What question did this study set out to answer?

To develop a local-first media library manager that addresses the challenges of organizing and reusing large biomedical imaging assets.

June 15, 2026Open Access

PixelDeck: A local-first media library manager for biomedical imaging

Key Points

To develop a local-first media library manager that addresses the challenges of organizing and reusing large biomedical imaging assets.
Developed an open-source browser application called PixelDeck.
Implemented features like recursive import, SHA-256-based duplicate detection, and metadata extraction.
Conducted benchmarks with up to 1000 assets to evaluate import throughput and query latencies.
Achieved import throughput exceeding 500 files per minute.
Median query latencies were in the millisecond range.
Demonstrated effective management of large image and video libraries on commodity workstations.

Abstract

Biomedical imaging workflows generate large collections of histology, fluorescence microscopy, and high-throughput imaging assets that are difficult to organize, search, and reuse using conventional file systems. We present PixelDeck, an open-source, local-first browser application for management of large image and video libraries on commodity workstations. PixelDeck integrates recursive import, SHA-256-based duplicate detection, metadata extraction, thumbnail generation, and full-text search within a responsive interface. The system uses a transparent SQLite-backed architecture with managed filesystem storage and asynchronous processing. Benchmarks on fresh isolated libraries containing up to 1000 assets showed import throughput exceeding 500 files/min and representative median query latencies in the millisecond range.

PixelDeck: A local-first media library manager for biomedical imaging

Key Points

Abstract

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