = (e: MouseEvent) => {
+      if (ref.current && !ref.current.contains(e.target as Node)) onClose();
+    };
+    const handleKey = (e: KeyboardEvent) => {
+      if (e.key === "Escape") onClose();
+    };
+    document.addEventListener("mousedown", handleDown);
+    document.addEventListener("keydown", handleKey);
+    return () => {
+      document.removeEventListener("mousedown", handleDown);
+      document.removeEventListener("keydown", handleKey);
+    };
+  }, [onClose]);
+
+  const item = (label: string, onClick: () => void, danger = false) => (
+    <button
+      className={`w-full text-left px-3 py-1.5 text-[12px] rounded-md transition-colors ${
+        danger
+          ? "text-red-400 hover:bg-red-500/15 hover:text-red-300"
+          : "text-gray-300 hover:bg-white/8 hover:text-white"
+      }`}
+      onClick={(event) => {
+        event.stopPropagation();
+        onClick();
+        onClose();
+      }}
+    >
+      {label}
+    </button>
+  );
+
+  return (
+    <div
+      ref={ref}
+      className="fixed z-50 min-w-[160px] py-1 px-1 rounded-lg bg-gray-900 border border-white/10 shadow-xl shadow-black/50"
+      style={{ left: x, top: y }}
+    >
+      {item("Rename", onRename)}
+      <div className="my-1 border-t border-white/[0.06]" />
+      {item("Delete album", onDelete, true)}
+    </div>
+  );
+}
+
+function AlbumItem({
+  album,
+  manageMode = false,
+  selectedForManage = false,
+  onToggleManage,
+  reorderable = false,
+  onDragStart,
+  onDragEnd,
+}: {
+  album: Album;
+  manageMode?: boolean;
+  selectedForManage?: boolean;
+  onToggleManage?: () => void;
+  reorderable?: boolean;
+  onDragStart?: () => void;
+  onDragEnd?: () => void;
+}) {
+  const dragControls = useDragControls();
+  const viewAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.viewAlbum);
+  const renameAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.renameAlbum);
+  const deleteAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.deleteAlbum);
+  const activeView = useGalleryStore((state) => state.activeView);
+  const selectedAlbumId = useGalleryStore((state) => state.selectedAlbumId);
+  const selected = !manageMode && activeView === "album" && selectedAlbumId === album.id;
+
+  const [menu, setMenu] = useState<{ x: number; y: number } | null>(null);
+  const [renaming, setRenaming] = useState(false);
+  const [renameValue, setRenameValue] = useState(album.name);
+  const [confirmingRemoval, setConfirmingRemoval] = useState(false);
+  const renameInputRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (renaming) {
+      setRenameValue(album.name);
+      setTimeout(() => renameInputRef.current?.select(), 0);
+    }
+  }, [renaming, album.name]);
+
+  const commitRename = async () => {
+    const trimmed = renameValue.trim();
+    if (trimmed && trimmed !== album.name) {
+      await renameAlbum(album.id, trimmed);
+    }
+    setRenaming(false);
+  };
+
+  const cover = mediaSrc(album.cover_thumbnail_path);
+
+  const row = (
+    <div
+      role={manageMode ? "checkbox" : "button"}
+      tabIndex={renaming ? -1 : 0}
+      aria-checked={manageMode ? selectedForManage : undefined}
+      aria-current={!manageMode && selected ? "page" : undefined}
+      className={`group relative flex items-center gap-2.5 px-2 py-1.5 rounded-lg cursor-pointer transition-all duration-150 ${
+        selectedForManage
+          ? "bg-blue-500/10 text-white ring-1 ring-inset ring-blue-400/50"
+          : selected
+            ? "bg-white/8 text-white"
+            : "text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-200 hover:bg-white/5"
+      }`}
+      onClick={() => {
+        if (manageMode) {
+          onToggleManage?.();
+        } else if (!renaming) {
+          viewAlbum(album.id);
+        }
+      }}
+      onKeyDown={(e) => {
+        if (e.target !== e.currentTarget) return;
+        if (renaming || (e.key !== "Enter" && e.key !== " ")) return;
+        e.preventDefault();
+        if (manageMode) {
+          onToggleManage?.();
+        } else {
+          viewAlbum(album.id);
+        }
+      }}
+      onContextMenu={(e) => {
+        if (manageMode) return;
+        e.preventDefault();
+        e.stopPropagation();
+        setMenu({ x: Math.min(e.clientX, window.innerWidth - 180), y: Math.min(e.clientY, window.innerHeight - 120) });
+      }}
+    >
+      {/* Manage-mode selection checkbox */}
+      {manageMode ? (
+        <div
+          className={`flex h-4 w-4 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded border transition-colors ${
+            selectedForManage ? "border-blue-400 bg-blue-500 text-white" : "border-white/30 text-transparent"
+          }`}
+        >
+          <svg className="h-2.5 w-2.5" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+            <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={3} d="M5 13l4 4L19 7" />
+          </svg>
+        </div>
+      ) : null}
+
+      {/* Drag handle — hover-revealed, reorders albums */}
+      {reorderable ? (
+        <button
+          type="button"
+          aria-label={`Reorder ${album.name}`}
+          title="Drag to reorder"
+          className="-ml-1 flex h-6 w-3.5 shrink-0 cursor-grab touch-none items-center justify-center rounded text-gray-700 opacity-0 transition-opacity hover:text-gray-400 group-hover:opacity-100"
+          onPointerDown={(e) => {
+            e.stopPropagation();
+            onDragStart?.();
+            dragControls.start(e);
+          }}
+          onClick={(e) => e.stopPropagation()}
+        >
+          <svg className="h-3 w-3" viewBox="0 0 12 12" fill="currentColor">
+            <circle cx="3" cy="3" r="1" /><circle cx="9" cy="3" r="1" />
+            <circle cx="3" cy="6" r="1" /><circle cx="9" cy="6" r="1" />
+            <circle cx="3" cy="9" r="1" /><circle cx="9" cy="9" r="1" />
+          </svg>
+        </button>
+      ) : null}
+
+      {/* Cover thumbnail — distinguishes albums from folder rows */}
+      <div className="h-7 w-7 shrink-0 overflow-hidden rounded-md bg-white/[0.05] ring-1 ring-white/10">
+        {cover ? (
+          <img src={cover} alt="" className="h-full w-full object-cover" />
+        ) : (
+          <div className="flex h-full w-full items-center justify-center text-white/20">
+            <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+              <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={1.5}
+                d="M4 16l4.586-4.586a2 2 0 012.828 0L16 16m-2-2l1.586-1.586a2 2 0 012.828 0L20 14m-6-6h.01M6 20h12a2 2 0 002-2V6a2 2 0 00-2-2H6a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2z" />
+            </svg>
+          </div>
+        )}
+      </div>
+
+      <div className="min-w-0 flex-1">
+        {renaming ? (
+          <input
+            ref={renameInputRef}
+            className="w-full bg-white/10 text-white text-[13px] font-medium rounded px-1 py-0 outline-none ring-1 ring-blue-500/60 leading-tight"
+            value={renameValue}
+            onChange={(e) => setRenameValue(e.target.value)}
+            onKeyDown={(e) => {
+              if (e.key === "Enter") { e.preventDefault(); void commitRename(); }
+              if (e.key === "Escape") setRenaming(false);
+            }}
+            onBlur={() => void commitRename()}
+            onClick={(e) => e.stopPropagation()}
+          />
+        ) : (
+          <div className={`truncate text-[13px] font-medium leading-tight ${selected ? "text-white" : ""}`}>
+            {album.name}
+          </div>
+        )}
+        <div className="text-[11px] text-gray-600 mt-0.5">{album.image_count.toLocaleString()}</div>
+      </div>
+
+      {!renaming && confirmingRemoval ? (
+        <div className="flex items-center gap-1 shrink-0" onClick={(e) => e.stopPropagation()}>
+          <button
+            className="px-1.5 py-0.5 text-[10px] rounded bg-red-500/20 text-red-400 hover:bg-red-500/30 hover:text-red-300 transition-colors"
+            onClick={() => { void deleteAlbum(album.id); setConfirmingRemoval(false); }}
+          >
+            Confirm
+          </button>
+          <button
+            className="px-1.5 py-0.5 text-[10px] rounded bg-white/5 text-gray-500 hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-gray-300 transition-colors"
+            onClick={() => setConfirmingRemoval(false)}
+          >
+            Cancel
+          </button>
+        </div>
+      ) : null}
+
+      {menu ? (
+        <AlbumContextMenu
+          x={menu.x}
+          y={menu.y}
+          onClose={() => setMenu(null)}
+          onRename={() => setRenaming(true)}
+          onDelete={() => setConfirmingRemoval(true)}
+        />
+      ) : null}
+    </div>
+  );
+
+  if (reorderable) {
+    return (
+      <Reorder.Item
+        as="div"
+        value={album.id}
+        drag="y"
+        dragControls={dragControls}
+        dragListener={false}
+        dragElastic={0.08}
+        onDragEnd={onDragEnd}
+        layout
+        transition={{ layout: { type: "spring", stiffness: 520, damping: 38, mass: 0.55 } }}
+      >
+        {row}
+      </Reorder.Item>
+    );
+  }
+  return row;
+}
+
 export function Sidebar() {
   const folders = useGalleryStore((state) => state.folders);
   const selectedFolderId = useGalleryStore((state) => state.selectedFolderId);
@@ -348,6 +613,59 @@ export function Sidebar() {
   const activeView = useGalleryStore((state) => state.activeView);
   const setView = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setView);
   const reorderFolders = useGalleryStore((state) => state.reorderFolders);
+  const albums = useGalleryStore((state) => state.albums);
+  const createAlbum = useGalleryStore((state) => state.createAlbum);
+  const deleteAlbums = useGalleryStore((state) => state.deleteAlbums);
+  const reorderAlbums = useGalleryStore((state) => state.reorderAlbums);
+  const [creatingAlbum, setCreatingAlbum] = useState(false);
+  const [createAlbumPending, setCreateAlbumPending] = useState(false);
+  const [newAlbumName, setNewAlbumName] = useState("");
+  const newAlbumInputRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null);
+  const [manageAlbums, setManageAlbums] = useState(false);
+  const [manageSelectedIds, setManageSelectedIds] = useState<Set<number>>(new Set());
+  const [confirmingAlbumDelete, setConfirmingAlbumDelete] = useState(false);
+  const [orderedAlbums, setOrderedAlbums] = useState(albums);
+  const orderedAlbumsRef = useRef(albums);
+  const [draggingAlbum, setDraggingAlbum] = useState(false);
+
+  // Keep the local drag order in sync with the store except mid-drag, so a
+  // background album refresh doesn't yank the row out from under the pointer.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (draggingAlbum) return;
+    setOrderedAlbums(albums);
+    orderedAlbumsRef.current = albums;
+  }, [albums, draggingAlbum]);
+
+  const handleAlbumReorder = (ids: number[]) => {
+    const byId = new Map(orderedAlbumsRef.current.map((album) => [album.id, album]));
+    const next = ids
+      .map((id) => byId.get(id))
+      .filter((album): album is Album => album !== undefined);
+    orderedAlbumsRef.current = next;
+    setOrderedAlbums(next);
+  };
+
+  const finishAlbumReorder = () => {
+    setDraggingAlbum(false);
+    const nextIds = orderedAlbumsRef.current.map((album) => album.id);
+    // Read live store order (not the render-time closure) in case albums changed.
+    const currentIds = useGalleryStore.getState().albums.map((album) => album.id);
+    const snapshotIds = albums.map((album) => album.id);
+    if (
+      snapshotIds.length !== currentIds.length ||
+      snapshotIds.some((id, index) => id !== currentIds[index])
+    ) {
+      orderedAlbumsRef.current = useGalleryStore.getState().albums;
+      setOrderedAlbums(orderedAlbumsRef.current);
+      return;
+    }
+    if (
+      nextIds.length !== currentIds.length ||
+      nextIds.some((id, index) => id !== currentIds[index])
+    ) {
+      void reorderAlbums(nextIds);
+    }
+  };
   const [librarySort, setLibrarySortState] = useState<LibrarySort>(() => {
     const saved = window.localStorage.getItem(LIBRARY_SORT_KEY);
     return saved === "za" || saved === "custom" ? saved : "az";
@@ -463,8 +781,55 @@ export function Sidebar() {
     setFolderPickerOpen(true);
   };
 
