A simple tool that automatically copies your photos and videos from Google Drive to Google Photos. Everything happens in the cloud - no need to download files to your computer.

• Copies photos and videos from Google Drive to Google Photos
• Organizes them into albums by date (like 2023_05_photo or 2023_06_video)
• Works automatically - you just run it and it handles everything
• Stops safely if it hits Google's daily limits, then you can continue the next day

On macOS:

brew install rclone
pip install -r requirements.txt

On Linux:

# Install rclone from https://rclone.org/install/
pip install -r requirements.txt

Note: The requirements.txt includes google-cloud-monitoring which is needed for automatic quota synchronization via Google Cloud Monitoring API. It will be installed automatically when you run pip install -r requirements.txt.

You need to create API keys so the tool can access your Google Drive and Google Photos.

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Click "Create Project" and name it (e.g., "photos-sync")
3. Enable these APIs:
   • Go to "APIs & Services" → "Library"
   • Search for and enable "Google Drive API"
   • Search for and enable "Google Photos Library API"
4. Create credentials:
   • Go to "APIs & Services" → "Credentials"
   • Click "Create Credentials" → "OAuth client ID"
   • Choose "Desktop App"
   • Name it (e.g., "photos-sync")
   • Copy the Client ID and Client Secret (you'll need these)

Important: If you see "Access blocked", go to "OAuth consent screen" → "Test users" and add your email address.

rclone is a tool that connects to your Google accounts. Run this command:

rclone config

For Google Drive:

1. Type n (new remote)
2. Name it gdrive
3. Choose drive (number for Google Drive)
4. Paste your Client ID when asked
5. Paste your Client Secret when asked
6. Choose 1 for full access
7. Type y to confirm - your browser will open to authorize

For Google Photos:

1. Type n (new remote)
2. Name it gphotos
3. Choose google photos (number for Google Photos)
4. Paste the same Client ID
5. Paste the same Client Secret
6. Choose false when asked if read-only
7. Type y to confirm - your browser will open to authorize

Test it works:

rclone lsd gdrive:
rclone lsf gphotos:

If both commands show folders without errors, you're good!

Create a file named .env in the project folder. Copy .env.example as a starting point:

cp .env.example .env

Then edit .env and set your values:

Required:

• GDRIVE_REMOTE - Name of your rclone Google Drive remote (default: "gdrive")
• GPHOTOS_REMOTE - Name of your rclone Google Photos remote (default: "gphotos")
• SOURCE_PATH - Folder name in Google Drive where your photos are stored (default: "Photo")

Optional (recommended):

• GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID - Your Google Cloud project ID for automatic quota synchronization via Monitoring API

Change SOURCE_PATH to the name of the folder in your Google Drive where your photos are stored.

python3 main.py

That's it! The script will:

• Display upload statistics at startup (uploaded files, remaining, progress)
• Find all photos and videos in your Google Drive folder
• Copy them to Google Photos
• Organize them into albums by date (format: YYYY_MM_photo or YYYY_MM_video)
• Show you progress as it works
• Automatically stop before hitting daily quota limits

1. The script looks at all files in your Google Drive folder
2. It picks out photos and videos (ignores other files)
3. It figures out the date from the filename
4. It creates albums in Google Photos (like 2023_05_photo)
5. It copies files to the right albums

The script remembers what it's already copied, so you can run it multiple times safely.

Google limits how much you can upload per day:

• 10,000 API requests per day
• 50 GB of uploads per day

The script automatically stops before hitting these limits. If it stops, just wait until the next day (quota resets at midnight Pacific Time) and run it again - it will continue where it left off.

The script tracks API quota usage to prevent exceeding Google's daily limits:

• Automatic Monitoring API sync (recommended): Set GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID in .env. The script will automatically sync with Google Cloud Monitoring API to get real usage from metric serviceruntime.googleapis.com/api/request_count filtered by photoslibrary.googleapis.com service.

  • Note: Metric updates with 2-15 minute delay (this is normal for Google Monitoring)
  • Note: API requests have a 30-second timeout to prevent hanging
  • Setup:
    1. Set GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID in .env
    2. Authenticate: gcloud auth application-default login
    3. Enable Monitoring API: gcloud services enable monitoring.googleapis.com
  • Library: The google-cloud-monitoring library is automatically installed via requirements.txt
  • Background sync: Monitoring API sync happens silently in the background. Only significant quota changes (>10 requests) are logged to reduce noise in the output.

• Local counter (fallback): If Monitoring API is not configured, the script uses a local counter. Less accurate but works without additional setup.

The script automatically displays upload statistics at startup, showing how many files have been uploaded, remaining files, and progress percentage.

• Go to Google Cloud Console → OAuth consent screen → Test users
• Add your email address

Your login expired. Refresh it:

rclone config reconnect gdrive:
rclone config reconnect gphotos:

This will open your browser to log in again.

You've hit Google's daily limit. Wait until tomorrow (after midnight Pacific Time) and run the script again.

Check that your SOURCE_PATH in .env matches the folder name in Google Drive:

rclone lsf gdrive:

Just run python3 main.py again. The script remembers what it already copied and continues from where it stopped.

The script creates some files to track progress (in ~/gphoto_logs/ by default):

• state.json - remembers which files were already copied
• sync_*.log - detailed log of what happened
• summary_*.json - summary report
• failed.json - list of files that couldn't be copied (usually damaged files)

When you run the script, it displays upload statistics at startup:

=== Upload Statistics ===
Uploaded: 8,757 files
Failed: 2 files
Remaining: 17,465 files
Progress: 33.4%
Top file types: .jpg (7,627), .mp4 (426), .mov (386), .cr2 (173), .png (138)

This helps you see:

• How many files have already been uploaded
• How many files remain
• Overall progress percentage
• Most common file types

This project is provided as-is for personal use.