Introducing Tenrankai - A Modern Photo Gallery Server

We’re excited to announce the release of Tenrankai (展覧会), a high-performance photo gallery server that takes a radically simple approach: it’s just files and folders.

Why We Built Tenrankai

In the world of photo galleries, we found ourselves choosing between complex database-driven systems or limited static generators. Tenrankai takes a different path:

  • No database required - Just drop files in folders and you’re done
  • SyncThing ready - Edit locally, sync globally, no deployment process
  • Lightning-fast performance thanks to Rust and intelligent caching
  • Dynamic features like automatic image resizing and metadata extraction
  • Production-ready capabilities including watermarking and authentication

The Power of Simplicity

Tenrankai is a gallery, CMS, and blog platform that relies on nothing more than folders and files. Simply drop files in, or even use SyncThing to keep your gallery or website up to date. No database migrations, no complex deployments - just organize your files and Tenrankai handles the rest.

Key Features at Launch

🚀 Performance First

Built with Rust and the Axum web framework, Tenrankai handles thousands of images without breaking a sweat. Our multi-level caching system ensures that repeat visitors get instant load times.

📸 Smart Image Processing

Tenrankai automatically:

  • Generates multiple image sizes (thumbnail, gallery, medium, large)
  • Creates @2x variants for retina displays
  • Preserves ICC color profiles (Display P3, Adobe RGB)
  • Serves WebP to supported browsers with JPEG fallback

🎨 Beautiful Galleries

The responsive masonry layout adapts perfectly to any screen size. Add descriptions to folders and captions to images using simple markdown files.

🔧 Highly Configurable

Run multiple independent galleries from a single instance, each with its own:

  • URL prefix and routing
  • Source directories
  • Quality settings
  • Custom templates

Getting Started

Getting up and running is simple:

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/theatrus/tenrankai.git
cd tenrankai
cargo build --release

# Create basic config
cat > config.toml << EOF
[server]
host = "127.0.0.1"
port = 3000

[app]
name = "My Gallery"

[[galleries]]
name = "main"
url_prefix = "/gallery"
source_directory = "photos"
cache_directory = "cache"
EOF

# Run it!
./target/release/tenrankai

Visit http://localhost:3000 and you’re ready to go!

What’s Next

We have exciting plans for Tenrankai:

  • Video support - Handle video files alongside photos
  • Advanced search - Find images by metadata, tags, or content
  • Plugin system - Extend functionality with custom plugins
  • Mobile apps - Native apps for iOS and Android

Join the Community

Tenrankai is open source under the Apache 2.0 license. We welcome contributions, bug reports, and feature requests!

Technical Details

For the curious, here’s what powers Tenrankai:

  • Language: Rust 1.89+
  • Web Framework: Axum
  • Image Processing: image-rs with custom optimizations
  • Template Engine: Liquid
  • Async Runtime: Tokio

Try It Today

Whether you’re a photographer looking to showcase your portfolio, or an organization managing image collections, Tenrankai is ready to serve your needs.

Get Started with Tenrankai →

Tenrankai is developed by the open source community and is available under the Apache 2.0 license.