+  const startCreatingAlbum = () => {
+    setCreatingAlbum(true);
+    setNewAlbumName("");
+    setTimeout(() => newAlbumInputRef.current?.focus(), 0);
+  };
+
+  const handleCreateAlbum = async () => {
+    const name = newAlbumName.trim();
+    if (!name) {
+      setCreatingAlbum(false);
+      return;
+    }
+    if (createAlbumPending) return;
+    setCreateAlbumPending(true);
+    try {
+      const album = await createAlbum(name);
+      setNewAlbumName("");
+      setCreatingAlbum(false);
+      useGalleryStore.getState().viewAlbum(album.id);
+    } finally {
+      setCreateAlbumPending(false);
+    }
+  };
+
+  const exitManageAlbums = () => {
+    setManageAlbums(false);
+    setManageSelectedIds(new Set());
+    setConfirmingAlbumDelete(false);
+  };
+
+  const toggleManageSelected = (albumId: number) => {
+    setManageSelectedIds((prev) => {
+      const next = new Set(prev);
+      if (next.has(albumId)) next.delete(albumId);
+      else next.add(albumId);
+      return next;
+    });
+    setConfirmingAlbumDelete(false);
+  };
+
+  const handleDeleteSelectedAlbums = async () => {
+    const ids = Array.from(manageSelectedIds);
+    if (ids.length === 0) return;
+    await deleteAlbums(ids);
+    exitManageAlbums();
+  };
+
   return (
-    <aside className="w-60 shrink-0 flex flex-col bg-gray-950 border-r border-white/[0.06]">
+    <aside className="w-52 shrink-0 flex flex-col bg-gray-950 border-r border-white/[0.06] lg:w-60">
       {/* Header */}
       <div className="flex items-center justify-between px-4 h-12 border-b border-white/[0.06] shrink-0">
         <span className="text-[13px] font-semibold text-white/80 tracking-wide">Phokus</span>
@@ -601,6 +966,160 @@ export function Sidebar() {
           ))
         )}
       </Reorder.Group>
+
+      {/* Albums — a visually distinct block, separated from Libraries by a
+          heavier divider and given cover-thumbnail rows so the two never
+          read as one list. */}
+      <div className="shrink-0 border-t-2 border-white/[0.08] bg-white/[0.015]">
+        <div className="flex items-center justify-between gap-2 px-5 pt-3 pb-1">
+          <span className="text-[10px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-[0.15em] text-gray-600">
+            {manageAlbums ? `${manageSelectedIds.size} selected` : "Albums"}
+          </span>
+          {manageAlbums ? (
+            <button
+              onClick={exitManageAlbums}
+              className="rounded px-1 text-[10px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:text-gray-200"
+            >
+              Done
+            </button>
+          ) : (
+            <div className="flex items-center gap-0.5">
+              {albums.length > 0 ? (
+                <button
+                  onClick={() => setManageAlbums(true)}
+                  className="rounded p-0.5 text-gray-600 transition-colors hover:bg-white/8 hover:text-gray-200"
+                  title="Manage albums"
+                >
+                  <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                    <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={1.75}
+                      d="M11 5H6a2 2 0 00-2 2v11a2 2 0 002 2h11a2 2 0 002-2v-5m-1.414-9.414a2 2 0 112.828 2.828L11.828 15H9v-2.828l8.586-8.586z" />
+                  </svg>
+                </button>
+              ) : null}
+              <button
+                onClick={startCreatingAlbum}
+                className="rounded p-0.5 text-gray-600 transition-colors hover:bg-white/8 hover:text-gray-200"
+                title="New album"
+              >
+                <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                  <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={1.75} d="M12 4v16m8-8H4" />
+                </svg>
+              </button>
+            </div>
+          )}
+        </div>
+
+        {/* Manage action row */}
+        {manageAlbums ? (
+          <div className="px-3 pb-1.5">
+            {confirmingAlbumDelete ? (
+              <div className="rounded-lg border border-red-500/25 bg-red-500/[0.06] p-2">
+                <p className="mb-2 text-[11px] leading-relaxed text-gray-400">
+                  Delete {manageSelectedIds.size} album{manageSelectedIds.size === 1 ? "" : "s"}? Your images stay in
+                  the library — only the album{manageSelectedIds.size === 1 ? "" : "s"} {manageSelectedIds.size === 1 ? "is" : "are"} removed.
+                </p>
+                <div className="flex justify-end gap-1.5">
+                  <button
+                    className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white"
+                    onClick={() => setConfirmingAlbumDelete(false)}
+                  >
+                    Cancel
+                  </button>
+                  <button
+                    className="rounded-md bg-red-500/20 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] font-medium text-red-300 transition-colors hover:bg-red-500/30 hover:text-red-200"
+                    onClick={() => void handleDeleteSelectedAlbums()}
+                  >
+                    Delete {manageSelectedIds.size}
+                  </button>
+                </div>
+              </div>
+            ) : (
+              <div className="flex items-center justify-between gap-2">
+                <button
+                  className="text-[11px] text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:text-gray-300"
+                  onClick={() =>
+                    setManageSelectedIds((prev) =>
+                      prev.size === albums.length ? new Set() : new Set(albums.map((a) => a.id)),
+                    )
+                  }
+                >
+                  {manageSelectedIds.size === albums.length ? "Deselect all" : "Select all"}
+                </button>
+                <button
+                  className="rounded-md border border-red-400/25 bg-red-500/10 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] text-red-300 transition-colors hover:bg-red-500/15 disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:opacity-40"
+                  onClick={() => setConfirmingAlbumDelete(true)}
+                  disabled={manageSelectedIds.size === 0}
+                >
+                  Delete {manageSelectedIds.size > 0 ? manageSelectedIds.size : ""}
+                </button>
+              </div>
+            )}
+          </div>
+        ) : null}
+
+        <div className="max-h-52 overflow-y-auto px-2 pb-2 space-y-px">
+          {creatingAlbum ? (
+            <form
+              className="flex gap-1 px-1 py-1"
+              onSubmit={(e) => {
+                e.preventDefault();
+                void handleCreateAlbum();
+              }}
+            >
+              <input
+                ref={newAlbumInputRef}
+                className="min-w-0 flex-1 rounded border border-white/10 bg-white/10 px-1.5 py-1 text-[13px] text-white outline-none ring-1 ring-blue-500/40 placeholder-gray-600"
+                placeholder="Album name…"
+                value={newAlbumName}
+                onChange={(e) => setNewAlbumName(e.target.value)}
+                disabled={createAlbumPending}
+                onKeyDown={(e) => {
+                  if (createAlbumPending) return;
+                  if (e.key === "Escape") {
+                    setCreatingAlbum(false);
+                    setNewAlbumName("");
+                  }
+                }}
+                onBlur={() => void handleCreateAlbum()}
+              />
+            </form>
+          ) : null}
+
+          {albums.length === 0 && !creatingAlbum ? (
+            <p className="px-3 py-3 text-center text-[11px] leading-relaxed text-gray-700">
+              Select images and “Add to album” to start curating
+            </p>
+          ) : manageAlbums ? (
+            albums.map((album) => (
+              <AlbumItem
+                key={album.id}
+                album={album}
+                manageMode
+                selectedForManage={manageSelectedIds.has(album.id)}
+                onToggleManage={() => toggleManageSelected(album.id)}
+              />
+            ))
+          ) : (
+            <Reorder.Group
+              as="div"
+              axis="y"
+              values={orderedAlbums.map((album) => album.id)}
+              onReorder={handleAlbumReorder}
+              className="space-y-px"
+            >
+              {orderedAlbums.map((album) => (
+                <AlbumItem
+                  key={album.id}
+                  album={album}
+                  reorderable
+                  onDragStart={() => setDraggingAlbum(true)}
+                  onDragEnd={finishAlbumReorder}
+                />
+              ))}
+            </Reorder.Group>
+          )}
+        </div>
+      </div>
     </aside>
   );
 }

src/components/Timeline.tsx

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { useCallback, useEffect, useLayoutEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } fr
 import { useVirtualizer } from "@tanstack/react-virtual";
 import { ImageRecord, tileSizeForZoom, useGalleryStore } from "../store";
 import { ContextMenu, ImageTile } from "./Gallery";
+import { Tooltip } from "./Tooltip";
 
 const GAP = 6;
 const HEADER_HEIGHT = 52;
@@ -374,16 +375,16 @@ function ScrubberYearBlock({ yearEntry, activeGroupIndex, onScrollTo }: Scrubber
 
   return (
     <div className="w-full flex flex-col items-center">
+      <Tooltip label={yearEntry.year} anchorToCursor>
         <button
           className={`w-full text-center py-0.5 text-[10px] font-semibold tracking-wide transition-colors ${
             isYearActive ? "text-white/80" : "text-white/30 hover:text-white/55"
           }`}
           onClick={() => onScrollTo(yearEntry.firstGroupIndex)}
-        title={yearEntry.year}
         >
           {yearEntry.year}
         </button>
-
+      </Tooltip>
       <div
         className="grid gap-[3px] pb-1.5"
         style={{ gridTemplateColumns: "repeat(3, 10px)" }}
@@ -396,14 +397,14 @@ function ScrubberYearBlock({ yearEntry, activeGroupIndex, onScrollTo }: Scrubber
             return <span key={monthNum} className="h-[10px] w-[10px]" />;
           }
           return (
+            <Tooltip key={monthNum} label={`${monthEntry.label} ${yearEntry.year}`} anchorToCursor>
               <button
-              key={monthNum}
-              title={`${monthEntry.label} ${yearEntry.year}`}
                 onClick={() => onScrollTo(monthEntry.groupIndex)}
                 className={`h-[10px] w-[10px] rounded-full transition-colors ${
                   isActive ? "bg-white/70" : "bg-white/15 hover:bg-white/40"
                 }`}
               />
+            </Tooltip>
           );
         })}
       </div>

src/components/TitleBar.tsx

@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
-import { useState, useEffect } from "react";
+import { useState, useEffect, useRef } from "react";
 import { getCurrentWindow } from "@tauri-apps/api/window";
-import { useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+import { useGalleryStore, AppTheme } from "../store";
 import { PhokusMark } from "./PhokusMark";
+import { Tooltip } from "./Tooltip";
+
+const THEME_OPTIONS: { value: AppTheme; label: string }[] = [
+  { value: "phokus", label: "Phokus" },
+  { value: "subtle-light", label: "Subtle Light" },
+  { value: "conventional-dark", label: "Conventional Dark" },
+];
 
 // SVG icons for window controls
 function MinimizeIcon() {
@@ -40,11 +47,40 @@ function CloseIcon() {
 export function TitleBar() {
   const [isMaximized, setIsMaximized] = useState(false);
   const setSettingsOpen = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setSettingsOpen);
+  const theme = useGalleryStore((state) => state.theme);
+  const setTheme = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setTheme);
   const updateStatus = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateStatus);
   const updateVersion = useGalleryStore((state) => state.updateVersion);
   const installUpdate = useGalleryStore((state) => state.installUpdate);
   const appWindow = getCurrentWindow();
 
+  // Right-clicking the settings cog opens a quick theme switcher, anchored under
+  // the cog so it never overflows the right edge of the window.
+  const settingsBtnRef = useRef<HTMLButtonElement>(null);
+  const themeMenuRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
+  const [themeMenu, setThemeMenu] = useState<{ top: number; right: number } | null>(null);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!themeMenu) return;
+    const handleDown = (e: MouseEvent) => {
+      if (themeMenuRef.current && !themeMenuRef.current.contains(e.target as Node)) setThemeMenu(null);
+    };
+    const handleKey = (e: KeyboardEvent) => { if (e.key === "Escape") setThemeMenu(null); };
+    document.addEventListener("mousedown", handleDown);
+    document.addEventListener("keydown", handleKey);
+    return () => {
+      document.removeEventListener("mousedown", handleDown);
+      document.removeEventListener("keydown", handleKey);
+    };
+  }, [themeMenu]);
+
+  const handleSettingsContextMenu = (e: React.MouseEvent) => {
+    e.preventDefault();
+    const rect = settingsBtnRef.current?.getBoundingClientRect();
+    if (!rect) return;
+    setThemeMenu({ top: rect.bottom + 4, right: window.innerWidth - rect.right });
+  };
+
   useEffect(() => {
     // Get initial maximized state
     appWindow.isMaximized().then(setIsMaximized);
@@ -79,10 +115,9 @@ export function TitleBar() {
           up its focal point and the chip becomes a button that re-opens the prompt. */}
       <div className="flex items-center gap-2 pl-3 pr-4">
         {updatePending ? (
-          <div
-            className="group relative"
-            style={{ WebkitAppRegion: "no-drag" } as React.CSSProperties}
-          >
+          <div style={{ WebkitAppRegion: "no-drag" } as React.CSSProperties}>
+            {/* Instant tooltip (delay 0) — this affordance should read immediately. */}
+            <Tooltip label={`Click to update — v${updateVersion}`} delay={0} align="start">
               <button
                 onClick={() => void installUpdate()}
                 aria-label={`Update available — click to update to Phokus v${updateVersion}`}
@@ -91,10 +126,7 @@ export function TitleBar() {
                 <span className="pointer-events-none absolute left-1/2 top-1/2 h-3 w-3 -translate-x-1/2 -translate-y-1/2 rounded-full bg-amber-400/60 animate-ping" />
                 <PhokusMark className="relative h-4 w-4" dotClassName="fill-amber-400" />
               </button>
-            {/* Custom tooltip — fades in ~100ms instead of the native ~500ms delay. */}
-            <span className="pointer-events-none absolute left-0 top-full z-50 mt-1.5 whitespace-nowrap rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-gray-800 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] text-gray-200 opacity-0 shadow-lg transition-opacity duration-100 group-hover:opacity-100">
-              Click to update — v{updateVersion}
-            </span>
+            </Tooltip>
           </div>
         ) : (
           <div className="flex h-5 w-5 items-center justify-center rounded-md bg-white/8 overflow-hidden text-gray-300">
@@ -112,9 +144,11 @@ export function TitleBar() {
         className="flex items-stretch h-full"
         style={{ WebkitAppRegion: "no-drag" } as React.CSSProperties}
       >
+        <Tooltip label="Settings (right-click to switch theme)" anchorToCursor>
         <button
+          ref={settingsBtnRef}
           onClick={() => setSettingsOpen(true)}
-          title="Settings"
+          onContextMenu={handleSettingsContextMenu}
           className="group flex h-full w-10 items-center justify-center text-gray-600 transition-colors duration-100 hover:bg-white/6 hover:text-gray-300"
         >
           <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
@@ -122,7 +156,7 @@ export function TitleBar() {
             <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={1.8} d="M15 12a3 3 0 11-6 0 3 3 0 016 0z" />
           </svg>
         </button>
-
+      </Tooltip>
         {/* Minimize */}
         <button
           onClick={handleMinimize}
@@ -150,6 +184,36 @@ export function TitleBar() {
           <CloseIcon />
         </button>
       </div>
+
+      {/* Quick theme switcher — opened by right-clicking the settings cog. */}
+      {themeMenu && (
+        <div
+          ref={themeMenuRef}
+          className="fixed z-50 min-w-[170px] py-1 px-1 rounded-lg bg-gray-900 border border-white/10 shadow-xl shadow-black/50"
+          style={{ top: themeMenu.top, right: themeMenu.right, WebkitAppRegion: "no-drag" } as React.CSSProperties}
+        >
+          <div className="px-3 pt-1 pb-1 text-[10px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-gray-500">Theme</div>
+          {THEME_OPTIONS.map((opt) => {
+            const active = theme === opt.value;
+            return (
+              <button
+                key={opt.value}
+                className={`flex w-full items-center justify-between gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-left text-[12px] transition-colors ${
+                  active ? "bg-white/8 text-white" : "text-gray-300 hover:bg-white/8 hover:text-white"
+                }`}
+                onClick={() => { setTheme(opt.value); setThemeMenu(null); }}
+              >
+                {opt.label}
+                {active && (
+                  <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5 text-sky-400" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                    <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2.5} d="M5 13l4 4L19 7" />
+                  </svg>
+                )}
+              </button>
+            );
+          })}
+        </div>
+      )}
     </div>
   );
 }

