One-time purchase
Runs locally - nothing uploaded
macOS · Apple Silicon
Signed & Notarized by Apple

Find any photo.
By describing it.

A Lightroom Classic plugin that finds any photo in your catalog by typing what's in it. Index once - search in seconds, forever.

Get the Plugin $19.99

Requires macOS on Apple Silicon (M1 or later). Intel Mac and Windows support coming based on demand. Request it →

Adobe Lightroom Classic Lightroom Classic
Smart Search Search & Keywords
Features

Built for photographers
with too many photos and no time to tag them

Type the photo. Get the photo.

Plain-English search reads what is actually in your photos. "Snow on a tree", "two kids in a fountain", "close-up of a wedding ring" - it finds them. No manual tagging.

Search within your current selection.

Working in a folder or collection? Filter the search to just the selected photos. Find "the candid one" inside the wedding set in seconds.

Results become keywords and collections.

Every search applies a real Lightroom keyword and builds a results collection. Smart Collections, filters, and exports all pick them up - just like any other tag.

Your photos stay on your Mac.

The AI model runs entirely on your machine. No photos uploaded, no servers, no accounts. Works with your internet off.

What you shot is what it reads.

Reads .ARW, .CR2, .NEF, .RAF, .DNG and other camera RAW files directly. No need to export to JPEG first.

One-time price. Move it between Macs.

$19.99 once. No subscriptions, no usage limits. Deactivate on one Mac to free a license slot, then activate on the new one.

Why it's different

Lightroom Classic only finds what you've tagged. Smart Search finds what's actually there.

Classic's library search reads what you wrote - filenames, keywords, captions. If you never tagged the snowboarding photos as "snowboarding", they don't exist to search. And nobody tags 50,000 photos by hand.

Smart Search reads the pixels. Index your catalog once, then describe what you want and the plugin finds it - "rooftop at golden hour", "kid blowing out candles", "wide shot of the mountains". The matches land as real Lightroom keywords and a results collection, so they work everywhere your existing keywords already work.

How It Works

Three steps to a searchable catalog

Index once. Search forever.

01

Index

Select photos (or your whole catalog), run Index Selected Photos. The plugin reads each photo locally and remembers what's in it. Resumable - large catalogs run in the background.

02

Search

Run Search by Description. Type what you're looking for in plain English. Tune how strict the match should be. Optionally restrict to your current selection.

03

Browse

Matches show up as a Lightroom keyword and a results collection so you can browse them, refine, export, or feed them into a Smart Collection.

What you can search for

Plain English in.
Photos out.

sunset over water with people
Finds beach & lakeside scenes Across years of catalog, in seconds
close-up of a wedding ring
Pulls detail shots from a shoot No keywording required up front
wide landscape with mountains and a road
Surfaces hero candidates for prints Compositional concepts, not just objects
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What to expect before you install.

How is this different from Lightroom's built-in search?

Lightroom Classic's search reads what you've written - filenames, captions, keywords. If a photo was never tagged "snowboarding", Lightroom won't find it that way. Smart Search reads the pixels, so you can find photos by what's actually in them - even if you've never tagged that catalog at all.

Does it really run fully offline?

Yes - after a one-time model download at first run (~350 MB, 1-3 minutes). After that, no part of the plugin needs the internet. Your photos and search history never leave your machine.

Which Macs and operating systems are supported?

For v1, the shipping installer runs on macOS with Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) only. Intel Macs are not supported yet - the installer is arm64-only for now.

Windows and Intel Mac support is on the roadmap if there's enough demand. Tell us if you need Intel Mac or Windows - demand drives priority.

How long does indexing take?

About 1-2 seconds per photo on Apple Silicon. A 10,000-photo catalog typically indexes in 20-40 minutes. You can index in batches and search across whatever you've indexed so far - it doesn't have to finish in one sitting.

How much disk space does it use?

About 350 MB for the AI model. Index data is small - roughly 2 KB per photo, stored in a database file next to the plugin folder.

Does it support RAW files?

Yes. The plugin reads .ARW (Sony), .CR2/.CR3 (Canon), .NEF (Nikon), .RAF (Fuji), .DNG, and other common RAW formats directly. No need to export to JPEG first.

How many machines can I activate on?

Your license key activates on a limited number of computers at a time. If you switch machines, use Library > Plug-in Extras > Deactivate License on the old one to free a slot, then activate on the new one.

What kinds of queries work best?

Concrete, descriptive phrases work best - "snow-covered mountain at sunrise", "two kids playing in a fountain", "macro shot of a flower". Conceptual searches like "joy" or "freedom" sometimes work but are inherently fuzzier. Tune the strictness slider in the search dialog if you're getting too many (or too few) matches.

Will it touch my photos or my edits?

No. Nothing about your photos changes - not your edits, not your ratings, not your originals, not your catalog files. The plugin only reads pixels and writes back to your catalog as standard Lightroom keywords. You can remove every keyword Smart Search added at any time.

Can I get a refund?

If the plugin doesn't work on your setup, contact us - we'll either fix the issue or refund you in full. We're a solo team and we'd rather get the issue solved than count anyone out. Full terms on the Terms of Service page.

What if I have questions or problems?

Reach out via the contact form. Solo developer, personal responses.

Stop scrolling through 50,000 photos for "the one with the boat".

Index once. Search by description in seconds. Forever.

Get Smart Search $19.99

macOS on Apple Silicon (M1 or later).