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BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί Image Metadata Cleaner
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

Image Metadata Cleaner

by @aiwork4me

Clean privacy-sensitive metadata (C2PA, EXIF, XMP, IPTC, GPS) from user-owned images by writing sanitized copies. For privacy hygiene and file preparation.

Versionv1.0.2
Downloads600
#security#writing#legal
TERMINAL
clawhub install image-metadata-cleaner

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: image-metadata-cleaner slug: image-metadata-cleaner version: "1.0.1" description: "Clean privacy-sensitive metadata (C2PA, EXIF, XMP, IPTC, GPS) from user-owned images by writing sanitized copies. For privacy hygiene and file preparation." os: ["windows", "macos", "linux"]

Image Metadata Cleaner

Clean privacy-sensitive metadata from user-owned images by writing sanitized copies. Designed for legitimate privacy hygiene, file preparation, and reproducible publishing workflows.

Use only for: images you own or are authorized to process, for privacy protection, file-size optimization, and clean publishing.

What it does

  • Re-encodes image pixels into a fresh output file β€” all metadata discarded
  • Writes copies instead of modifying originals in place
  • Defaults folder output to metadata-cleaned/ subdirectory
  • Refuses output paths that resolve to the same file as the input
  • Reopens outputs and scans for residual metadata keys and provenance markers
  • Produces a human-readable summary and optional JSON manifest

    • Usage

    Single file

    User: clean metadata from this image: photo.png
User: remove EXIF data from IMG_2024.jpg

    Folder batch

    User: clean metadata from all images in "C:\Users\me\Downloads"
User: remove privacy data from /path/to/folder

    Steps

    1. Confirm the task is for privacy hygiene on images the user owns or is authorized to process.

    2. Preview with dry-run (optional): 

       uv run --with "pillow>=10.0" scripts/strip.py "" --dry-run

    3. Run the cleanup: 

       uv run --with "pillow>=10.0" scripts/strip.py "" --manifest

    Options: - -o β€” Output file path (single file only) - --output-dir

    β€” Output directory (batch mode) - -f preserve|jpg|png β€” Output format (default: preserve β€” JPEG stays JPEG, others become PNG) - -q <1-100> β€” JPEG quality (default: 95) - --recursive β€” Process subdirectories - --overwrite β€” Overwrite existing output (only after user confirmation) - --dry-run β€” Preview without writing files - --manifest [path] β€” Write JSON manifest

    If uv is not available: 

       pip install "pillow>=10.0" && python scripts/strip.py "" --manifest

    4. Report results: - Files processed, failed, or dry-run previewed - Output filenames and location - File size before β†’ after - Dimensions preserved - Verification scan results (any residual metadata keys or provenance markers)

    Note: this removes file-level metadata only. Pixel-level watermarks and external platform records are outside the scope.

    Error Handling

    | Error | Cause | Fix | |-------|-------|-----| | "No supported image files found" | Folder has no matching extensions | Check input path and file types | | "Output already exists" | Explicit output path exists | Use --overwrite after user confirmation | | "Refusing to overwrite input file" | Output path = input path | Choose a different output path | | "Unsupported image extension" | File extension not in supported list | Use PNG, JPEG, WebP, BMP, or TIFF | | "cannot identify image file" | Corrupted or non-image file | Skip and continue with other files | | Pillow ImportError | Missing dependency | Run pip install "pillow>=10.0" |

    What gets removed

    | Metadata Type | Notes | |---|---| | EXIF | Camera, GPS, device tags. Orientation applied before saving. | | XMP | Adobe and application metadata | | IPTC/Photoshop | Press and photo metadata | | ICC Profile | Color profile (not copied to output) | | C2PA/JUMBF | Provenance containers removed by re-encoding |

    Output behavior

  • Format: Default preserve β€” JPEG inputs stay JPEG, others written as PNG
  • Naming: {name}-clean.{ext} (e.g., photo-clean.png)
  • Folder mode: Outputs go to metadata-cleaned/ subdirectory
  • Single file: Sibling copy next to the original
  • Never overwrites input β€” script refuses if output resolves to input

    • Supported inputs

    .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .webp, .bmp, .tiff, .tif

    Known limitations

  • Does not remove pixel-level watermarks, fingerprints, or invisible signals
  • Does not affect external platform records or server-side provenance
  • Removing ICC profiles may affect color management in some workflows
  • JPEG output is lossy; PNG preferred for pixel fidelity
  • Transparent images written as JPEG are composited onto white background

    • πŸ’‘ Examples

    Single file

    User: clean metadata from this image: photo.png
User: remove EXIF data from IMG_2024.jpg

    Folder batch

    User: clean metadata from all images in "C:\Users\me\Downloads"
User: remove privacy data from /path/to/folder