src/components/Toolbar.tsx

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { invoke } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
 import { tileSizeForZoom, useGalleryStore, SortOrder, MediaFilter, SearchCommand, parseSearchValue, searchModeLabel, ExploreTagEntry } from "../store";
 import { FolderScopeDropdown } from "./FolderScopeDropdown";
+import { ColorFilter } from "./ColorFilter";
+import { Tooltip } from "./Tooltip";
 
 const BASE_SORT_OPTIONS: { value: SortOrder; label: string }[] = [
   { value: "date_desc", label: "Newest first" },
@@ -110,7 +112,7 @@ function FilterPill({
       : "bg-white/10 text-white light-theme:bg-gray-900 light-theme:text-white";
   return (
     <button
-      className={`rounded-lg px-3 py-1.5 text-xs font-medium transition-all duration-150 ${
+      className={`shrink-0 whitespace-nowrap rounded-lg px-3 py-1.5 text-xs font-medium transition-all duration-150 ${
         active
           ? activeClass
           : "text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-200 hover:bg-white/5 light-theme:text-gray-600 light-theme:hover:bg-gray-900 light-theme:hover:text-white"
@@ -160,8 +162,11 @@ export function Toolbar() {
   const setFailedEmbeddingsOnly = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setFailedEmbeddingsOnly);
   const failedTaggingOnly = useGalleryStore((state) => state.failedTaggingOnly);
   const setFailedTaggingOnly = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setFailedTaggingOnly);
+  const colorFilter = useGalleryStore((state) => state.colorFilter);
+  const setColorFilter = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setColorFilter);
   const similarScope = useGalleryStore((state) => state.similarScope);
   const setSimilarScope = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setSimilarScope);
+  const similarSourceAlbumId = useGalleryStore((state) => state.similarSourceAlbumId);
   const mediaJobProgress = useGalleryStore((state) => state.mediaJobProgress);
   const zoomPreset = useGalleryStore((state) => state.zoomPreset);
   const setZoomPreset = useGalleryStore((state) => state.setZoomPreset);
@@ -187,6 +192,12 @@ export function Toolbar() {
   const hasActiveSearch = search.trim().length > 0;
   const parsedSearch = parseSearchValue(composeSearchValue(searchCommand, searchQuery));
   const isSimilarResults = collectionTitle === "Similar Images";
+  // Album scope is offered while browsing an album (where it's the default) and
+  // while viewing similar/region results that were launched from an album.
+  const showAlbumScope =
+    activeView === "album" ||
+    (similarSourceAlbumId !== null &&
+      (collectionTitle === "Similar Images" || collectionTitle === "Region Search Results"));
 
   // If current sort is video-only but we switched away from video filter, reset to date_desc
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -220,7 +231,7 @@ export function Toolbar() {
         const results = await invoke<ExploreTagEntry[]>("search_tags_autocomplete", {
           params: { query: searchQuery.trim(), folder_id: selectedFolderId ?? null, limit: 10 },
         });
-        setTagSuggestions(results);
+        setTagSuggestions(Array.isArray(results) ? results : []);
       } catch {
         setTagSuggestions([]);
       }
@@ -256,12 +267,12 @@ export function Toolbar() {
   const showCommandHints = !searchCommand && searchPanelOpen;
 
   return (
-    <div className="relative z-20 shrink-0 border-b border-white/[0.06] bg-gray-950/80 backdrop-blur-xl">
+    <div className="relative z-40 shrink-0 border-b border-white/[0.06] bg-gray-950/80 backdrop-blur-xl">
       {/* Primary row */}
-      <div className="flex items-center gap-3 px-5 h-12">
+      <div className="flex items-center gap-2 px-3 h-12 lg:gap-3 lg:px-5">
         {/* Title + count */}
         <div className="flex items-baseline gap-2.5 min-w-0 shrink-0">
-          <h2 className="text-[15px] font-semibold text-white truncate max-w-48">{title}</h2>
+          <h2 className="text-[15px] font-semibold text-white truncate max-w-32 lg:max-w-48">{title}</h2>
           <span className="text-xs text-gray-600 shrink-0">
             {loadedCount < totalImages
               ? `${loadedCount.toLocaleString()} / ${totalImages.toLocaleString()}`
@@ -312,7 +323,7 @@ export function Toolbar() {
                 }}
                 onFocus={() => setSearchPanelOpen(true)}
                 placeholder="Search files, or use /s /t"
-                className={`w-64 bg-transparent py-1.5 pr-9 text-sm text-white placeholder:text-gray-600 focus:outline-none transition-colors ${searchCommand !== null ? "pl-16" : "pl-8"}`}
+                className={`w-40 bg-transparent py-1.5 pr-9 text-sm text-white placeholder:text-gray-600 focus:outline-none transition-colors lg:w-52 xl:w-64 ${searchCommand !== null ? "pl-16" : "pl-8"}`}
               />
               {searchCommand !== null ? (
                 <div className="absolute left-8 top-1/2 -translate-y-1/2">
@@ -347,7 +358,7 @@ export function Toolbar() {
 
           {/* Tag autocomplete suggestions */}
           {showTagSuggestions && tagSuggestions.length > 0 ? (
-            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-30 mt-1.5 w-72 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 py-1 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
+            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-50 mt-1.5 w-72 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 py-1 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
               {tagSuggestions.map((entry) => (
                 <button
                   key={entry.tag}
@@ -371,25 +382,25 @@ export function Toolbar() {
 
           {/* Tag mode with no suggestions yet — show a brief hint */}
           {showTagSuggestions && tagSuggestions.length === 0 && searchQuery.trim().length > 0 ? (
-            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-30 mt-1.5 w-72 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 px-3 py-2.5 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
+            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-50 mt-1.5 w-72 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 px-3 py-2.5 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
               <p className="text-xs text-white/25">No matching tags</p>
             </div>
           ) : null}
 
           {/* Semantic mode hint */}
           {searchCommand === "semantic" && searchPanelOpen ? (
-            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-30 mt-1.5 w-72 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 px-3 py-2.5 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
+            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-50 mt-1.5 w-72 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 px-3 py-2.5 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
               <p className="text-xs text-white/40">Search by meaning and visual concepts</p>
             </div>
           ) : null}
 
           {/* Command hints — only shown when no command is active */}
           {showCommandHints ? (
-            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-30 mt-1.5 w-64 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 py-1 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
+            <div className="absolute left-0 top-full z-50 mt-1.5 w-64 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 py-1 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur">
               {(
                 [
-                  { command: "tag" as SearchCommand, prefix: "/t", label: "Tags", description: "Search AI and user tags" },
-                  { command: "semantic" as SearchCommand, prefix: "/s", label: "Semantic", description: "Search by meaning" },
+                  { command: "tag" as SearchCommand, prefix: "/t", label: "Tags", description: "Search user and AI tags" },
+                  { command: "semantic" as SearchCommand, prefix: "/s", label: "Semantic", description: "Search by meaning, object, mood" },
                 ] as const
               ).map((option) => (
                 <button
@@ -424,8 +435,8 @@ export function Toolbar() {
         {/* Zoom */}
         <div className="flex items-center rounded-lg border border-white/8 overflow-hidden light-theme:border-gray-700/40">
           {(["compact", "comfortable", "detail"] as const).map((preset, i) => (
+            <Tooltip key={preset} label={`${tileSize}px tiles`} followCursor>
               <button
-              key={preset}
                 className={`px-2.5 py-1.5 text-xs font-medium transition-colors ${
                   i > 0 ? "border-l border-white/8" : ""
                 } ${
@@ -433,23 +444,28 @@ export function Toolbar() {
                     ? "bg-white/10 text-white light-theme:bg-gray-900 light-theme:text-white"
                     : "text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-200 hover:bg-white/5 light-theme:text-gray-600 light-theme:hover:bg-gray-900 light-theme:hover:text-white"
                 }`}
-              title={`${tileSize}px tiles`}
                 onClick={() => setZoomPreset(preset)}
               >
                 {preset === "compact" ? "S" : preset === "comfortable" ? "M" : "L"}
               </button>
+            </Tooltip>
           ))}
         </div>
       </div>
 
-      {/* Filter row */}
+      {/* Filter row — pills scroll horizontally on narrow widths so they never
+          squash or stack; the color filter stays pinned to the right. */}
       <div className="flex items-center gap-1 px-4 pb-1.5">
-        <FilterPill label="All" active={mediaFilter === "all" && !favoritesOnly && !failedEmbeddingsOnly && !failedTaggingOnly && minimumRating === 0} onClick={() => { setMediaFilter("all"); setFavoritesOnly(false); setMinimumRating(0); setFailedEmbeddingsOnly(false); setFailedTaggingOnly(false); }} />
+        <div className="flex min-w-0 flex-1 items-center gap-1 overflow-x-auto [scrollbar-width:none] [&::-webkit-scrollbar]:hidden">
+        <FilterPill label="All" active={mediaFilter === "all" && !favoritesOnly && !failedEmbeddingsOnly && !failedTaggingOnly && minimumRating === 0 && colorFilter === null} onClick={() => { setMediaFilter("all"); setFavoritesOnly(false); setMinimumRating(0); setFailedEmbeddingsOnly(false); setFailedTaggingOnly(false); setColorFilter(null); }} />
         <FilterPill label="Images" active={mediaFilter === "image" && !favoritesOnly && !failedEmbeddingsOnly && !failedTaggingOnly} onClick={() => { setMediaFilter("image"); setFavoritesOnly(false); setFailedEmbeddingsOnly(false); setFailedTaggingOnly(false); }} />
         <FilterPill label="Videos" active={mediaFilter === "video" && !favoritesOnly && !failedEmbeddingsOnly && !failedTaggingOnly} onClick={() => { setMediaFilter("video"); setFavoritesOnly(false); setFailedEmbeddingsOnly(false); setFailedTaggingOnly(false); }} />
         <FilterPill label="Favorites" active={favoritesOnly} onClick={() => { setFavoritesOnly(!favoritesOnly); setFailedEmbeddingsOnly(false); setFailedTaggingOnly(false); }} />
         <FilterPill label="Rated" active={minimumRating === 1} onClick={() => { setMinimumRating(minimumRating === 1 ? 0 : 1); setFailedEmbeddingsOnly(false); setFailedTaggingOnly(false); }} />
         <FilterPill label="4★+" active={minimumRating === 4} onClick={() => { setMinimumRating(minimumRating === 4 ? 0 : 4); setFailedEmbeddingsOnly(false); setFailedTaggingOnly(false); }} />
+        {showAlbumScope ? (
+          <FilterPill label="Similar: Album" active={similarScope === "current_album"} onClick={() => setSimilarScope("current_album")} />
+        ) : null}
         <FilterPill label="Similar: Folder" active={similarScope === "current_folder"} onClick={() => setSimilarScope("current_folder")} />
         <FilterPill label="Similar: All" active={similarScope === "all_media"} onClick={() => setSimilarScope("all_media")} />
         {hasAnyFailedEmbeddings ? (
@@ -468,7 +484,9 @@ export function Toolbar() {
             onClick={() => setFailedTaggingOnly(!failedTaggingOnly)}
           />
         ) : null}
-        {isSimilarResults ? <span className="ml-2 text-[11px] text-gray-500">Current similar scope: {similarScope === "current_folder" ? "current folder" : "all media"}</span> : null}
+        {isSimilarResults ? <span className="ml-2 shrink-0 whitespace-nowrap text-[11px] text-gray-500">Current similar scope: {similarScope === "current_album" ? "this album" : similarScope === "current_folder" ? "current folder" : "all media"}</span> : null}
+        </div>
+        <ColorFilter />
       </div>
     </div>
   );

