Enriching

Add metadata to indexed files using external processors.

Canon uses a pipeline model: worklist outputs sources as JSONL, an external processor extracts metadata, then import-facts stores the results.

canon worklist → processor → canon import-facts

A processor can be any CLI tool or script that extracts information from files: exiftool for EXIF data, file for MIME types, ffprobe for media info, or custom scripts you write yourself.

Basic Usage

Extract EXIF metadata from images:

canon worklist --where 'source.ext|lowercase IN (jpg, jpeg, heic)' \
  | ./scripts/exif-worklist.sh \
  | canon import-facts

Note the --where filter: it’s usually smart to limit the worklist to files the processor can actually handle.

Detect MIME types for all files:

canon worklist | canonargs --fact mime -- file -b --mime-type {} | canon import-facts

After enrichment, the imported facts become available for filtering and querying.

Provided Processors

Canon includes ready-to-use processors:

Install canonargs with: cargo install canonargs

Going Deeper

• worklist - Full options for generating worklists
• import-facts - Input format and type hints
• Writing Processors - Build your own enrichment scripts

Tip: Selective Hashing

Content hashing normally happens during scan. If you prefer to hash only specific file types, use --no-hash during scan and hash selectively via the pipeline:

canon scan --no-hash --add --role source /path/to/mixed-files
canon worklist --where 'mime~"image/*" OR mime~"video/*"' \
  | ./scripts/hash-worklist.sh \
  | canon import-facts