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darktable — manage digital negatives and non-destructively develop RAW photographs

OSS scale score Not calculatedOSS health 89Update pace 382 commits/30d
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OSS scale score is an unbounded metric that log-compresses and weights Stars, Watchers, Forks, and Contributors. Discovery score is the current OSS scale score minus the score at discovery. Update pace is commits in the last 30 days, growth momentum is the OSS scale score difference within the recent observation window, and OSS health is a 0–100 rating based on available recency, Community Health, and release data.

Stars
13,091
Primary language
C
License
GPL-3.0
Repository last updated
Sep 18, 2026

Overview

darktable combines a database-backed lighttable for organizing digital negatives with a darkroom for non-destructive RAW development and enhancement. Originals remain untouched while processing instructions are applied and results exported. The stable release checked is 5.6.1.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Catalog digital negatives and develop RAW files non-destructively

darktable manages photos in a database and applies development/color/local adjustments as a non-destructive workflow rather than overwriting original RAW data.

Sources: [2]

Use GPU/OpenCL and optional AI inference for demanding operations

A GPU is not mandatory but strongly recommended; optional AI capabilities include object masks, denoise, and upscale through separately configured ONNX Runtime providers.

Sources: [2]

For photographers who want a catalog plus detailed RAW workflow while preserving originals

It fits desktop photography workflows spanning culling, organization, development, and export.

Sources: [2]

Avoid treating master as stable and back up catalog/config data alongside photos

The README calls master a development snapshot that is generally unsafe for normal use. GPU/AI features depend on compatible drivers/runtime combinations, and the darktable catalog/config should be backed up in addition to image files. The project is GPL-3.0.

Sources: [2][3][4]

Official sources

  1. [1]darktable-org/darktable repository(2026-09-18)
  2. [2]darktable README(2026-09-18)
  3. [3]darktable LICENSE(2026-09-18)
  4. [4]darktable 5.6.1 release(2026-09-18)
Supplemental curator note

darktable explicitly says it is not a free Lightroom replacement; it is its own photography workflow. The master branch is described as an unsafe development snapshot, so this entry uses stable 5.6.1 as the baseline.

Try it in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Get the source

    git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable.git
  2. 2

    Enter the repository

    cd darktable
  3. 3

    Check the official steps

    Continue with the commands in the README Installation, Quick Start, or Getting Started section.

    find . -maxdepth 1 -iname 'README*' -exec sed -n '1,220p' {} \; -quit
Check the official README

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

13,091 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
382
Open PRs
74

Development activity is still being collected.

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GitHub data

GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
View on GitHub
Stars
13,091
Forks
1,435
Watchers
175
Open issues
600
Primary language
C
License
GPL-3.0
Repository last updated
Sep 18, 2026
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