Metadata Slideshow Helper

Warning

WIP Vibe Coding Project and my first Home Assistant Integration - I wouldn't trust this yet. If you want to try it out nonetheless, click below:

Configuration Notes

• media_dir: One or more directories to scan for images. For multiple directories, separate paths with commas (e.g., /media/photos/2020,/media/photos/2021). All directories will be scanned and their images combined into one slideshow.
• min_rating: Minimum XMP/EXIF rating to include (0–5 scale).
• include_tags / exclude_tags: Tag filters applied to image metadata (case-insensitive).
• advance_interval (seconds): Time between advancing to the next matching image.
• rescan_interval (seconds): Time between rescanning the media directory for new/changed files.
  • Must be greater than advance_interval.
  • The coordinator updates entities every advance_interval, but only rescans the filesystem every rescan_interval to reduce I/O.
• advance_mode: Image advancement mode (sequential or smart_random).
  • sequential: Always advance to the next image in order (default).
  • smart_random: Advance sequentially for N images, then jump to a random position.
    • smart_random_sequence_length: For smart random mode, number of images to advance sequentially before jumping (default 3). Only used when advance_mode is smart_random.

Entities

• Slideshow (image): Shows current image; updates when advancing to the next match
• Matching Image Count (sensor, Diagnostic): State is count of images passing all filters
• Discovered Image Count (sensor, Diagnostic): Total image files found in media directory
• Failed Image Count (sensor, Diagnostic): Image files that couldn't be read or have corrupted metadata
• Non-Image File Count (sensor, Diagnostic): Non-image files encountered during scan

Terminology

Term	Definition
Discovered images	All image files found in the media directory during a rescan.
Matching images	Images from the discovered set that pass all configured filters (min_rating, include_tags, exclude_tags).
Rescan	Walking the media directory and reading image metadata; controlled by rescan_interval.
Advance	Automatically moving to the next matching image; happens every advance_interval seconds.