src/components/Tooltip.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+import { MouseEvent, ReactNode, useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { createPortal } from "react-dom";
+import { motion } from "framer-motion";
+
+type TooltipSide = "top" | "bottom" | "left" | "right";
+type TooltipAlign = "center" | "start" | "end";
+
+// Horizontal alignment only applies to top/bottom; left/right center vertically.
+function positionClasses(side: TooltipSide, align: TooltipAlign): string {
+  if (side === "left") return "right-full top-1/2 mr-1.5 -translate-y-1/2";
+  if (side === "right") return "left-full top-1/2 ml-1.5 -translate-y-1/2";
+  const vertical = side === "top" ? "bottom-full mb-1.5" : "top-full mt-1.5";
+  const horizontal = align === "start" ? "left-0" : align === "end" ? "right-0" : "left-1/2 -translate-x-1/2";
+  return `${vertical} ${horizontal}`;
+}
+
+const BASE_CLASSES =
+  "pointer-events-none z-50 whitespace-nowrap rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-gray-800 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] text-gray-200 shadow-lg";
+const STATIC_CLASSES = `${BASE_CLASSES} transition-opacity duration-100`;
+
+/**
+ * Lightweight custom tooltip — fades in (faster than the native one) after a
+ * tunable hover `delay`, and hides instantly on leave or click. By default it
+ * anchors to a `side` of the wrapper. `anchorToCursor` shows at the pointer's
+ * entry position; `followCursor` keeps tracking the pointer.
+ */
+export function Tooltip({
+  label,
+  delay = 400,
+  side = "bottom",
+  align = "center",
+  block = false,
+  anchorToCursor = false,
+  followCursor = false,
+  className = "",
+  children,
+}: {
+  label: ReactNode;
+  /** Milliseconds the pointer must hover before the tooltip appears (0 = instant). */
+  delay?: number;
+  side?: TooltipSide;
+  /** Horizontal alignment for top/bottom tooltips. */
+  align?: TooltipAlign;
+  /** Full-width block wrapper (e.g. wrapping a grid cell) instead of inline. */
+  block?: boolean;
+  /** Position at the cursor when shown, without following subsequent movement. */
+  anchorToCursor?: boolean;
+  /** Track the cursor (fixed position) instead of anchoring to a side. */
+  followCursor?: boolean;
+  /** Extra classes for the wrapper (e.g. layout). */
+  className?: string;
+  children: ReactNode;
+}) {
+  const [visible, setVisible] = useState(false);
+  const [coords, setCoords] = useState({ x: 0, y: 0 });
+  const [mounted, setMounted] = useState(false);
+  const timer = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | undefined>(undefined);
+  const frame = useRef<number | undefined>(undefined);
+  const tooltipRef = useRef<HTMLSpanElement>(null);
+
+  // Resolve a viewport-safe position near the cursor: below-right by default,
+  // but flipped above the cursor if it would overflow the bottom edge, and
+  // clamped so it never runs off the right/left.
+  const place = (clientX: number, clientY: number) => {
+    const tip = tooltipRef.current;
+    const tipWidth = tip?.offsetWidth ?? 0;
+    const tipHeight = tip?.offsetHeight ?? 24;
+    const gap = 16;
+    let top = clientY + gap;
+    if (top + tipHeight > window.innerHeight - 4) {
+      top = clientY - gap - tipHeight;
+    }
+    let left = clientX + 14;
+    if (left + tipWidth > window.innerWidth - 4) left = window.innerWidth - 4 - tipWidth;
+    if (left < 4) left = 4;
+    setCoords({ x: left, y: top });
+  };
+
+  const clear = () => {
+    if (timer.current) clearTimeout(timer.current);
+    timer.current = undefined;
+    if (frame.current !== undefined) cancelAnimationFrame(frame.current);
+    frame.current = undefined;
+  };
+  const show = (event: MouseEvent<HTMLElement>) => {
+    clear();
+    if (anchorToCursor || followCursor) place(event.clientX, event.clientY);
+    if (delay <= 0) {
+      setVisible(true);
+      return;
+    }
+    timer.current = setTimeout(() => setVisible(true), delay);
+  };
+  const hide = () => {
+    clear();
+    setVisible(false);
+  };
+  const move = (event: MouseEvent<HTMLElement>) => {
+    if (!followCursor) return;
+    const { clientX, clientY } = event;
+    if (frame.current !== undefined) cancelAnimationFrame(frame.current);
+    frame.current = requestAnimationFrame(() => {
+      frame.current = undefined;
+      place(clientX, clientY);
+    });
+  };
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    setMounted(true);
+    return clear;
+  }, []);
+
+  const Wrapper = block ? "div" : "span";
+  const cursorTooltip = (
+    <motion.span
+      ref={tooltipRef}
+      role="tooltip"
+      aria-hidden={!visible}
+      // Portaled + fixed so transformed parents and scroll containers cannot
+      // distort cursor-anchored tooltip coordinates.
+      className={`fixed ${BASE_CLASSES}`}
+      initial={false}
+      animate={{ left: coords.x, top: coords.y, opacity: visible ? 1 : 0 }}
+      transition={{
+        left: followCursor ? { type: "spring", stiffness: 700, damping: 45, mass: 0.35 } : { duration: 0 },
+        top: followCursor ? { type: "spring", stiffness: 520, damping: 34, mass: 0.45 } : { duration: 0 },
+        opacity: { duration: visible ? 0.1 : 0.05 },
+      }}
+    >
+      {label}
+    </motion.span>
+  );
+
+  return (
+    <Wrapper
+      className={`${block ? "relative block w-full" : "relative inline-flex"} ${className}`}
+      onMouseEnter={show}
+      onMouseMove={followCursor ? move : undefined}
+      onMouseLeave={hide}
+      onPointerDown={hide}
+    >
+      {children}
+      {anchorToCursor || followCursor ? (
+        mounted ? createPortal(cursorTooltip, document.body) : null
+      ) : (
+        <span
+          role="tooltip"
+          aria-hidden={!visible}
+          className={`absolute ${STATIC_CLASSES} ${positionClasses(side, align)} ${visible ? "opacity-100" : "opacity-0"}`}
+        >
+          {label}
+        </span>
+      )}
+    </Wrapper>
+  );
+}

src/components/UpdateToast.tsx

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ export function UpdateToast() {
               </p>
               <div className="mt-3 flex items-center gap-2">
                 <button
-                  className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25 light-theme:border-emerald-600/50 light-theme:bg-emerald-100 light-theme:text-emerald-700 light-theme:hover:bg-emerald-200"
+                  className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25"
                   onClick={() => void installUpdate()}
                 >
                   Install &amp; restart

src/components/WhatsNewModal.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+import { useEffect, useState, type ReactNode } from "react";
+import { AnimatePresence, motion } from "framer-motion";
+import { invoke } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
+import { useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+import { getChangelogForVersion, type ChangelogSection } from "../changelog";
+import { Tooltip } from "./Tooltip";
+
+// Shown in the tooltip so the user can see the link's destination before
+// clicking. The actual navigation is handled by the open_changelog_url command.
+const CHANGELOG_URL = "https://github.com/JezzWTF/phokus/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md";
+
+// Per-section accent. These all use the standard colour scale, which the
+// subtle-light theme re-maps to readable dark shades via CSS variables — so no
+// `light-theme:` overrides are needed (or wanted) here. See the theme note in
+// index.css: `bg-white`/`text-white` deliberately become *dark* in light mode,
+// so neutral surfaces must use the gray scale and trust the remap.
+const SECTION_STYLES: Record<string, { label: string; dot: string }> = {
+  Added: { label: "text-emerald-300", dot: "bg-emerald-400/80" },
+  Changed: { label: "text-sky-300", dot: "bg-sky-300/80" },
+  Fixed: { label: "text-amber-300", dot: "bg-amber-400/80" },
+  Removed: { label: "text-rose-300", dot: "bg-rose-400/80" },
+  Security: { label: "text-violet-300", dot: "bg-violet-400/80" },
+};
+
+const NEUTRAL_STYLE = { label: "text-gray-300", dot: "bg-gray-400/70" };
+
+// Render the small amount of inline markdown the changelog uses: **bold** and
+// `code`. Anything else passes through as plain text.
+function renderInline(text: string): ReactNode[] {
+  const nodes: ReactNode[] = [];
+  const regex = /\*\*(.+?)\*\*|`([^`]+)`/g;
+  let lastIndex = 0;
+  let key = 0;
+  let match: RegExpExecArray | null;
+  while ((match = regex.exec(text)) !== null) {
+    if (match.index > lastIndex) {
+      nodes.push(text.slice(lastIndex, match.index));
+    }
+    if (match[1] !== undefined) {
+      nodes.push(
+        <strong key={key++} className="font-semibold text-white">
+          {match[1]}
+        </strong>,
+      );
+    } else if (match[2] !== undefined) {
+      nodes.push(
+        <code key={key++} className="rounded bg-white/10 px-1 py-0.5 text-[12px] text-gray-200">
+          {match[2]}
+        </code>,
+      );
+    }
+    lastIndex = regex.lastIndex;
+  }
+  if (lastIndex < text.length) {
+    nodes.push(text.slice(lastIndex));
+  }
+  return nodes;
+}
+
+function Section({ section }: { section: ChangelogSection }) {
+  const style = SECTION_STYLES[section.title] ?? NEUTRAL_STYLE;
+  const [open, setOpen] = useState(true);
+
+  return (
+    <section>
+      <button
+        type="button"
+        onClick={() => setOpen((value) => !value)}
+        className="flex w-full items-center gap-2 text-left"
+        aria-expanded={open}
+      >
+        <svg
+          className={`h-3 w-3 shrink-0 text-gray-600 transition-transform ${open ? "rotate-90" : ""}`}
+          fill="none"
+          viewBox="0 0 24 24"
+          stroke="currentColor"
+        >
+          <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2.5} d="M9 5l7 7-7 7" />
+        </svg>
+        <span className={`text-[11px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-[0.1em] ${style.label}`}>{section.title}</span>
+        <span className="text-[11px] font-medium text-gray-600">{section.items.length}</span>
+      </button>
+      <AnimatePresence initial={false}>
+        {open ? (
+          <motion.div
+            initial={{ height: 0, opacity: 0 }}
+            animate={{ height: "auto", opacity: 1 }}
+            exit={{ height: 0, opacity: 0 }}
+            transition={{ duration: 0.18 }}
+            className="overflow-hidden"
+          >
+            <ul className="mt-2.5 space-y-2.5 pl-5">
+              {section.items.map((item, index) => (
+                <li key={index} className="flex gap-3">
+                  <span className={`mt-[7px] h-1.5 w-1.5 shrink-0 rounded-full ${style.dot}`} />
+                  <p className="text-[13px] leading-relaxed text-gray-400">
+                    {item.lead ? (
+                      <>
+                        <span className="font-semibold text-gray-100">{item.lead}</span>
+                        {item.body ? <span> — {renderInline(item.body)}</span> : null}
+                      </>
+                    ) : (
+                      renderInline(item.body)
+                    )}
+                  </p>
+                </li>
+              ))}
+            </ul>
+          </motion.div>
+        ) : null}
+      </AnimatePresence>
+    </section>
+  );
+}
+
+export function WhatsNewModal() {
+  const whatsNewOpen = useGalleryStore((s) => s.whatsNewOpen);
+  const closeWhatsNew = useGalleryStore((s) => s.closeWhatsNew);
+  const appVersion = useGalleryStore((s) => s.appVersion);
+
+  const entry = getChangelogForVersion(appVersion);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!whatsNewOpen) return;
+    const handleKeyDown = (event: KeyboardEvent) => {
+      if (event.key === "Escape") closeWhatsNew();
+    };
+    window.addEventListener("keydown", handleKeyDown);
+    return () => window.removeEventListener("keydown", handleKeyDown);
+  }, [whatsNewOpen, closeWhatsNew]);
+
+  return (
+    <AnimatePresence>
+      {whatsNewOpen ? (
+        <motion.div
+          className="fixed inset-0 z-[90] flex items-center justify-center bg-black/65 px-6 backdrop-blur-sm"
+          onClick={closeWhatsNew}
+          initial={{ opacity: 0 }}
+          animate={{ opacity: 1 }}
+          exit={{ opacity: 0 }}
+          transition={{ duration: 0.15 }}
+        >
+          <motion.div
+            className="relative flex max-h-[min(82vh,760px)] w-[min(88vw,560px)] flex-col overflow-hidden rounded-lg border border-white/10 bg-gray-950 shadow-2xl shadow-black/60"
+            onClick={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
+            initial={{ opacity: 0, scale: 0.97, y: 8 }}
+            animate={{ opacity: 1, scale: 1, y: 0 }}
+            exit={{ opacity: 0, scale: 0.98, y: 6 }}
+            transition={{ duration: 0.16 }}
+          >
+            <div className="flex items-start justify-between gap-4 border-b border-white/[0.07] px-6 py-5">
+              <div>
+                <p className="text-[11px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-[0.12em] text-emerald-300">What's new</p>
+                <h3 className="mt-1 text-lg font-semibold text-white">
+                  Phokus v{entry?.version ?? appVersion ?? "—"}
+                </h3>
+                {entry?.date ? <p className="mt-0.5 text-xs text-gray-600">Released {entry.date}</p> : null}
+              </div>
+              <button
+                className="rounded-md p-1.5 text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:bg-white/[0.06] hover:text-white"
+                onClick={closeWhatsNew}
+                title="Close"
+              >
+                <svg className="h-4 w-4" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                  <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2} d="M6 18L18 6M6 6l12 12" />
+                </svg>
+              </button>
+            </div>
+
+            <div className="min-h-0 flex-1 space-y-6 overflow-y-auto px-6 py-5">
+              {entry && entry.sections.length > 0 ? (
+                entry.sections.map((section) => <Section key={section.title} section={section} />)
+              ) : (
+                <p className="text-sm text-gray-500">
+                  Release notes for this version aren't available in-app. See the full changelog on GitHub.
+                </p>
+              )}
+            </div>
+
+            <div className="flex items-center justify-between gap-4 border-t border-white/[0.07] px-6 py-4">
+              <Tooltip label={CHANGELOG_URL} side="top" align="start">
+                <button
+                  type="button"
+                  onClick={() => void invoke("open_changelog_url")}
+                  className="text-xs text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:text-gray-300"
+                >
+                  Full changelog ↗
+                </button>
+              </Tooltip>
+              <button
+                className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3.5 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25"
+                onClick={closeWhatsNew}
+              >
+                Got it
+              </button>
+            </div>
+          </motion.div>
+        </motion.div>
+      ) : null}
+    </AnimatePresence>
+  );
+}

