Fill Missing Exif

Overview

Use this skill to repair missing capture-time metadata in photos and videos by writing filesystem mtime into metadata tags.

Run the bundled script in the installed skill directory:

• python <skill-dir>/scripts/fill_missing_exif.py ...

If the skill is installed to default location, <skill-dir> is usually:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\\.codex\\skills\\fill-missing-exif
• Linux/macOS: $HOME/.codex/skills/fill-missing-exif

Workflow

1. Validate prerequisites: Python 3 and exiftool must be available.
2. Choose execution mode:
   • Full pipeline: run (default)
   • Stage only: discover / filter / write
3. Always run --dry-run first to preview changes.
4. Use -y only after confirming planned files and backup path.
5. For unstable NAS/SMB permissions, use --retry-until-success.

Command Patterns

Full pipeline (recommended)

python <skill-dir>/scripts/fill_missing_exif.py /data --backup-dir /backup --dry-run

Stage split

python <skill-dir>/scripts/fill_missing_exif.py discover /data --backup-dir /backup --output /backup/.missing_exif_state/discover.jsonl
python <skill-dir>/scripts/fill_missing_exif.py filter /data --backup-dir /backup --input /backup/.missing_exif_state/discover.jsonl --output /backup/.missing_exif_state/plan.jsonl --scan-workers 32
python <skill-dir>/scripts/fill_missing_exif.py write /data --input /backup/.missing_exif_state/plan.jsonl --dry-run

Retry failed writes until all success

python <skill-dir>/scripts/fill_missing_exif.py write /data --input /backup/.missing_exif_state/plan.jsonl -y --retry-until-success --retry-interval-seconds 10

Output Behavior

• discover: print directory-by-directory pre-scan progress.
• filter: print one result line per processed record.
• write: print one result line per processed record.

References

• Read references/troubleshooting.md when handling decode errors, damaged files, permission failures, or retry strategy decisions.