Eagle Compatibility & Independence
Nephele can read and write Eagle's underlying data in depth, yet its own operation and asset management don't depend on Eagle at all.
If this is your first time hearing about Eagle, read the section below first; if you're already using it, you can skip straight to "How we stay compatible."
What Eagle is
Eagle is an asset-management application widely used by illustrators and designers. Think of it as a souped-up folder built specifically for "collecting" and "finding" images: drag-and-drop saving, tagging images, sorting by folder, PSD / CLIP / video thumbnail previews, and one-click browser-extension bookmarking. Many illustrators keep tens of thousands of reference images on their machines, and Eagle is their "second brain."
Nephele understands how Eagle stores its data, and can read, search, tag, and organize folders for you — but it is not a replacement for Eagle, and it does not require Eagle to run.
How we stay compatible: direct filesystem reads
Nephele interacts with Eagle through direct filesystem reads — not through plugins, APIs, or inter-process communication. On disk, an Eagle library is essentially just an XXX.library/ folder:
| File / Directory | Contents |
|---|---|
metadata.json | Library-level metadata and the folder tree (hierarchy, color labels) |
images/{id}.info/metadata.json | Tags, ratings, annotations, and color palette for a single asset |
images/{id}.info/ | The originals, PSDs, and videos you imported, plus the thumbnail cache |
Nephele parses these as data files in an open format, rather than calling Eagle's private interfaces. The benefits are straightforward:
- Fast — pure local file I/O, with no network round-trips or inter-process communication
- Stable — if Eagle crashes, becomes unresponsive, or upgrades its version, none of it affects Nephele's ability to read the data already saved
- Loosely coupled — the two have completely independent lifecycles; if one goes down, it doesn't affect the other
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Because we operate on an open data format rather than a software interface, Nephele can read and write these files normally whether or not Eagle is open — and even whether or not it's installed.
Neither operation nor asset management depends on Eagle
If you've never installed Eagle, all of Nephele's core features remain fully intact. Eagle only appears as an additional data source once you've configured a library path.
| Scenario | Depends on Eagle? |
|---|---|
| Startup / Agent chat / publish packaging / digital proof-of-existence / rights enforcement / reference board / 3D preview | No |
| Browsing the asset library | No — it browses your local disk by default |
| Browsing or importing an Eagle library | Only needs the library path; the Eagle process doesn't need to be running |
The core of Nephele's asset management is its own local filesystem view and pipeline engine: the default data source is your local disk, the pipeline processes file paths without caring about their origin, and the visual embeddings and tag index for similar images are Nephele's own self-built database (produced by the EVA02 embedding space of the local tagging model PixAI Tagger), not Eagle's index. Here, an Eagle library is just "a special folder that Nephele understands."
What you can do after configuring a library path
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Browse | Browse Eagle assets by folder tree in the asset library |
| Search | Filter by keyword, tag, star rating, file extension, and folder |
| Similar images | Upload an image and find visually similar assets in the Eagle library |
| Import | Import from the browser, a local folder, or a reference board (with tags / ratings / notes) |
| Batch tagging | The local tagging model (PixAI Tagger, with WD SwinV2 as fallback) automatically applies content tags and writes them back to metadata.json |
| Organize | Through Agent chat, move folders, add or remove tags, update ratings, and move items to the trash |
| Remote browsing | Browse the Eagle library from your phone via Nephele Aura |
The common thread: Nephele reads and writes Eagle's data files, rather than driving the Eagle software itself.
Common misconceptions
Can I use Nephele without buying Eagle? Yes. The vast majority of features have nothing to do with Eagle; you only need an Eagle library file (not merely the installed Eagle software) when you want to browse / manage an Eagle-format library.
Can it read the library when Eagle isn't open? Yes. Nephele reads the files on disk, not the memory of the Eagle process, so whether Eagle is running makes no difference.
Will an Eagle upgrade break Nephele? Not as long as the underlying data format stays the same — Eagle's metadata.json structure has remained stable, and if a breaking change ever lands in the future, we'll follow up and adapt. Nephele also only writes the data files inside the library directory, and never touches Eagle's installation directory.
Is Nephele a replacement for Eagle? No. We're compatible with Eagle because many illustrators already use it and we want to make their existing workflow smoother — not to force you to migrate.
In one sentence
Just as Photoshop can open a PNG while its operation doesn't depend on any PNG editor at all — a PNG is simply a format it understands. Eagle's library format is the same for Nephele: we understand it, can read and write it, and can help you use it more efficiently, but Nephele's operation is never built on top of Eagle.