# Photos

> Route Photos and PhotoKit implementation tasks to the correct Knowledge Contracts -- picking assets with no authorization, requesting library access and its usage-description keys, the limited library, fetching assets, requesting images, and writing to the library. Use when presenting PhotosPicker or PHPickerViewController, configuring PHPickerConfiguration/selectionLimit/PHPickerFilter, reading PHPickerResult.itemProvider or assetIdentifier or PhotosPickerItem, calling PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization(for:) or authorizationStatus(for:), declaring NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription/NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription, handling PHAuthorizationStatus.limited or presentLimitedLibraryPicker(from:), fetching with PHFetchOptions/PHFetchResult, requesting images through PHImageManager/PHCachingImageManager, or saving with performChanges and PHAssetCreationRequest. v1 is library access, reading, and saving only -- no photo editing (PHContentEditingInput/Output), no PHLivePhotoView, no AVAsset export, and no camera captu

- Skill: `caglarbaranbora/photos` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add caglarbaranbora/photos`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/caglarbaranbora/photos/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: caglarbaranbora (https://skillmd.com/u/caglarbaranbora)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/caglarbaranbora/photos

---


# Photos — Foundations Skill

## Purpose

Route Photos and PhotoKit implementation tasks to the minimum required
Photos Knowledge Contracts. v1 scope is reaching the user's photo
library: selecting assets with no permission at all, requesting access
when selection is not enough, behaving correctly under limited access,
reading assets and their images, and writing new ones — not editing
photos, not playing Live Photos or video, and not capturing from the
camera.

## Routing

Load only the contracts relevant to the task. All paths relative to
knowledge/photos/.

-   Presenting `PhotosPicker` or `PHPickerViewController`; setting `selectionLimit`/`maxSelectionCount` or a `PHPickerFilter`; reading `PHPickerResult.itemProvider`/`assetIdentifier` or a `PhotosPickerItem` -> picker-and-selection-results.md
-   Calling `PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization(for:handler:)`/`authorizationStatus(for:)`; choosing `PHAccessLevel.addOnly` vs `.readWrite`; declaring `NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription`/`NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription`; branching on `PHAuthorizationStatus` -> authorization-and-access-levels.md
-   Handling `PHAuthorizationStatus.limited`; calling `presentLimitedLibraryPicker(from:)`; setting `PHPhotoLibraryPreventAutomaticLimitedAccessAlert` -> limited-library.md
-   Building a `PHFetchOptions` query; holding or refreshing a `PHFetchResult`; fetching a `PHAssetCollection`'s members; reading where a photo was taken from `PHAsset.location` -> asset-fetching.md
-   Calling `PHImageManager.requestImage(...)`; setting `PHImageRequestOptions`' `isSynchronous`/`deliveryMode`/`isNetworkAccessAllowed`; priming a `PHCachingImageManager` -> image-requests.md
-   Running `performChanges(_:completionHandler:)`; creating with `PHAssetChangeRequest`/`PHAssetCreationRequest`; capturing `placeholderForCreatedAsset` -> saving-to-the-library.md

Never load more than the contracts relevant to the specific question.
For how a usage-description string should be *worded*, route to
`skill.app-store-review-guidelines.submission`. For whether to show a
pre-permission screen and what it says, route to
`skill.human-interface-guidelines.foundations`. For declaring photo data
in `PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy`, route to `skill.privacy.foundations`.

## Stop Conditions

Stop and report if the requested topic has no matching Knowledge
Contract in knowledge/photos/ — do not guess or fall back to general
knowledge. Photo and video editing (`PHContentEditingInput`,
`PHContentEditingOutput`, adjustment data, Photo Editing extensions),
`PHLivePhotoView`, `AVAsset` export from a `PHAsset`, and
`PHAssetResource`-level resource copying are out of scope entirely (see
docs/architecture/domain-map.md). Capturing a new photo from the camera
is AVFoundation's and has no Skill yet — report that rather than
answering.

A photo's recorded capture place is this domain's, not `core-location`'s,
even though `PHAsset.location` is typed as a `CLLocation`:
asset-fetching.md Rule 5 owns it, including the authorization question.
Route to `core-location` only when the task needs the *device's* current
or ongoing location, which is a different subject.

SwiftUI interop with this domain is split deliberately, and the split is
this Skill's: `PhotosPicker` is SwiftUI-native, so
picker-and-selection-results.md Rule 2 *forbids* wrapping the picker,
while `presentLimitedLibraryPicker(from:)` takes a `UIViewController`
and has no SwiftUI counterpart, so limited-library.md Rule 5 *requires*
a bridge. How any such wrapper is written belongs to `uikit-interaction`
and is not restated here.