GIIL — Get Image [from] Internet Link

A zero-setup CLI that downloads full-resolution images from cloud photo shares. The missing link between your iPhone screenshots and remote AI coding sessions.

Why This Exists

The primary use case: Remote AI-Assisted Debugging

You're SSH'd into a remote server running Claude Code, Codex, or another AI assistant. You need to debug a UI issue on your iPhone, but how do you get that screenshot to your remote terminal?

Without giil:

Download image locally → SCP to server → Tell AI the path
Email yourself → Download on server → Hope it works
Set up complex file sync between devices

With giil:

giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a1Abc_xYz..." --json
# {"path": "/tmp/icloud_20240115_143022.jpg", "width": 1170, ...}

One command. AI sees it instantly. No file transfers, no context switching.

The Workflow

iPhone Screenshot → iCloud Sync → Photos.app Share Link → Paste to SSH → giil Downloads → AI Analyzes

Why Cloud Shares Are Hard

Problem	Why It's Hard	How giil Solves It
JavaScript-heavy SPAs	Standard curl/wget can't execute JS	Headless Chromium via Playwright
Dynamic image loading	Images load asynchronously from CDN	Network interception captures CDN responses
No direct download links	URLs are session-specific and expire	Clicks Download button or intercepts live requests
Copy/paste loses quality	Manual screenshots compress images	Captures original resolution from source
HEIC format on Apple	Many tools can't process HEIC/HEIF	Platform-aware conversion (sips/heif-convert)

Quick Start

# Install
curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dicklesworthstone/giil/main/install.sh?v=3.0.0" | bash

# Download single image
giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/02cD9okNHvVd-uuDnPCH3ZEEA"

# JSON output (best for AI workflows)
giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/..." --json

# Download entire album
giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/..." --all --output ~/album

Note: First run downloads Playwright Chromium (200MB, cached in `/.cache/giil/`).

Supported Platforms

Platform	URL Patterns	Method	Browser Required
iCloud	share.icloud.com/photos/*, icloud.com/photos/#*	4-tier capture strategy	Yes
Dropbox	dropbox.com/s/*, dropbox.com/scl/fi/*	Direct curl (raw=1)	No
Google Photos	photos.app.goo.gl/*, photos.google.com/share/*	URL extraction + =s0 modifier	Yes
Google Drive	drive.google.com/file/d/*, drive.google.com/open?id=*	Multi-tier with auth detection	Yes

Dropbox Fast Path: Direct curl download with no browser overhead—typically 1-2 seconds.

Google Photos Full-Res: Automatically appends =s0 to CDN URLs for maximum resolution.

Four-Tier Capture Strategy

giil implements a fallback strategy to maximize reliability:

1. Download Button (Highest Quality)

• Locates visible Download button using 9 selector patterns
• Clicks and waits for browser download event
• Obtains original file (no re-encoding losses)
• Works with HEIC/HEIF originals

2. Network Interception (Full Resolution)

• Monitors all HTTP responses for CDN patterns (cvws.icloud-content.com, etc.)
• Filters by content-type (image formats only)
• Captures largest image buffer (>10KB threshold to skip thumbnails)
• Works even if UI elements are obscured

3. Element Screenshot

• Queries for image elements using 10 selector patterns
• Verifies element is visible and ≥100×100 pixels
• Takes PNG screenshot of the element

4. Viewport Screenshot (Last Resort)

• Captures visible viewport (1920×1080)
• Always succeeds if page loads
• Useful for debugging page state

Command Reference

Basic Usage

giil <url> [options]

Options

Flag	Default	Description
--output DIR	.	Output directory
--preserve	off	Keep original bytes (skip MozJPEG compression)
--convert FMT	—	Convert to: jpeg, png, webp
--quality N	85	JPEG quality 1-100
--base64	off	Output base64 to stdout (no file saved)
--json	off	Output JSON metadata
--all	off	Download all photos from album
--timeout N	60	Page load timeout in seconds
--debug	off	Save debug artifacts on failure
--verbose	off	Show detailed progress
--trace	off	Enable Playwright tracing for deep debugging
--print-url	off	Output resolved CDN URL (don't download)
--debug-dir DIR	.	Directory for debug artifacts
--update	off	Force reinstall dependencies

