Installation Guide

Basic Installation

npm install exiftool-vendored
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Platform Requirements

Node.js Requirements

• Node.js 20+ (Active LTS or Maintenance LTS versions only)
• Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows

System Dependencies

Linux

• Most distributions: No additional setup required

• Minimal distributions (Alpine, Docker slim): install perl

  # Alpine
  apk add perl
  
  # Debian/Ubuntu minimal
  apt-get install perl
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Docker

Standard Images

Use the full Node.js Docker image, not the -slim variant:

# ✅ Good - includes perl
FROM node:18

# ❌ Bad - missing perl
FROM node:18-slim
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Slim Images

If you must use slim images, install perl:

FROM node:18-slim
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y perl && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
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Example Dockerfile

FROM node:18

WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production

COPY . .

CMD ["node", "index.js"]
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Temporary Files

ExifTool creates temporary files during processing. Ensure:

• Adequate disk space in temp directory
• Proper cleanup on application shutdown
• Secure temp directory permissions

Next Steps

After installation:

1. Verify setup: Run exiftool.version() to confirm working installation
2. Read the Usage Examples for common patterns
3. Understand Tags to work with metadata effectively
4. Add proper error handling and resource cleanup