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

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

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

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."
  }
}

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

# 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:

3. HTML Error Page Detection

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

Exit Codes

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

Installer Variables

File Locations

Debug Artifacts (on failure with --debug)

Performance

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