Output Modes

Default: File Path

giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/XXX"
# stdout: /current/dir/icloud_20240115_143245.jpg

Scripting:

IMAGE_PATH=$(giil "..." --output ~/Downloads 2>/dev/null)

JSON Mode

giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/XXX" --json

Success:

{
  "ok": true,
  "schema_version": "1",
  "platform": "icloud",
  "path": "/absolute/path/to/icloud_20240115_143245.jpg",
  "datetime": "2024-01-15T14:32:45.000Z",
  "sourceUrl": "https://cvws.icloud-content.com/...",
  "method": "network",
  "size": 245678,
  "width": 4032,
  "height": 3024
}

Error:

{
  "ok": false,
  "schema_version": "1",
  "platform": "icloud",
  "error": {
    "code": "AUTH_REQUIRED",
    "message": "Login required - link is not publicly shared",
    "remediation": "The file is not publicly shared. The owner must enable public access."
  }
}

Field	Description
method	Capture strategy: download, network, element-screenshot, viewport-screenshot, direct
error.code	Error code (see Exit Codes)
error.remediation	Suggested fix

Base64 Mode

# Decode to file
giil "..." --base64 | base64 -d > image.jpg

# Create data URI
echo "data:image/jpeg;base64,$(giil '...' --base64)" > uri.txt

# Pipe to API
giil "..." --base64 | curl -X POST -d @- https://api.example.com/upload

URL-Only Mode

giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/XXX" --print-url
# stdout: https://cvws.icloud-content.com/B/...

Useful for external downloaders, caching, or debugging.

Album Mode

Download entire shared albums with --all:

giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/XXX" --all --output ~/album

How It Works

1. Load album page
2. Detect thumbnail grid (11 selector strategies)
3. For each thumbnail: click → capture → close → next
4. Output one path/JSON per photo

Album Features

• Resilient: Continues to next photo if one fails
• Indexed filenames: _001, _002, etc. for ordering
• Rate limiting: 1 second delay between photos (polite downloading)
• Exponential backoff: Automatic retry on rate limit signals

Album Output

# Default
/path/to/album/icloud_20240115_143245_001.jpg
/path/to/album/icloud_20240115_143246_002.jpg

# With --json
{"path": "...001.jpg", "method": "download", "width": 4032, ...}
{"path": "...002.jpg", "method": "network", "width": 3024, ...}

Image Processing Pipeline

EXIF Datetime Extraction

Priority order for filename generation:

1. DateTimeOriginal (when photo was taken)
2. CreateDate
3. DateTimeDigitized
4. ModifyDate
5. Current time (fallback)

HEIC/HEIF Conversion

Platform	Tool	Notes
macOS	sips	Built-in, always available
Linux	heif-convert	Requires libheif-examples package

# Install HEIC support on Linux
sudo apt-get install libheif-examples  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install libheif-tools         # Fedora

MozJPEG Compression (Default)

By default, giil compresses with MozJPEG for optimal size/quality:

• 40-50% smaller than standard JPEG at equivalent quality
• Quality 85 (configurable via --quality)
• Use --preserve to keep original bytes

Filename Format

icloud_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS[_NNN][_counter].jpg
        │              │      │
        │              │      └── Collision counter (if file exists)
        │              └── Album index (--all mode only)
        └── Date/time from EXIF or capture time

Download Verification

giil validates downloads through three stages:

1. Content-Type Validation

Validates HTTP Content-Type matches expected image types.

2. Magic Bytes Detection

Verifies binary signature regardless of server claims:

Format	Magic Bytes
JPEG	FF D8 FF
PNG	89 50 4E 47
GIF	47 49 46 38
WebP	RIFF container with WEBP
HEIC/HEIF	ISO base media file (ftyp box)

3. HTML Error Page Detection

Rejects HTML content that indicates an error page instead of an image.

