MEDARS

MEtaDAta from image files in RuSt - A fast and simple command-line tool for inspecting and removing metadata from image files.

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Features

• Check Metadata: Check if an image contains metadata.
• View Metadata: Display metadata in a human-readable table or JSON format.
• Remove Metadata: Clean images by removing all embedded metadata.
• Interactive TUI: Terminal user interface for easy navigation and image preview.
• Log Actions: Keep a log of all operations performed.

Core Functionality

CLI mode

• Check for metadata:

  medars check image.jpg

• Show metadata:

  medars show image.jpg

• Clean metadata:

  medars clean image.jpg

• Launch the TUI:

  medars tui

  or

  medars tui <path/to/directory>

  TUI Navigation:

  • j/k or ↑/↓ - Navigate files/folders
  • h/l or ←/→ - Switch between panels
  • Enter - Open selected folder
  • Esc - Go to parent directory
  • Space - Select/deselect file
  • a - Select/deselect all files
  • d - Delete metadata from selected files
  • c - Copy files with metadata removed
  • q - Quit

• Batch operations:

  medars clean "*.jpg"
  medars clean path1.jpg path2.png

• Flags:

  • --copy [PATH] → Save as a new file. If PATH is not provided, it will be saved with a _medars suffix.
  • --dry-run → Show what will be removed without modifying the file.

Privacy & Security

MEDARS helps protect your privacy by:

• Removing potentially sensitive EXIF data (GPS coordinates, camera settings, timestamps).
• Working locally - no data is sent to external services.
• Preserving image quality while removing metadata.

Dependencies

This project requires the gexiv2 library and its development headers.

On Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install libgexiv2-2

On Arch:

yay -S libgexiv2

If you see an error about gexiv2.pc or gexiv2 not found, make sure the library is installed.

Installation

From Git Repository

cargo install --git https://github.com/brockar/medars.git

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Acknowledgments

• Built with Rust.
• Uses rexiv2 and kamadak-exif for metadata handling.
• CLI powered by clap.
• Terminal UI powered by ratatui.