src/components/WhatsNewToast.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import { AnimatePresence, motion } from "framer-motion";
+import { useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+
+// Shown once on the first launch after an update, inviting the user to read the
+// changelog. Distinct from UpdateToast (which drives the download/install flow).
+export function WhatsNewToast() {
+  const whatsNewToast = useGalleryStore((s) => s.whatsNewToast);
+  const whatsNewOpen = useGalleryStore((s) => s.whatsNewOpen);
+  const openWhatsNew = useGalleryStore((s) => s.openWhatsNew);
+  const dismissWhatsNewToast = useGalleryStore((s) => s.dismissWhatsNewToast);
+
+  const visible = whatsNewToast !== null && !whatsNewOpen;
+
+  return (
+    <AnimatePresence>
+      {visible ? (
+        <motion.div
+          initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 12 }}
+          animate={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
+          exit={{ opacity: 0, y: 12 }}
+          transition={{ duration: 0.18 }}
+          className="fixed bottom-4 right-4 z-50 w-80 rounded-lg border border-emerald-400/20 bg-gray-900 p-4 shadow-xl"
+        >
+          <p className="text-sm font-medium text-white">What's new in Phokus v{whatsNewToast}</p>
+          <p className="mt-1 text-xs text-gray-500">See what's changed in this version.</p>
+          <div className="mt-3 flex items-center gap-2">
+            <button
+              className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25"
+              onClick={openWhatsNew}
+            >
+              What's new
+            </button>
+            <button
+              className="rounded-md border border-transparent px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-gray-500 transition-colors hover:bg-white/[0.06] hover:text-gray-200"
+              onClick={dismissWhatsNewToast}
+            >
+              Dismiss
+            </button>
+          </div>
+        </motion.div>
+      ) : null}
+    </AnimatePresence>
+  );
+}

src/components/bulk/BulkTagFields.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import { useBulkTagEditor } from "./useBulkTagEditor";
+
+// Presentational tag-editing fields shared by the popover and modal surfaces.
+export function BulkTagFields({ autoFocus = false }: { autoFocus?: boolean }) {
+  const { selectedCount, input, setInput, suggestions, appliedTags, pending, addTag, removeTag } =
+    useBulkTagEditor();
+
+  return (
+    <div className="space-y-2">
+      <form
+        className="flex gap-1.5"
+        onSubmit={(event) => {
+          event.preventDefault();
+          void addTag(input);
+        }}
+      >
+        {/* eslint-disable-next-line jsx-a11y/no-autofocus */}
+        <input
+          autoFocus={autoFocus}
+          className="min-w-0 flex-1 rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-1 text-xs text-white placeholder-gray-600 focus:border-white/20 focus:outline-none"
+          placeholder={`Add tag to ${selectedCount} item${selectedCount === 1 ? "" : "s"}…`}
+          value={input}
+          onChange={(event) => setInput(event.target.value)}
+          disabled={pending}
+        />
+        <button
+          type="submit"
+          className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2.5 py-1 text-xs text-gray-300 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:opacity-50"
+          disabled={pending || !input.trim()}
+        >
+          Add
+        </button>
+      </form>
+
+      {suggestions.length > 0 ? (
+        <div className="flex flex-wrap gap-1">
+          {suggestions.map((suggestion) => (
+            <button
+              key={suggestion.tag}
+              className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/[0.03] px-2 py-0.5 text-[11px] text-gray-400 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white"
+              onClick={() => void addTag(suggestion.tag)}
+              title={`${suggestion.count.toLocaleString()} tagged`}
+            >
+              {suggestion.tag}
+            </button>
+          ))}
+        </div>
+      ) : null}
+
+      {appliedTags.length > 0 ? (
+        <div className="flex flex-wrap gap-1 border-t border-white/[0.06] pt-2">
+          {appliedTags.map((tag) => (
+            <span
+              key={tag}
+              className="group/chip flex items-center gap-1 rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/5 px-2 py-0.5 text-xs text-gray-300"
+            >
+              {tag}
+              <button
+                className="text-gray-600 transition-colors hover:text-white"
+                title="Remove from selected"
+                onClick={() => void removeTag(tag)}
+              >
+                <svg className="h-3 w-3" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+                  <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2} d="M6 18L18 6M6 6l12 12" />
+                </svg>
+              </button>
+            </span>
+          ))}
+        </div>
+      ) : null}
+    </div>
+  );
+}

src/components/bulk/BulkTagPopover.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import { BulkTagFields } from "./BulkTagFields";
+
+// Inline popover surface for bulk tagging — the default editing surface.
+// Anchored above the bar by the parent; closes on outside click via the
+// data-bulk-popover guard handled in BulkActionBar.
+export function BulkTagPopover({ onClose }: { onClose: () => void }) {
+  return (
+    <div
+      data-bulk-popover
+      className="absolute bottom-full left-1/2 mb-2 w-72 -translate-x-1/2 rounded-xl border border-white/10 bg-gray-950/98 p-3 shadow-2xl backdrop-blur"
+      onClick={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
+    >
+      <div className="mb-2 flex items-center justify-between">
+        <p className="text-[11px] uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500">Add tags</p>
+        <button
+          className="text-gray-600 transition-colors hover:text-white"
+          onClick={onClose}
+          title="Close"
+        >
+          <svg className="h-3.5 w-3.5" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor">
+            <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" strokeWidth={2} d="M6 18L18 6M6 6l12 12" />
+          </svg>
+        </button>
+      </div>
+      <BulkTagFields autoFocus />
+    </div>
+  );
+}

src/components/bulk/useBulkTagEditor.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { invoke } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
+import { ExploreTagEntry, useGalleryStore } from "../../store";
+
+// Shared logic for the bulk tag editor, consumed by both the inline popover and
+// the modal surface so they stay behaviorally identical.
+export function useBulkTagEditor() {
+  const selectedCount = useGalleryStore((state) => state.gallerySelectedIds.size);
+  const selectedFolderId = useGalleryStore((state) => state.selectedFolderId);
+  const bulkAddTags = useGalleryStore((state) => state.bulkAddTags);
+  const bulkRemoveTag = useGalleryStore((state) => state.bulkRemoveTag);
+
+  const [input, setInput] = useState("");
+  const [suggestions, setSuggestions] = useState<ExploreTagEntry[]>([]);
+  const [appliedTags, setAppliedTags] = useState<string[]>([]);
+  const [pending, setPending] = useState(false);
+  const debounceRef = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | undefined>(undefined);
+  const requestRef = useRef(0);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const query = input.trim();
+    if (!query) {
+      requestRef.current += 1;
+      setSuggestions([]);
+      return;
+    }
+    if (debounceRef.current) clearTimeout(debounceRef.current);
+    const requestId = ++requestRef.current;
+    debounceRef.current = setTimeout(async () => {
+      try {
+        const results = await invoke<ExploreTagEntry[]>("search_tags_autocomplete", {
+          params: { query, folder_id: selectedFolderId ?? null, limit: 8 },
+        });
+        if (requestId !== requestRef.current) return;
+        setSuggestions(results);
+      } catch {
+        if (requestId !== requestRef.current) return;
+        setSuggestions([]);
+      }
+    }, 120);
+    return () => {
+      requestRef.current += 1;
+      if (debounceRef.current) clearTimeout(debounceRef.current);
+    };
+  }, [input, selectedFolderId]);
+
+  const addTag = useCallback(
+    async (raw: string) => {
+      const tag = raw.trim();
+      if (!tag || pending) return;
+      setPending(true);
+      try {
+        await bulkAddTags([tag]);
+        setAppliedTags((prev) => (prev.includes(tag) ? prev : [...prev, tag]));
+        setInput("");
+        setSuggestions([]);
+      } finally {
+        setPending(false);
+      }
+    },
+    [bulkAddTags, pending],
+  );
+
+  const removeTag = useCallback(
+    async (tag: string) => {
+      await bulkRemoveTag(tag);
+      setAppliedTags((prev) => prev.filter((entry) => entry !== tag));
+    },
+    [bulkRemoveTag],
+  );
+
+  return { selectedCount, input, setInput, suggestions, appliedTags, pending, addTag, removeTag };
+}

src/components/onboarding/OnboardingOverlay.tsx

@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ export function OnboardingOverlay() {
               Back
             </button>
             <button
-              className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-4 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25 light-theme:border-emerald-600/50 light-theme:bg-emerald-100 light-theme:text-emerald-700 light-theme:hover:bg-emerald-200"
+              className="rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-4 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25"
               onClick={() => (isLast ? completeOnboarding() : setOnboardingStep(onboardingStep + 1))}
             >
               {isLast ? "Finish" : "Next"}

src/components/onboarding/StepAddLibrary.tsx

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ export function StepAddLibrary() {
           )}
         </div>
         <button
-          className="shrink-0 rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25 disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:opacity-45 light-theme:border-emerald-600/50 light-theme:bg-emerald-100 light-theme:text-emerald-700 light-theme:hover:bg-emerald-200"
+          className="shrink-0 rounded-md border border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 px-3 py-1.5 text-xs text-emerald-200 transition-colors hover:bg-emerald-500/25 disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:opacity-45"
           onClick={handlePick}
         >
           {folders.length > 0 ? "Add another folder" : "Choose a folder"}

src/components/onboarding/StepWelcome.tsx

@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ export function StepWelcome() {
               type="button"
               className={`rounded-md border p-2 text-left transition-colors ${
                 selected
-                  ? "border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 text-emerald-200 ring-1 ring-emerald-400/40 light-theme:border-emerald-600/50 light-theme:bg-emerald-100 light-theme:text-emerald-700 light-theme:hover:bg-emerald-200"
+                  ? "border-emerald-400/35 bg-emerald-500/15 text-emerald-200 ring-1 ring-emerald-400/40"
                   : "border-white/10 bg-white/[0.055] text-gray-300 hover:bg-white/10 hover:text-white light-theme:border-gray-700/50 light-theme:bg-gray-900 light-theme:text-white light-theme:hover:bg-gray-800 light-theme:hover:text-white"
               }`}
               onClick={() => setTheme(option.value)}

src/dev/applyMockScenario.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { useGalleryStore } from "../store";
+import { getMockScenario } from "./mockScenarios";
+
+export function applyMockScenario() {
+  const scenario = getMockScenario();
+  const store = useGalleryStore.getState();
+
+  if (scenario === "album") {
+    const albumId = store.albums[0]?.id;
+    if (albumId !== undefined) store.viewAlbum(albumId);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (scenario === "duplicates") {
+    store.setView("duplicates");
+  }
+}