Exit Codes

Code	Name	Description
0	Success	Image captured and saved/output
1	Capture Failure	All capture strategies failed
2	Usage Error	Invalid arguments or missing URL
3	Dependency Error	Node.js, Playwright, or Chromium issue
10	Network Error	Timeout, DNS failure, unreachable host
11	Auth Required	Login redirect, password required, not publicly shared
12	Not Found	Expired link, deleted file, 404
13	Unsupported Type	Video, Google Doc, or non-image content
20	Internal Error	Bug in giil (please report!)

Scripting:

giil "https://share.icloud.com/photos/XXX" 2>/dev/null
case $? in
    0) echo "Success!" ;;
    10) echo "Network issue - retry later" ;;
    11) echo "Link not public - ask owner to share" ;;
    12) echo "Link expired" ;;
    *) echo "Failed with code $?" ;;
esac

Environment Variables

Runtime Variables

Variable	Description	Default
XDG_CACHE_HOME	Base cache directory	~/.cache
GIIL_HOME	giil runtime directory	$XDG_CACHE_HOME/giil
PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH	Custom Chromium cache	$GIIL_HOME/ms-playwright
GIIL_NO_GUM	Disable gum styling	unset
GIIL_CHECK_UPDATES	Enable update checking	unset

Installer Variables

Variable	Description	Default
DEST	Custom install directory	~/.local/bin
GIIL_SYSTEM	Install to /usr/local/bin	unset
GIIL_VERIFY	Verify SHA256 checksum	unset
GIIL_VERSION	Install specific version	latest

File Locations

Path	Purpose
~/.local/bin/giil	Main script
~/.cache/giil/	Runtime directory
~/.cache/giil/node_modules/	Playwright, Sharp, exifr
~/.cache/giil/extractor.mjs	Generated Node.js script
~/.cache/giil/ms-playwright/	Chromium browser cache

Debug Artifacts (on failure with --debug)

File	Contents
giil_debug_<timestamp>.png	Full-page screenshot
giil_debug_<timestamp>.html	Page DOM content

Performance

Phase	First Run	Subsequent
Chromium download	30-60s	Skipped (cached)
Browser launch	2-3s	2-3s
Page load	3-10s	3-10s
Image capture	1-5s	1-5s
Total	40-80s	5-15s

Dropbox: 1-2 seconds (direct curl, no browser).

Troubleshooting

"Auth required" error

The link isn't publicly shared. Owner must enable public access in their cloud settings.

Timeout errors

Increase timeout: giil "..." --timeout 120

Wrong/small image captured

Run with --debug to see page state. Report issue with debug artifacts.

HEIC conversion fails on Linux

sudo apt-get install libheif-examples  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install libheif-tools         # Fedora

Chromium fails to launch

giil "..." --update
# Or manually:
cd ~/.cache/giil && npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

Debugging

# Verbose output
giil "..." --verbose

# Debug artifacts on failure
giil "..." --debug

# Playwright trace (generates trace.zip)
giil "..." --trace
npx playwright show-trace ~/.cache/giil/trace.zip

Installation

# One-liner (recommended)
curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dicklesworthstone/giil/main/install.sh?v=3.0.0" | bash

# Verified installation
GIIL_VERIFY=1 curl -fsSL .../install.sh | bash

# System-wide
GIIL_SYSTEM=1 curl -fsSL .../install.sh | bash

# Manual
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dicklesworthstone/giil/main/giil -o ~/.local/bin/giil
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/giil

Uninstallation

rm ~/.local/bin/giil
rm -rf ~/.cache/giil
rm -rf ~/.cache/ms-playwright  # If no other Playwright tools

Security & Privacy

• Local execution: All processing happens on your machine
• No telemetry: No data sent anywhere except to cloud services
• No authentication stored: Uses public share mechanism
• No cookies saved: Browser context is ephemeral
• Temp file cleanup: Downloaded files cleaned up after processing

Integration with Flywheel

Tool	Integration
Claude Code	Download screenshots for visual debugging via SSH
NTM	Share images between multi-agent sessions
Agent Mail	Attach downloaded images to agent messages
CASS	Search sessions that used giil for image context