Scrocle

PixPolorer · 2026

A Windows catalog for photos and video on disk

In progressIndependent engineer

A large personal photo and video library that lives on a computer should not have to move to the cloud. Requiring upload, an account, and a network connection is the wrong model when some files must never leave the machine.

The constraint

It has to work offline. It has to be a real Windows program. It needs a vault for the files that stay private. There are no interface pictures on this page yet. I will not invent one.

Built with

  • Qt 6
  • C++
  • Rust
  • SQLite

How it works

Files stay on disk. The C++ / Qt host owns the window. Rust crates do hashing, catalog work, and vault cryptography over FFI. SQLite holds the catalog.

  1. Local files
  2. C++ / Qt 6 host
  3. QML shell
  1. Rust FFI
  2. BLAKE3 / vault crypto
  3. SQLite
Files stay on disk. The C++ / Qt host owns the window. Rust crates do hashing, catalog work, and vault cryptography over FFI. SQLite holds the catalog.

The calls that shaped it

Each decision with the pressure that forced it and the price it keeps costing.

  1. Qt 6 and a C++ host

    The shell is a real desktop application, QML for the interface, not an Electron wrapper around a website.

  2. Rust over a C FFI

    Hashing (BLAKE3), catalog operations, and cryptography (Argon2id, XChaCha20-Poly1305) sit in Rust crates. The host does not reimplement them in C++.

  3. SQLite as the catalog

    The library is local. Smart albums are queries that update as the catalog changes, not a cloud collection.

  4. Vault as a product surface

    Encryption is not a settings checkbox. The vault is a path in the application, with keys derived on the machine.

This is the heaviest desktop work on the site, and it is being built, not dressed up as shipped. The engineering so far is the architecture and the vault design.

If a Windows catalog that never leaves the machine sounds like your situation, write with the size of the library and the OS you run.

Where it stands

In progress. The architecture and security design are complete; interface updates will follow as the beta reaches a public build.

What was handed over

  1. Build instructions for the host and the Rust crates
  2. Catalog schema and what a smart album actually is
  3. Vault recovery notes. Without this the work is incomplete.
  4. Installer when the application is ready to ship
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