imagic: Complete User Guide for 2026
This guide covers everything you need to get up and running with imagic — from installation to a complete professional culling and export workflow. Whether you're a photographer looking to replace Lightroom or a developer building custom pipelines with imagic Max, this guide covers the full picture.
What Is imagic?
imagic is an AI photo culling and editing tool for Windows and macOS, with a free 7-day trial and a one-time purchase from EUR 19 — no subscription. It supports 9+ RAW formats (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF, RW2, DNG, PEF) and uses AI to score photos on sharpness, exposure, noise, composition, and detail. The imagic Max tier adds a headless CLI and an MCP server for developers who want to script the workflow instead of using the GUI.
Installation
Download the installer for Windows or macOS from imagic.ink/desktop, run it, and launch imagic. The free 7-day trial includes everything in the Max tier, no card required.
If you have an imagic Max license and want the headless CLI instead of the GUI, launch it from a terminal:
- imagic --headless --input <folder> --output <folder>
Step 1: Import
Launch imagic and click Import (or use File > Import). Navigate to your folder of RAW files. imagic detects all supported RAW formats automatically — no configuration needed for different camera brands. For mixed-format shoots (multiple camera bodies), import all files together into a single session.
imagic does not move or copy your files. It reads them in place, keeping your existing folder structure intact.
Step 2: Analyse
After import, click Analyse to run the AI scoring engine. imagic evaluates every file in the session and assigns scores (0.0 to 1.0) for:
- Sharpness: How well-defined are the edges and fine details?
- Exposure: How well-distributed is the tonal range? Is there clipping?
- Noise: How much random pixel noise is present?
- Composition: How well is the subject positioned within the frame?
- Detail: What is the overall recoverable detail level?
Analysis time depends on the number of files and your hardware. A 500-frame shoot on a modern laptop typically takes 3-8 minutes.
Step 3: Review
The Review stage presents your photos with their AI scores displayed. Use the filter panel to:
- Set minimum sharpness threshold (e.g., 0.6) to hide frames below that level
- Filter by exposure score range
- Enable duplicate/burst grouping to see related frames together
- Sort by any score dimension
Review the filtered set, zooming in where the sharpness score is borderline to make a human judgment call.
Step 4: Cull
Mark each frame as:
- Keeper (green/star): Final delivery candidate
- Reject (red/X): Technical failure or clear duplicate to discard
- Unrated: Reviewed but not yet decided
Use keyboard shortcuts for speed: arrow keys to navigate, P to pick, X to reject, U to unflag. imagic's keyboard shortcuts are configurable to match your muscle memory from other tools.
Step 5: Export
Select all keepers and click Export. Options:
- Export to folder: Copies keepers to a specified output folder (original files untouched)
- Export processed: Renders keepers through imagic's own built-in RAW engine to JPEG or TIFF, with your chosen look applied in batch
- Export with XMP: Writes your ratings and selections back to XMP sidecar files alongside the original RAW files
Built-In RAW Processing
There is no separate app or settings page to configure. imagic decodes every RAW file with LibRaw and renders it through its own processing pipeline, the same engine behind the Export step above. Earlier versions could hand files off to a separate RawTherapee installation; current versions do not need or include it.
Getting Help
imagic is a one-time purchase, not an open-source project. Full documentation is available on the imagic site. Bug reports and feature requests go through the feedback form there. Community support is available on the imagic discussion forum. For developers, the CLI and MCP server included in imagic Max are documented on the same site — run imagic --help from a terminal for a full command reference.