TIL that macOS ships with a default CLI command called... | Simon Willison

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TIL that macOS ships with a default CLI command called "sips", for "scriptable image processing system" - and it can convert webp images to PNG, but it can also generate entirely new images from scratch using an almost entirely undocumented canvas-based JavaScript API! https://til.simonwillison.net/macos/sips

Like 18 Feb 2023 at 18:31 | Open on fedi.simonwillison.net

8 comments

As far as I can tell the only documentation on how to use the JavaScript API is this unofficial documentation here https://github.com/manicmaniac/sips-js-api

18 Feb 2023 at 19:06 | Open on fedi.simonwillison.net

@simon Wow, I've used sips a lot but had absolutely no idea that existed

18 Feb 2023 at 19:10 | Open on crispsandwi.ch

Guillaume Laforge

@simon wrong link?

18 Feb 2023 at 19:10 | Open on uwyn.net

@glaforge oops, thanks - fixed (hooray for the edit button)

18 Feb 2023 at 19:20 | Open on fedi.simonwillison.net

Christopher Schmidt

@glaforge @simon Yeah, correct link is https://github.com/manicmaniac/sips-js-api

18 Feb 2023 at 19:20 | Open on better.boston

whereami

@simon @caseyliss could it be, another Apple thing without proper documentation?

19 Feb 2023 at 1:44 | Open on mastodon.social

@whereami @simon NO FUCKIN WAY

😖

19 Feb 2023 at 2:24 | Open on mastodon.social

@whereami @simon @caseyliss things "just work" if you hide it from your users. ;)

19 Feb 2023 at 4:47 | Open on hachyderm.io