GETTING STARTED
The Curator and your key
The Curator writes a title, a description, tags and a category for each item, and reads the text inside screenshots. It runs on an AI key you own. Everything else in Teserra works without it.
Why your own key
Vision models cost money per image. Rather than hide that in a subscription, Teserra uses your account with the provider you choose, shows the estimated cost on your library before running, and shows the real cost after. You stay in control of the bill and of which provider sees your images.
Set it up
- Get an API key from your provider. Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works; the default is OpenAI.
- Settings → Add-ons → Curator → Add key. Paste the key, pick a model if you want another than the default.
- Choose Curate new items automatically if you want every import, capture and clip cataloged in the background.
The Curator desk
File → Curator… shows what is cataloged, what is missing a title or tags, and a button to catalog the rest, with results streaming in as they land. It also proposes collections when it sees groups forming.
What is sent, and what is not
- Sent to your provider, under your key and their terms: the image being cataloged, a small version of it.
- Never sent: your library structure, your other files, anything when the Curator is off.
- Visual search and Find Similar do not use the key at all: they run on a model on your Mac.
No key, no problem. Without a key you still get thumbnails, collections, tags you write yourself, search by filename and by meaning, OCR is the one thing that waits for the Curator today. Local tagging without a key is on the roadmap.