src/dev/mockBackend.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,434 @@
+import { emit } from "@tauri-apps/api/event";
+import type { Album, ExploreTagEntry, Folder, ImageRecord, ImageTag, SortOrder } from "../store";
+import { compareImages, createMockDb, mockExif } from "./mockFixtures";
+import { getMockScenario } from "./mockScenarios";
+
+const db = createMockDb(getMockScenario());
+let nextFolderId = 100;
+let nextAlbumId = 100;
+let nextTagId = 10_000;
+
+type AnyPayload = Record<string, any> | undefined;
+
+function params(payload: unknown): Record<string, any> {
+  if (!payload || typeof payload !== "object") return {};
+  const record = payload as Record<string, any>;
+  return record.params && typeof record.params === "object" ? record.params : record;
+}
+
+function page<T>(items: T[], offset = 0, limit = 200) {
+  return {
+    images: items.slice(offset, offset + limit),
+    total: items.length,
+    offset,
+    limit,
+  };
+}
+
+function filterImages(input: ImageRecord[], payload: unknown): ImageRecord[] {
+  const p = params(payload);
+  const query = String(p.search ?? p.query ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  return input.filter((image) => {
+    if (p.folder_id !== undefined && p.folder_id !== null && image.folder_id !== p.folder_id) return false;
+    if (p.media_kind && image.media_kind !== p.media_kind) return false;
+    if (p.favorites_only && !image.favorite) return false;
+    if (p.rating_min !== undefined && p.rating_min !== null && image.rating < p.rating_min) return false;
+    if (p.embedding_failed_only && image.embedding_status !== "failed") return false;
+    if (p.tagging_failed_only && !image.ai_tagger_error) return false;
+    if (query && !image.filename.toLowerCase().includes(query)) return false;
+    return true;
+  });
+}
+
+function getImages(payload: unknown) {
+  const p = params(payload);
+  const sort = (p.sort ?? "date_desc") as SortOrder;
+  return page(
+    filterImages(db.images, payload).sort(compareImages(sort)),
+    Number(p.offset ?? 0),
+    Number(p.limit ?? 200),
+  );
+}
+
+function searchTags(payload: unknown) {
+  const p = params(payload);
+  const query = String(p.query ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  const matchingIds = new Set(
+    Object.entries(db.tagsByImageId)
+      .filter(([, tags]) => tags.some((tag) => tag.tag.toLowerCase().includes(query)))
+      .map(([imageId]) => Number(imageId)),
+  );
+  const images = filterImages(db.images, { params: { ...p, query: "", search: "" } })
+    .filter((image) => matchingIds.has(image.id))
+    .sort(compareImages((p.sort ?? "date_desc") as SortOrder));
+  return page(images, Number(p.offset ?? 0), Number(p.limit ?? 200));
+}
+
+function searchTagsAutocomplete(payload: unknown): ExploreTagEntry[] {
+  const p = params(payload);
+  const query = String(p.query ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  const limit = Number(p.limit ?? 10);
+  return db.exploreTags
+    .filter((entry) => !query || entry.tag.toLowerCase().includes(query))
+    .sort((left, right) => right.count - left.count || left.tag.localeCompare(right.tag))
+    .slice(0, limit);
+}
+
+function semanticSearch(payload: unknown): ImageRecord[] {
+  const p = params(payload);
+  const query = String(p.query ?? "").toLowerCase();
+  const scored = filterImages(db.images, payload)
+    .map((image, index) => ({
+      image,
+      score:
+        (image.generated_caption?.toLowerCase().includes(query) ? 0 : 20) +
+        (image.filename.toLowerCase().includes(query) ? 0 : 10) +
+        (index % 9),
+    }))
+    .sort((left, right) => left.score - right.score)
+    .slice(0, Number(p.limit ?? 200))
+    .map((entry) => entry.image);
+  return scored.length ? scored : filterImages(db.images, payload).slice(0, Number(p.limit ?? 200));
+}
+
+function albumImages(payload: unknown) {
+  const p = params(payload);
+  const albumId = Number(p.album_id);
+  const ids = new Set(db.albumImageIds[albumId] ?? []);
+  const sort = (p.sort ?? "date_desc") as SortOrder;
+  return page(
+    db.images.filter((image) => ids.has(image.id)).sort(compareImages(sort)),
+    Number(p.offset ?? 0),
+    Number(p.limit ?? 200),
+  );
+}
+
+function similarImages(payload: unknown) {
+  const p = params(payload);
+  const source = db.images.find((image) => image.id === p.image_id);
+  let images = db.images.filter((image) => image.id !== p.image_id && image.embedding_status === "ready");
+  if (p.album_id !== undefined && p.album_id !== null) {
+    const ids = new Set(db.albumImageIds[Number(p.album_id)] ?? []);
+    images = images.filter((image) => ids.has(image.id));
+  } else if (p.folder_id !== undefined && p.folder_id !== null) {
+    images = images.filter((image) => image.folder_id === p.folder_id);
+  }
+  const ordered = images.sort((left, right) => {
+    const leftScore = Math.abs(left.rating - (source?.rating ?? 0)) + (left.folder_id === source?.folder_id ? 0 : 2);
+    const rightScore = Math.abs(right.rating - (source?.rating ?? 0)) + (right.folder_id === source?.folder_id ? 0 : 2);
+    return leftScore - rightScore;
+  });
+  const offset = Number(p.offset ?? 0);
+  const limit = Number(p.limit ?? 200);
+  return {
+    images: ordered.slice(offset, offset + limit),
+    offset,
+    limit,
+    has_more: offset + limit < ordered.length,
+  };
+}
+
+function updateImages(ids: number[], updates: { favorite?: boolean | null; rating?: number | null }) {
+  const changed: ImageRecord[] = [];
+  for (const image of db.images) {
+    if (!ids.includes(image.id)) continue;
+    if (updates.favorite !== null && updates.favorite !== undefined) image.favorite = updates.favorite;
+    if (updates.rating !== null && updates.rating !== undefined) image.rating = updates.rating;
+    changed.push({ ...image });
+  }
+  return changed;
+}
+
+function refreshAlbumCounts() {
+  for (const album of db.albums) {
+    const ids = db.albumImageIds[album.id] ?? [];
+    album.image_count = ids.length;
+    album.cover_image_id = ids[0] ?? null;
+    album.cover_thumbnail_path = db.images.find((image) => image.id === ids[0])?.thumbnail_path ?? null;
+    album.updated_at = new Date().toISOString();
+  }
+}
+
+function createAlbum(name: string): Album {
+  const album: Album = {
+    id: nextAlbumId++,
+    name,
+    cover_image_id: null,
+    cover_thumbnail_path: null,
+    image_count: 0,
+    sort_order: db.albums.length + 1,
+    created_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    updated_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+  };
+  db.albums.push(album);
+  db.albumImageIds[album.id] = [];
+  return album;
+}
+
+function addFolder(path: string): Folder {
+  const parts = path.split(/[\\/]/).filter(Boolean);
+  const name = parts[parts.length - 1] ?? "New Folder";
+  const folder: Folder = {
+    id: nextFolderId++,
+    path,
+    name,
+    image_count: 0,
+    indexed_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    scan_error: null,
+    sort_order: db.folders.length + 1,
+  };
+  db.folders.push(folder);
+  return folder;
+}
+
+function safeFallback(cmd: string, payload: AnyPayload): unknown {
+  if (cmd.includes("app|version")) return "0.1.1-ui";
+  if (cmd.includes("path|resolve_directory")) return "C:\\Users\\phokus\\AppData\\Roaming\\Phokus";
+  if (cmd.includes("path|join")) {
+    const paths = payload?.paths ?? payload?.args ?? [];
+    return Array.isArray(paths) ? paths.join("\\") : "C:\\Users\\phokus\\AppData\\Roaming\\Phokus";
+  }
+  if (cmd.includes("notification|is_permission_granted")) return false;
+  if (cmd.includes("notification|request_permission")) return "denied";
+  if (cmd.includes("dialog|open")) return null;
+  if (cmd.includes("window|is_maximized")) return false;
+  if (cmd.includes("window|minimize")) return null;
+  if (cmd.includes("window|toggle_maximize")) return null;
+  if (cmd.includes("window|close")) return null;
+  if (cmd.includes("opener|reveal_item_in_dir")) return null;
+  if (cmd.includes("opener|open")) return null;
+  if (cmd.includes("process|relaunch")) return null;
+  console.warn("[Phokus UI Lab] Unmocked command:", cmd, payload);
+  return null;
+}
+
+export async function handleMockCommand(cmd: string, payload?: unknown): Promise<unknown> {
+  const p = params(payload);
+
+  switch (cmd) {
+    case "get_folders":
+      return db.folders;
+    case "add_folder":
+      addFolder(String(p.path ?? "C:\\Users\\phokus\\Pictures\\NewFolder"));
+      return null;
+    case "add_folders":
+      return (p.paths ?? []).map((path: string) => ({ status: "added", data: addFolder(path) }));
+    case "remove_folder":
+      db.folders = db.folders.filter((folder) => folder.id !== p.folderId);
+      return null;
+    case "rename_folder": {
+      const folder = db.folders.find((entry) => entry.id === p.folderId);
+      if (folder) folder.name = String(p.newName ?? folder.name);
+      return null;
+    }
+    case "update_folder_path": {
+      const folder = db.folders.find((entry) => entry.id === p.folderId);
+      if (folder) folder.path = String(p.newPath ?? folder.path);
+      return null;
+    }
+    case "reindex_folder":
+    case "reorder_folders":
+      return null;
+    case "list_directories":
+      return {
+        current: p.path ?? null,
+        parent: p.path ? "C:\\Users\\phokus" : null,
+        entries: db.folders.map((folder) => ({ name: folder.name, path: folder.path, has_children: false })),
+      };
+    case "get_background_job_progress":
+      return db.backgroundJobs;
+    case "get_images":
+      return getImages(payload);
+    case "semantic_search_images":
+      return semanticSearch(payload);
+    case "search_images_by_tag":
+      return searchTags(payload);
+    case "search_tags_autocomplete":
+      return searchTagsAutocomplete(payload);
+    case "get_images_by_ids":
+      return (p.image_ids ?? []).map((id: number) => db.images.find((image) => image.id === id)).filter(Boolean);
+    case "find_similar_images":
+    case "find_similar_by_region":
+      return similarImages(payload);
+    case "get_tag_cloud":
+      return db.scenario === "empty" ? [] : db.tagCloud;
+    case "get_explore_tags":
+      return db.scenario === "empty" ? [] : db.exploreTags.slice(0, Number(p.limit ?? 180));
+    case "get_related_tags": {
+      const relatedCounts = new Map<string, number>();
+      for (const imageTags of Object.values(db.tagsByImageId)) {
+        if (!imageTags.some((tag) => tag.tag === p.tag)) continue;
+        for (const tag of imageTags) {
+          if (tag.tag === p.tag) continue;
+          relatedCounts.set(tag.tag, (relatedCounts.get(tag.tag) ?? 0) + 1);
+        }
+      }
+      return Array.from(relatedCounts.entries())
+        .map(([tag, shared_count]) => ({ tag, shared_count }))
+        .sort((left, right) => right.shared_count - left.shared_count || left.tag.localeCompare(right.tag))
+        .slice(0, Number(p.limit ?? 18));
+    }
+    case "suggest_image_tags":
+      return ["select", "warm light"];
+    case "rename_tag":
+    case "delete_tag":
+      return cmd === "delete_tag" ? 6 : null;
+    case "get_image_tags":
+      return db.tagsByImageId[p.image_id] ?? [];
+    case "add_user_tag": {
+      const tag: ImageTag = { id: nextTagId++, image_id: p.image_id, tag: p.tag, source: "user", ai_model: null, confidence: null, created_at: new Date().toISOString() };
+      db.tagsByImageId[p.image_id] = [...(db.tagsByImageId[p.image_id] ?? []), tag];
+      return tag;
+    }
+    case "remove_tag":
+      for (const [imageId, imageTags] of Object.entries(db.tagsByImageId)) {
+        db.tagsByImageId[Number(imageId)] = imageTags.filter((tag) => tag.id !== p.tag_id);
+      }
+      return null;
+    case "get_image_exif":
+      return mockExif(Number(p.image_id));
+    case "update_image_details":
+      return updateImages([Number(p.image_id)], { favorite: p.favorite, rating: p.rating })[0];
+    case "bulk_update_details":
+      return updateImages(p.image_ids ?? [], { favorite: p.favorite, rating: p.rating });
+    case "bulk_add_tags":
+    case "bulk_remove_tag":
+      return null;
+    case "delete_images_from_disk":
+      return p.image_ids ?? [];
+    case "list_albums":
+      refreshAlbumCounts();
+      return db.albums;
+    case "create_album":
+      return createAlbum(String(p.name ?? "Untitled Album"));
+    case "rename_album": {
+      const album = db.albums.find((entry) => entry.id === p.album_id);
+      if (album) album.name = String(p.new_name ?? album.name);
+      return null;
+    }
+    case "delete_album":
+      db.albums = db.albums.filter((album) => album.id !== p.album_id);
+      delete db.albumImageIds[p.album_id];
+      return null;
+    case "delete_albums":
+      db.albums = db.albums.filter((album) => !(p.album_ids ?? []).includes(album.id));
+      for (const id of p.album_ids ?? []) delete db.albumImageIds[id];
+      return null;
+    case "reorder_albums":
+      return null;
+    case "add_images_to_album": {
+      const existing = new Set(db.albumImageIds[p.album_id] ?? []);
+      for (const id of p.image_ids ?? []) existing.add(id);
+      db.albumImageIds[p.album_id] = [...existing];
+      refreshAlbumCounts();
+      return p.image_ids?.length ?? 0;
+    }
+    case "remove_images_from_album":
+      db.albumImageIds[p.album_id] = (db.albumImageIds[p.album_id] ?? []).filter((id) => !(p.image_ids ?? []).includes(id));
+      refreshAlbumCounts();
+      return null;
+    case "get_album_images":
+      return albumImages(payload);
+    case "load_duplicate_scan_cache":
+      return db.duplicateScannedAt ? { groups: db.duplicateGroups, scanned_at: db.duplicateScannedAt } : null;
+    case "find_duplicates":
+      await emit("duplicate_scan_progress", { phase: "hashing", processed: Math.floor(db.images.length * 0.6), total: db.images.length, skipped: db.scenario === "errors" ? 3 : 0 });
+      db.duplicateScannedAt = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
+      return {
+        groups: db.duplicateGroups,
+        scanned_files: db.images.length,
+        candidate_files: db.duplicateGroups.flatMap((group) => group.images).length,
+        skipped_files: db.scenario === "errors" ? 3 : 0,
+      };
+    case "invalidate_duplicate_scan_cache":
+      return null;
+    case "get_caption_model_status":
+      return { model_id: "Salesforce/blip-image-captioning-base", model_name: "BLIP Base", local_dir: "mock://models/caption", ready: true, missing_files: [] };
+    case "get_caption_acceleration":
+    case "set_caption_acceleration":
+      return p.acceleration ?? "auto";
+    case "get_caption_detail":
+    case "set_caption_detail":
+      return p.detail ?? "paragraph";
+    case "prepare_caption_model":
+    case "delete_caption_model":
+      return { model_id: "Salesforce/blip-image-captioning-base", model_name: "BLIP Base", local_dir: "mock://models/caption", ready: true, missing_files: [] };
+    case "probe_caption_runtime":
+      return { ready: true, acceleration: "auto", detail: "paragraph", tokenizer_vocab_size: 30522, sessions: [] };
+    case "probe_caption_image":
+      return { input_shape: [1, 3, 384, 384], output_shape: [1, 768], output_values: 768, acceleration: "auto" };
+    case "generate_caption_for_image": {
+      const image = db.images.find((entry) => entry.id === p.image_id);
+      if (image) image.generated_caption = `Generated in UI Lab for ${image.filename}.`;
+      return image;
+    }
+    case "queue_caption_jobs":
+    case "clear_caption_jobs":
+    case "reset_generated_captions":
+    case "queue_tagging_jobs":
+    case "clear_tagging_jobs":
+      return 12;
+    case "get_tagger_model_status":
+      return { model_id: "SmilingWolf/wd-vit-tagger-v3", model_name: "WD ViT Tagger", local_dir: "mock://models/tagger", ready: true, missing_files: [] };
+    case "get_tagger_model":
+    case "set_tagger_model":
+      return p.model ?? "wd";
+    case "get_tagger_acceleration":
+    case "set_tagger_acceleration":
+      return p.acceleration ?? "auto";
+    case "get_tagger_threshold":
+    case "set_tagger_threshold":
+      return p.threshold ?? 0.35;
+    case "get_tagger_batch_size":
+    case "set_tagger_batch_size":
+      return p.batch_size ?? 8;
+    case "probe_tagger_runtime":
+      return { ready: true, acceleration: "auto", session: { file: "model.onnx", inputs: ["input"], outputs: ["tags"] } };
+    case "get_tagging_queue_scope":
+      return "all";
+    case "get_tagging_queue_folder_ids":
+    case "get_muted_folder_ids":
+      return [];
+    case "set_tagging_queue_scope":
+    case "set_tagging_queue_folder_ids":
+    case "set_muted_folder_ids":
+    case "set_notifications_paused":
+    case "set_worker_pauses_persist":
+    case "set_worker_paused":
+      return null;
+    case "get_notifications_paused":
+    case "get_worker_pauses_persist":
+    case "get_onboarding_completed":
+      return db.scenario !== "empty";
+    case "set_onboarding_completed":
+    case "set_last_seen_version":
+      return null;
+    case "get_worker_states":
+      return (p.folderIds ?? []).map((folder_id: number) => ({ folder_id, thumbnail_paused: false, metadata_paused: false, embedding_paused: false, tagging_paused: false }));
+    case "get_build_variant":
+      return "cpu";
+    case "get_last_seen_version":
+      return "0.1.1-ui";
+    case "get_ffmpeg_status":
+      return { installed: true, downloading: false, failed: false };
+    case "retry_ffmpeg_download":
+    case "open_app_data_folder":
+    case "open_map_location":
+    case "open_changelog_url":
+      return null;
+    case "get_database_info":
+      return { size_mb: 14.2, reclaimable_mb: 1.8 };
+    case "vacuum_database":
+      return { before_mb: 14.2, after_mb: 12.4, freed_mb: 1.8 };
+    case "rebuild_semantic_index":
+      return db.images.length;
+    case "get_orphaned_thumbnails_info":
+      return { count: 9, size_mb: 3.4 };
+    case "cleanup_orphaned_thumbnails":
+      return { deleted_count: 9, freed_mb: 3.4 };
+    case "retry_failed_embeddings":
+      return null;
+    default:
+      return safeFallback(cmd, payload as AnyPayload);
+  }
+}

