Introducing ExplicitUtil

Media libraries accumulate chores: convert a directory of images, transcribe videos, normalize filenames, update NFO metadata, merge clips, unpack archives, and remove the empty folders left behind. ExplicitUtil collects those jobs behind one Python command-line interface.

Its commands cover image-to-WebP conversion, whisper.cpp transcription, regex-based grouping, asynchronous ZIP creation and extraction, ffmpeg video merging, recursive renaming through namer, NFO generation and updates, and empty-directory cleanup. Configuration such as the whisper.cpp path and thread count can be saved under ~/.explicitutil/*.toml with --save.

Install and inspect the commands

git clone https://github.com/Alchemist-Aloha/ExplicitUtil.git
cd ExplicitUtil
uv sync
uv run ExplicitUtil --help

Some commands need external tools: ImageMagick for image conversion, a local whisper.cpp build for transcription, and ffmpeg for video merging. Start with help for the operation you intend to run and test it on copied files before enabling options that move, delete, or overwrite data.

Typical commands include:

ExplicitUtil convert-pic ./pictures --quality 80
ExplicitUtil transcribe ./videos --whisper-root /path/to/whisper.cpp
ExplicitUtil nfo ./media
ExplicitUtil group ./incoming --move
ExplicitUtil merge one.mp4 two.mp4 output.mp4

ExplicitUtil is most useful when these jobs recur. Instead of keeping a folder of unrelated scripts, it provides one discoverable CLI and one place for persistent defaults.

See the ExplicitUtil repository and its generated API documentation.