Documentation
Tessera documentation
Everything needed to install, configure, and run Tessera — a private, local-first AI digital-asset manager. Pick a section, or start at the beginning.
Start with IntroductionGetting started
- Introduction What Tessera is — a private, local-first AI digital-asset manager for your photo and video library.
- Install Install Tessera on macOS, Windows, or Linux, including the macOS Gatekeeper "Open Anyway" path for unsigned builds.
- Platform support What runs today on macOS, Windows, and Linux, the current unsigned-build status, and system requirements — honest about tested versus in progress.
- First-run setup The four-step first-run wizard — library, models, compute, and access — that gets your local library running.
Organizing
- Tagging & semantic search How Tessera auto-tags, captions, and indexes your library for natural-language and visual-similarity search.
- Faces Optional, off-by-default face recognition that groups people across your library, with GDPR/BIPA-aware opt-in and full erasure.
- Advanced faces Swap the bundled SFace embedder for ArcFace to tighten clustering — an honest, download-it-yourself opt-in whose weights are non-commercial.
- Videos & scenes Video as a first-class citizen — scene detection, keyframe posters, an in-app player, and per-video facets.
- Places & events Turn the location and time data you already have into trips, events, and places — with no third-party map calls.
- Labels & ratings Triage and curate with keep/reject flags and a four-level rating, rendered as data rather than chrome.
Reference
- Configuration Configure Tessera via config.yaml and MEDIA_PIPELINE_* environment variables, with a documented resolution precedence.
- Compute providers Route each pipeline capability to a compute backend — local by default, with a privacy gate that keeps uncensored work from ever leaving the box.
- Privacy & local-first Tessera collects nothing — no cloud, no telemetry, no account. Your library stays on your machine.
- Pro & licensing The open-core model — AGPLv3 core always free, a one-time Pro purchase verified offline with Ed25519, no subscription, no phone-home.
- FAQ Common questions about privacy, models, faces, licensing, and moving your Tessera catalog between machines.