src/dev/mockFixtures.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,359 @@
+import type {
+  Album,
+  AiRating,
+  DuplicateGroup,
+  ExploreTagEntry,
+  Folder,
+  FolderJobProgress,
+  ImageExif,
+  ImageRecord,
+  ImageTag,
+  SortOrder,
+  TagCloudEntry,
+} from "../store";
+import type { MockScenario } from "./mockScenarios";
+import { fixtureMediaPath } from "./mockMedia";
+
+export interface MockDb {
+  scenario: MockScenario;
+  folders: Folder[];
+  images: ImageRecord[];
+  albums: Album[];
+  albumImageIds: Record<number, number[]>;
+  tagsByImageId: Record<number, ImageTag[]>;
+  tagCloud: TagCloudEntry[];
+  exploreTags: ExploreTagEntry[];
+  backgroundJobs: FolderJobProgress[];
+  duplicateGroups: DuplicateGroup[];
+  duplicateScannedAt: number | null;
+}
+
+const folderNames = ["Camera Roll", "Client Selects", "Video Archive"];
+const mediaNames = [
+  "alpine-lake",
+  "city-after-rain",
+  "coastal-walk",
+  "studio-portrait",
+  "market-neon",
+  "forest-floor",
+  "product-macro",
+  "golden-hour",
+  "night-drive",
+  "desk-flatlay",
+  "museum-hall",
+  "wildflower",
+];
+const tags = [
+  "landscape",
+  "portrait",
+  "street",
+  "travel",
+  "night",
+  "product",
+  "editorial",
+  "architecture",
+  "nature",
+  "warm light",
+  "blue hour",
+  "select",
+];
+
+const hugeTagThemes = [
+  "alpine",
+  "archive",
+  "botanical",
+  "cinematic",
+  "coastal",
+  "editorial",
+  "industrial",
+  "interior",
+  "macro",
+  "night",
+  "portrait",
+  "street",
+  "travel",
+  "urban",
+  "wildlife",
+  "workspace",
+];
+
+const hugeTagSubjects = [
+  "glass",
+  "steel",
+  "water",
+  "stone",
+  "mist",
+  "foliage",
+  "market",
+  "signage",
+  "neon",
+  "shadow",
+  "reflection",
+  "texture",
+  "silhouette",
+  "motion",
+  "symmetry",
+  "detail",
+  "warm light",
+  "blue hour",
+  "gold accent",
+  "soft focus",
+  "hard light",
+  "negative space",
+  "foreground",
+  "background",
+  "wide angle",
+  "close crop",
+  "environment",
+  "still life",
+  "natural light",
+  "available light",
+];
+
+const hugeTags = [
+  ...tags,
+  ...Array.from({ length: hugeTagThemes.length * hugeTagSubjects.length }, (_, index) => {
+    const theme = hugeTagThemes[index % hugeTagThemes.length];
+    const subject = hugeTagSubjects[Math.floor(index / hugeTagThemes.length) % hugeTagSubjects.length];
+    return `${theme} ${subject}`;
+  }),
+  ...Array.from({ length: 320 }, (_, index) => `fixture concept ${String(index + 1).padStart(3, "0")}`),
+];
+const aiRatings: AiRating[] = ["general", "sensitive", "questionable"];
+
+function daysAgo(days: number): string {
+  return new Date(Date.now() - days * 86_400_000).toISOString();
+}
+
+function mockPath(folder: number, name: string, index: number, ext: string): string {
+  return `mock://full/${folder}-${name}-${index}.${ext}`;
+}
+
+function mockThumb(index: number): string {
+  return fixtureMediaPath(index);
+}
+
+function makeImage(index: number, folderId: number, scenario: MockScenario): ImageRecord {
+  const name = mediaNames[index % mediaNames.length];
+  const isVideo = index % 11 === 6;
+  const failedEmbedding = scenario === "errors" && index % 9 === 0;
+  const failedTagging = scenario === "errors" && index % 7 === 0;
+  const ext = isVideo ? "mp4" : "jpg";
+  return {
+    id: index + 1,
+    folder_id: folderId,
+    path: isVideo ? mockPath(folderId, name, index + 1, ext) : mockThumb(index),
+    filename: `${name}-${String(index + 1).padStart(3, "0")}.${ext}`,
+    thumbnail_path: scenario === "errors" && index % 10 === 3 ? "mock://missing-thumb.svg" : mockThumb(index),
+    width: isVideo ? 3840 : 3000 + (index % 5) * 180,
+    height: isVideo ? 2160 : 2000 + (index % 4) * 160,
+    file_size: 480_000 + index * 73_000,
+    created_at: daysAgo(index + 3),
+    modified_at: daysAgo(index + 1),
+    taken_at: daysAgo(index + 10),
+    mime_type: isVideo ? "video/mp4" : "image/jpeg",
+    media_kind: isVideo ? "video" : "image",
+    duration_ms: isVideo ? 42_000 + index * 1300 : null,
+    video_codec: isVideo ? "h264" : null,
+    audio_codec: isVideo ? "aac" : null,
+    metadata_updated_at: daysAgo(index),
+    metadata_error: scenario === "errors" && index % 8 === 2 ? "EXIF parse failed in UI fixture" : null,
+    favorite: index % 5 === 0,
+    rating: index % 6,
+    embedding_status: failedEmbedding ? "failed" : index % 13 === 0 ? "processing" : "ready",
+    embedding_model: failedEmbedding ? null : "clip-vit-b-32",
+    embedding_updated_at: failedEmbedding ? null : daysAgo(index),
+    embedding_error: failedEmbedding ? "Fixture embedding failure" : null,
+    generated_caption: `Fixture caption for ${name.replace(/-/g, " ")}.`,
+    caption_model: "blip-base",
+    caption_updated_at: daysAgo(index),
+    caption_error: null,
+    ai_rating: aiRatings[index % aiRatings.length],
+    ai_tagger_model: failedTagging ? null : "wd-vit-tagger-v3",
+    ai_tagged_at: failedTagging ? null : daysAgo(index),
+    ai_tagger_error: failedTagging ? "Fixture tagger failure" : null,
+  };
+}
+
+function makeFolders(scenario: MockScenario): Folder[] {
+  if (scenario === "empty") return [];
+  return folderNames.map((name, index) => ({
+    id: index + 1,
+    path: `C:\\Users\\phokus\\Pictures\\${name.replace(/ /g, "")}`,
+    name,
+    image_count: 0,
+    indexed_at: daysAgo(index + 1),
+    scan_error: scenario === "errors" && index === 1 ? "Folder moved or permission denied" : null,
+    sort_order: index + 1,
+  }));
+}
+
+function makeImages(scenario: MockScenario, folders: Folder[]): ImageRecord[] {
+  if (scenario === "empty") return [];
+  const count = scenario === "huge" ? 720 : scenario === "errors" ? 54 : 72;
+  const images = Array.from({ length: count }, (_, index) => makeImage(index, folders[index % folders.length].id, scenario));
+  for (const folder of folders) {
+    folder.image_count = images.filter((image) => image.folder_id === folder.id).length;
+  }
+  return images;
+}
+
+function tagVocabularyForScenario(scenario: MockScenario): string[] {
+  return scenario === "huge" ? hugeTags : tags;
+}
+
+function makeTags(images: ImageRecord[], scenario: MockScenario): Record<number, ImageTag[]> {
+  const vocabulary = tagVocabularyForScenario(scenario);
+  const tagCount = scenario === "huge" ? 9 : 3;
+  return Object.fromEntries(
+    images.map((image, index) => [
+      image.id,
+      Array.from({ length: tagCount }, (_, offset) => ({
+        id: image.id * 10 + offset,
+        image_id: image.id,
+        tag: vocabulary[(index * (offset + 3) + offset * 29) % vocabulary.length],
+        source: offset === 0 ? "user" : "ai",
+        ai_model: offset === 0 ? null : "wd-vit-tagger-v3",
+        confidence: offset === 0 ? null : Math.min(0.99, 0.72 + offset * 0.03),
+        created_at: daysAgo(index + offset),
+      })),
+    ]),
+  );
+}
+
+function makeAlbums(images: ImageRecord[], scenario: MockScenario): { albums: Album[]; albumImageIds: Record<number, number[]> } {
+  if (scenario === "empty") return { albums: [], albumImageIds: {} };
+  const selects = images.filter((image) => image.rating >= 4).slice(0, 36).map((image) => image.id);
+  const motion = images.filter((image) => image.media_kind === "video").map((image) => image.id);
+  const favorites = images.filter((image) => image.favorite).slice(0, 40).map((image) => image.id);
+  const albumImageIds = { 1: selects, 2: motion, 3: favorites };
+  const albums: Album[] = [
+    { id: 1, name: "Portfolio Shortlist", cover_image_id: selects[0] ?? null, cover_thumbnail_path: images.find((image) => image.id === selects[0])?.thumbnail_path ?? null, image_count: selects.length, sort_order: 1, created_at: daysAgo(40), updated_at: daysAgo(2) },
+    { id: 2, name: "Motion Tests", cover_image_id: motion[0] ?? null, cover_thumbnail_path: images.find((image) => image.id === motion[0])?.thumbnail_path ?? null, image_count: motion.length, sort_order: 2, created_at: daysAgo(38), updated_at: daysAgo(3) },
+    { id: 3, name: "Favorites", cover_image_id: favorites[0] ?? null, cover_thumbnail_path: images.find((image) => image.id === favorites[0])?.thumbnail_path ?? null, image_count: favorites.length, sort_order: 3, created_at: daysAgo(20), updated_at: daysAgo(1) },
+  ];
+  return { albums, albumImageIds };
+}
+
+function makeProgress(folders: Folder[], scenario: MockScenario): FolderJobProgress[] {
+  return folders.map((folder, index) => ({
+    folder_id: folder.id,
+    thumbnail_pending: scenario === "busy" ? 18 - index * 3 : 0,
+    metadata_pending: scenario === "busy" ? 12 - index * 2 : 0,
+    embedding_pending: scenario === "busy" ? 36 - index * 4 : scenario === "errors" ? 4 : 0,
+    embedding_ready: Math.max(0, folder.image_count - (scenario === "busy" ? 20 : 2)),
+    embedding_failed: scenario === "errors" ? 3 + index : 0,
+    caption_pending: scenario === "busy" ? 24 - index * 2 : 0,
+    caption_ready: Math.max(0, Math.floor(folder.image_count * 0.5)),
+    caption_failed: scenario === "errors" ? 2 : 0,
+    tagging_pending: scenario === "busy" ? 30 - index * 5 : 0,
+    tagging_ready: Math.max(0, Math.floor(folder.image_count * 0.65)),
+    tagging_failed: scenario === "errors" ? 4 : 0,
+  }));
+}
+
+function makeTagCloud(images: ImageRecord[]): TagCloudEntry[] {
+  return tags.slice(0, 10).map((_, index) => {
+    const group = images.filter((image) => image.id % (index + 2) === 0).slice(0, 28);
+    const representative = group[0] ?? images[index];
+    return {
+      count: Math.max(group.length, 1),
+      representative_image_id: representative?.id ?? index + 1,
+      thumbnail_path: representative?.thumbnail_path ?? null,
+      image_ids: group.length ? group.map((image) => image.id) : [representative?.id ?? 1],
+    };
+  });
+}
+
+function makeExploreTags(images: ImageRecord[], scenario: MockScenario): ExploreTagEntry[] {
+  const vocabulary = tagVocabularyForScenario(scenario);
+  return vocabulary.map((tag, index) => {
+    const representative = images[index % Math.max(images.length, 1)];
+    const divisor = scenario === "huge" ? 2 + Math.pow(index + 1, 0.58) : index + 3;
+    return {
+      tag,
+      count: Math.max(1, Math.round(images.length / divisor)),
+      representative_image_id: representative?.id ?? index + 1,
+      thumbnail_path: representative?.thumbnail_path ?? null,
+    };
+  }).sort((left, right) => right.count - left.count || left.tag.localeCompare(right.tag));
+}
+
+function makeDuplicateGroups(images: ImageRecord[], scenario: MockScenario): DuplicateGroup[] {
+  if (scenario === "empty") return [];
+  const candidates = images.filter((image) => image.media_kind === "image");
+  const groups = [0, 1, 2, 3].map((groupIndex) => ({
+    file_hash: `fixture-hash-${groupIndex}`,
+    file_size: candidates[groupIndex]?.file_size ?? 1_200_000,
+    images: candidates.slice(groupIndex * 4, groupIndex * 4 + (groupIndex === 1 ? 3 : 2)),
+  })).filter((group) => group.images.length > 1);
+  return scenario === "duplicates" ? groups.concat(groups.map((group, index) => ({
+    ...group,
+    file_hash: `${group.file_hash}-extra`,
+    images: candidates.slice(20 + index * 3, 23 + index * 3),
+  })).filter((group) => group.images.length > 1)) : groups;
+}
+
+export function createMockDb(scenario: MockScenario): MockDb {
+  const folders = makeFolders(scenario);
+  const images = makeImages(scenario, folders);
+  const { albums, albumImageIds } = makeAlbums(images, scenario);
+  return {
+    scenario,
+    folders,
+    images,
+    albums,
+    albumImageIds,
+    tagsByImageId: makeTags(images, scenario),
+    tagCloud: makeTagCloud(images),
+    exploreTags: makeExploreTags(images, scenario),
+    backgroundJobs: makeProgress(folders, scenario),
+    duplicateGroups: makeDuplicateGroups(images, scenario),
+    duplicateScannedAt: scenario === "duplicates" ? Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) - 420 : null,
+  };
+}
+
+export function compareImages(sort: SortOrder): (left: ImageRecord, right: ImageRecord) => number {
+  return (left, right) => {
+    switch (sort) {
+      case "name_asc":
+        return left.filename.localeCompare(right.filename);
+      case "name_desc":
+        return right.filename.localeCompare(left.filename);
+      case "size_asc":
+        return left.file_size - right.file_size;
+      case "size_desc":
+        return right.file_size - left.file_size;
+      case "rating_asc":
+        return left.rating - right.rating;
+      case "rating_desc":
+        return right.rating - left.rating;
+      case "duration_asc":
+        return (left.duration_ms ?? 0) - (right.duration_ms ?? 0);
+      case "duration_desc":
+        return (right.duration_ms ?? 0) - (left.duration_ms ?? 0);
+      case "date_asc":
+      case "taken_asc":
+        return Date.parse(left.taken_at ?? left.created_at ?? "") - Date.parse(right.taken_at ?? right.created_at ?? "");
+      case "date_desc":
+      case "taken_desc":
+      default:
+        return Date.parse(right.taken_at ?? right.created_at ?? "") - Date.parse(left.taken_at ?? left.created_at ?? "");
+    }
+  };
+}
+
+export function mockExif(imageId: number): ImageExif {
+  return {
+    make: "Phokus Fixture Co.",
+    model: `MockCam ${100 + imageId}`,
+    lens: "35mm f/1.8",
+    iso: String(100 + (imageId % 8) * 100),
+    f_number: "f/4",
+    exposure_time: "1/250",
+    focal_length: "35mm",
+    datetime_original: daysAgo(imageId),
+    gps_lat: imageId % 2 === 0 ? 51.5072 : null,
+    gps_lon: imageId % 2 === 0 ? -0.1276 : null,
+  };
+}

