Version 6.7: Flow, Sync and a look back at recent releases

A note on recent releases

On June 11th, we released version 6.6.6, a major update to the core of Lychee. Unfortunately, this version introduced several unforeseen issues, primarily affecting the front-end. In parallel, we also received two vulnerability reports shortly after release, which we promptly addressed. This led to a rapid series of patch releases (6.6.7 to 6.6.14).

While necessary, we recognize that this unusually high number of rapid releases caused frustration and gave the impression of declining quality. We want to be transparent about the challenges we faced and reaffirm our commitment to maintaining Lychee as a secure, reliable, and well-tested photo gallery platform.

• For over five years, we have upheld a strict 4-eyes review principle on every code change.
• Our code coverage has consistently remained above 90%.
• We have been following the OpenSSF Best Practices Badge Program since 2019.
• Most of the recent issues occurred in the front-end, an area that is inherently more challenging to test comprehensively through automation and often relies on real-world usage to surface edge cases.

Given our relatively small user base (as suggested by the modest number of discussions on GitHub), we currently cannot operate a structured beta program or canary release process. While we maintain an actively updated alpha Docker image for early adopters, its usage remains limited.

In the past, we received feedback that Lychee’s release cadence was too slow — more recently, it has been too fast. We are actively working to strike a better balance between timely improvements and overall release stability going forward.

Lychee 6.7.0: Flow, Sync and more!

Despite recent turbulence, version 6.7.0 brings exciting new features and important improvements:

• Full Persian language support and Right-to-Left (RTL) layout.
  Lychee now offers complete localization for Persian-speaking users, including proper display orientation.

• Invitation links for user management.
  Administrators can now generate invitation links to onboard new users. Similar to platforms like Discord, these links are time-limited but not revocable once issued. Care should be taken when selecting expiration durations to maintain security and manageability.

• Admin management.
  The gallery owner can now directly manage admin users, enabling better delegation of administrative tasks.

• Optional gallery header image.
  You can now personalize your gallery’s main page with a configurable image header.

• Fix for the disappearing album header bar on mobile.
  A long-standing issue affecting mobile navigation has been resolved, improving usability on mobile and touch devices.

• New “Flow” album view.
  A social-friendly, feed-like display mode showing recent albums in chronological order, ideal for galleries aimed at sharing content with followers.

• Complete refactoring of the Sync system.
  The synchronization mechanism has been rebuilt for better reliability and performance. Improvements include:

  • Faster and more reliable.
  • Fixes for duplicate mis-detection.
  • Quick duplicate rejection by title, without the need for file hash calculations.
  • Support for reverse sync, enabling automatic removal of photos and albums from Lychee when they no longer exist in the designated source directory.

Thank You

To everyone who reported issues, tested patches, and continued to support us — thank you. Lychee is better because of you.

We remain committed to maintaining high code standards and delivering a photo gallery you can trust and enjoy. This release would not have been possible without the help of our community, supporters, and the hard work of our reviewers.

If you would like to contribute, get involved, or simply connect with other Lychee users, we are always looking for more collaborators.
Join us on our Discord server — we would love to have you.