Photo Library Rescue

---
name: photo-library-rescue
description: "Rescue a photo library drowning in duplicates, screenshots, and 40,000 unsorted items — the triage order that shrinks first (screenshots, bursts, dupes), the album-vs-search philosophy that ends over-organizing, and the backup rule that comes before any deleting. Use when asked organize my photo library, 40k photos help, delete duplicate photos safely, or set up a photo system that lasts. Produces the backup-first step, the shrink passes in order, the light organizing layer, and the monthly habit."
---

# Photo Library Rescue Skill

Photo libraries induce a special paralysis: 40,000 items, emotional stakes, and no obvious start. The rescue order matters — **backup before touching anything**, then shrink by *category* (screenshots, bursts, blur, duplicates — the low-sentiment bulk), and only then organize what remains, lightly, because modern search (dates, places, faces, content) does more than albums ever did. The goal isn't a curated museum; it's a library where the good photos are findable and the cruft stopped multiplying.

## What This Skill Produces

- **The backup-first step** — verified, before any deletion; the rescue's non-negotiable opening
- **The shrink passes** — ordered by volume-per-sentiment: screenshots → bursts/near-dupes → blur/pocket shots → true duplicates
- **The light organizing layer** — favorites + a handful of albums for *purposes*, search trusted for the rest
- **The monthly habit** — the ten-minute pass that keeps the library from re-growing the cruft

## Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:
- **The platform(s)** — one ecosystem or a split (phone + cloud + old hard drive); splits need a consolidation decision first, and the skill sequences it
- **The scale and the pain** — count, and what actually hurts (storage full? can't find anything? duplicate anxiety?) — the passes reorder by the pain
- **Backup status, honestly** — is there ANY second copy? Nothing deletes until yes
- **Sentiment hotspots** — the irreplaceable categories (the kids, the trip, the late relative's photos) — flagged so no bulk rule ever touches them

## Framework: The Rescue Order

1. **Backup precedes deletion, absolutely:** a second verified copy (cloud + local, ideally) before pass one — because bulk deletion with no backup converts a mess into a tragedy. Verify by *restoring a sample*, not by trusting a sync icon.
2. **Shrink by category, lowest sentiment first:** screenshots (search `screenshot`, review-delete in bulk — they're 10–30% of most libraries and 0% of the memories) → burst/near-duplicate sets (keep best-of, platforms surface these) → blur and pocket shots → exact duplicates last (dedupe tools where available, always into a reviewable album before final delete).
3. **Organize purposes, not taxonomy:** favorites for the genuinely good; albums only for *uses* (Kids' highlights, House documents, the annual-book candidates) — never year/month albums (dates already do that) and never one-album-per-event (search does that). Ten albums is a system; a hundred is a second mess.
4. **The photos-as-documents split:** receipts, whiteboards, IDs, and forms photographed over the years get moved to the document system ([folder-structure-designer](../folder-structure-designer/SKILL.md)) or a Documents album — they pollute both search and memories where they sit.
5. **The habit closes the loop:** monthly ten minutes — favorite the month's best, delete the month's screenshots/bursts, done. Cruft compounds monthly or gets cleared monthly; the choice is the habit.

## Output Format

# Photo Rescue: [platform(s)] — [count] items

## Step 0 — Backup (verified)
[The second copy plan · the restore-a-sample verification · nothing proceeds before this line clears]

## The Shrink Passes (in order)
| Pass | How | Est. reduction |
|---|---|---|
[Screenshots · bursts · blur · exact dupes — each with the platform's mechanism]

## The Light Layer
[Favorites discipline · the ≤10 purpose-albums · the documents split · search-first retrieval note]

## The Monthly Ten Minutes
[The three moves, calendared]

## Quality Checks

- [ ] Backup verified by restore-sample before any deletion
- [ ] Passes run lowest-sentiment-first, and sentiment hotspots are excluded from bulk rules
- [ ] Duplicates route through a reviewable album before final deletion
- [ ] Albums number ≤10 and each names a purpose
- [ ] The monthly habit exists with a calendar entry

## Anti-Patterns

- [ ] Do not delete anything before the verified backup — the rule with no exceptions
- [ ] Do not start with the sentimental years — paralysis lives there; screenshots first
- [ ] Do not build year/month albums — dates are already an index
- [ ] Do not chase perfect curation — findable-good beats museum-complete, and only one of them ever finishes
- [ ] Do not run bulk rules over the flagged hotspots — the kids' photos get eyes, not filters