src/dev/mockMedia.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+const fixtureMedia = Array.from(
+  { length: 48 },
+  (_, index) => `/dev-media/fixture-${String(index + 1).padStart(2, "0")}.webp`,
+);
+
+export function fixtureMediaPath(index: number): string {
+  return fixtureMedia[index % fixtureMedia.length];
+}

src/dev/mockScenarios.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+export type MockScenario = "rich" | "empty" | "busy" | "duplicates" | "album" | "errors" | "huge";
+
+const SCENARIOS = new Set<MockScenario>([
+  "rich",
+  "empty",
+  "busy",
+  "duplicates",
+  "album",
+  "errors",
+  "huge",
+]);
+
+export function getMockScenario(): MockScenario {
+  if (typeof window === "undefined") return "rich";
+  const value = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get("scenario");
+  return value && SCENARIOS.has(value as MockScenario) ? (value as MockScenario) : "rich";
+}

src/dev/setupMockTauri.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import { mockConvertFileSrc, mockIPC, mockWindows } from "@tauri-apps/api/mocks";
+import { handleMockCommand } from "./mockBackend";
+
+mockWindows("main");
+mockConvertFileSrc("windows");
+
+mockIPC((cmd, payload) => handleMockCommand(cmd, payload), {
+  shouldMockEvents: true,
+});
+
+console.info("[Phokus UI Lab] Mock Tauri backend installed.");

src/index.css

@@ -190,29 +190,32 @@ html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-cluster-card:hover {
 }
 
 html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-cluster-overlay {
+  /* A cream wash over the photo read as a faded, foggy haze. Use a gentle dark
+     scrim instead — the same natural "photo caption" vignette the dark theme
+     uses — with light text on top (label/count rules below). */
   background: linear-gradient(
     to top,
-    rgb(251 250 246 / 0.9),
-    rgb(251 250 246 / 0.52) 34%,
-    rgb(251 250 246 / 0.06) 68%,
-    transparent
+    rgb(17 18 22 / 0.82),
+    rgb(17 18 22 / 0.34) 38%,
+    transparent 66%
   ) !important;
 }
 
 html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-cluster-label {
-  color: #6b6257 !important;
+  color: rgb(255 255 255 / 0.62) !important;
 }
 
 html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-cluster-count {
-  color: #111827 !important;
+  color: #ffffff !important;
 }
 
-html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-tag-word:hover {
-  background: #e8e2d6 !important;
-}
-
-html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-tag-word span:first-child {
-  color: #374151 !important;
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-tag-word::before {
+  background: radial-gradient(
+    ellipse at center,
+    rgba(60, 50, 30, 0.13),
+    rgba(60, 50, 30, 0.05) 46%,
+    rgba(60, 50, 30, 0) 72%
+  ) !important;
 }
 
 html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-spinner {
@@ -220,6 +223,107 @@ html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .explore-spinner {
   border-top-color: rgb(17 24 39 / 0.55) !important;
 }
 
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-header {
+  background: rgb(244 242 234 / 0.72) !important;
+  border-color: #d8d2c7 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-stat {
+  background: rgb(31 41 55 / 0.06) !important;
+  color: #5f5a52 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-match {
+  background: rgb(37 99 235 / 0.12) !important;
+  color: #1d4ed8 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-help,
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-empty {
+  color: #6f6a61 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-filter {
+  background: #fbfaf6 !important;
+  border-color: #cfc7b8 !important;
+  color: #111827 !important;
+  box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgb(255 255 255 / 0.64) !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-filter::placeholder {
+  color: #8a8378 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-filter:focus {
+  background: #fffdfa !important;
+  border-color: #7aa2e3 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-clear {
+  color: #6b645a !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-clear:hover {
+  background: rgb(31 41 55 / 0.08) !important;
+  color: #111827 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-tile {
+  background: rgb(251 250 246 / 0.5) !important;
+  border-color: rgb(151 141 126 / 0.22) !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-tile:hover,
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-tile:focus-within {
+  background: rgb(255 253 250 / 0.74) !important;
+  border-color: rgb(151 141 126 / 0.36) !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-name {
+  color: #1f2937 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-name:hover {
+  color: #111827 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-count {
+  background: rgb(31 41 55 / 0.07) !important;
+  color: #6b645a !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-edit-input {
+  background: #fffdfa !important;
+  color: #111827 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-secondary,
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-action {
+  background: rgb(255 253 250 / 0.92) !important;
+  border-color: rgb(31 41 55 / 0.12) !important;
+  color: #5f5a52 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-secondary:hover,
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-action:hover {
+  background: rgb(31 41 55 / 0.06) !important;
+  color: #111827 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-save {
+  color: #1d4ed8 !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-danger,
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-action-danger:hover {
+  color: #b91c1c !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .tag-manager-empty {
+  background: rgb(251 250 246 / 0.42) !important;
+  border-color: #d8d2c7 !important;
+}
+
 html[data-theme="subtle-light"] .feature-scope-trigger {
   background: #f8f6ef !important;
   border-color: #d0c8ba !important;

src/lib/mediaSrc.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { convertFileSrc } from "@tauri-apps/api/core";
+
+const MOCK_MEDIA_PREFIX = "mock://";
+
+export function mediaSrc(path: string | null): string | null {
+  if (!path) return null;
+
+  if (import.meta.env.MODE === "ui" && (path.startsWith("/") || path.startsWith("http"))) {
+    return path;
+  }
+
+  if (import.meta.env.MODE === "ui" && path.startsWith(MOCK_MEDIA_PREFIX)) {
+    return `/dev-media/${path.slice(MOCK_MEDIA_PREFIX.length)}`;
+  }
+
+  return convertFileSrc(path);
+}