I'm really not a fan of running, but I like that I can run. So, I keep running.
To distract myself while I'm doing it, I use the time to think. About work, about family, about building things.
On my run this morning, I had this thought: whoa, remember how Aaron Francis built a HubSpot MCP proxy that I use locally? He said he used a script to do it. WAIT. Can I build a local script that pulls photos from my family group chat and puts them into an album for me?
Turns out, yes.
Our group chat is out of control
My family has talked for years about how we should be storing our photos and videos in a shared album. But we've gotten into the habit of just texting those things instead.
Now, whenever my mom is with anyone new and wants to show them a picture of my niece that my sister sent 4 weeks ago, the eternal scroll begins.
So I realized: wait a second. I have iMessage on my computer. So, technically, anytime a new photo comes in, a script could pull that and post it into a Photos album.
Technically yes, and I did
Well, my agent did.
I started in the browser and asked:
Can I have an agent write a script that runs on a schedule and pulls photos and videos from my iMessage?
It said, yes ofc, here is the prompt you can give your agent:
[shortened prompt, the real one is very long]
I want to build a small local automation on my Mac that adds every photo and video sent in one specific iMessage thread to an album in the Photos app.
It should:
- Read my Messages database in read-only mode
- Only pull media from one specific family thread
- Track what's already been imported so nothing gets duplicated
- Run automatically once a day
- Use only Python's standard library
- Log what it imports and any errors
Before writing code, give me a short plan and wait for my go-ahead.You can't auto post in a shared album tho
After I gave it permission to get into my iMessages, boom. The script was written and working.
It quickly pulled the 62 photos and 5 videos from my family iMessage thread into an album.
And it's going to do that every day now. Well, every day I open my computer.
I updated the code to exclude GIFs and screenshots from future uploads.
Then I thought, I really want my family to access this too. But, turns out you can't auto post into a shared album.
Turns out Apple lets programs add photos to regular albums in the Photos app, but not Shared Albums.
I could have it post to a Google Shared Drive. But, for now, I'm just stoked I personally get these photos into an album.
The script is on GitHub
Idk, I just thought this was neat. I pushed it to GitHub if anyone wants to fork it.
https://github.com/samsappenfield1/imessage-photo-backup
My runs, my showers, my drives. These are the times I think back on conversations I've had.
When real engineers like Aaron let me into their brains and show me what they're building, apparently I'm listening. And it's helping me build some really cool stuff!