Settings

Open Settings with the gear icon on the start screen, or press Ctrl+, (Cmd+, on macOS) from anywhere in the app. The panel has three tabs: General, Processing and Controls.

Most settings apply right away. A few change how the app talks to your GPU. When you change one of those, a Save & Relaunch button appears at the bottom of the panel, because the change only takes effect after a restart.

General tab

General Settings

Setting	What it does	Default
Theme	Look of the whole app: Dark, Light or Grey. The start screen artwork changes with the theme.	Dark
Language	Interface language. 15 languages are available, including German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.	English
XMP Metadata Sync	Writes ratings, color labels and tags to standard `.xmp` sidecars so Lightroom, darktable and others can read them, and reads them back in.	On
Create Missing XMP Files	Only visible while XMP sync is on. When off, RapidRAW only updates `.xmp` files that already exist. When on, it creates one for every image you rate, label or tag.	Off
Folder Image Counts	Shows how many images a folder contains when you hover it in the folder tree.	Off
Neutral Grey Canvas	Puts a neutral grey background behind the image in the editor, without changing the app theme. Useful when judging color and exposure, since a dark background makes photos look brighter than they are.	Off
Display Edit Icon	Shows a small slider icon on thumbnails that have edits.	On
Focus Mode	Opening a panel closes the other panels on that side.	Off
Tool Focus Mode	Expanding a tool (for example Curves) collapses the other tools in the same panel, so only the one you work on is open.	Off
Font	Poppins or System Default.	Poppins
Native Titlebar (Linux only)	Uses your desktop's own window titlebar instead of RapidRAW's.	Off

Generative AI

Picks where AI features run. There are four modes:

Mode	What it means
Built-in (default)	Everything runs on your computer and is free: AI masks, AI denoise, automatic tagging and simple generative replace. Models download the first time you use them. On Windows and macOS there is an extra GPU Acceleration switch ("Use GPU for AI models", on by default). Turn it off if AI features crash or hang on your machine; RapidRAW then uses the CPU.
AI Connector	Connects to your own ComfyUI server through the RapidRAW AI Connector. Enter its address (for example `127.0.0.1:8188`) and press Test. Gives you full control over the models used for generative edits.
Cloud	Uses the RapidRAW Cloud service for higher quality generative replace. You sign in with your RapidRAW account. The panel shows whether your subscription is active and your monthly usage (for example `12 / 200 requests`), plus Manage and Log Out buttons. Desktop only. See RapidRAW Cloud.
AI-Free	Turns off every AI feature and hides all AI controls. Edits that already use AI (masks, AI denoise) still render. Turning on denoise in this mode uses the classic, non-AI BM3D algorithm instead.

More detail on where each model runs is in GPU & Drivers.

My Lenses

A short list of lenses you use a lot, so you can pick them quickly in Crop → Lens Correction. Choose a manufacturer, choose the lens model, then click Add to My Lenses. Saved lenses appear in the Saved Lenses list below.

Immich

Connects RapidRAW to your own Immich photo server (Immich 2.5 or newer). Enter the Server address and an API key, press Test connection, then Save. The API key is stored in your system's credential store. See Immich for what you can do once connected.

Tagging

Setting	What it does	Default
AI Tagging	Automatically adds keyword tags to images in the background using a local CLIP model (downloaded on first use). Tags make images searchable.	Off
Maximum AI Tags	Upper limit of tags per image, 1 to 20.	10
Custom AI Tag List	Comma-separated list. When filled, the AI only picks tags from your list instead of its built-in vocabulary. English words work best.	Empty
Tagging Shortcuts	Tags shown as one-click buttons in the tagging menus and the Metadata panel.	portrait, landscape, architecture, travel, street, family, nature, food, event

The buttons to remove tags from your library moved to Data Management.

The General tab ends with a Thanks section that credits the open-source projects RapidRAW builds on.

Processing tab

Processing Engine

Setting	What it does	Default
Preview Rendering Strategy	Dynamic renders the preview at the size it is shown on screen, so it stays sharp at every zoom level. Fixed Resolution always renders at one size, which is faster on weak hardware.	Dynamic
Preview Resolution (Fixed only)	Size of the editor preview: 720, 1280, 1920, 2560 or 3840 px.	1920 px
Static Preview Resolution (Dynamic only)	Size of the still previews used by tools such as crop and perspective. Does not change the main preview.	1920 px
Render Resolution Scale (Dynamic only)	Renders below your display resolution: 1.0x (native), 0.75x, 0.5x or 0.25x. Try 0.75x on a 4K or 5K screen if sliders feel slow.	1.0x
High-DPI Rendering (Dynamic only)	Renders at your screen's physical pixel count on high-DPI displays. Sharpest preview, but uses a lot more GPU memory. Disabled on normal-DPI screens.	Off
Live Interactive Previews	Updates the image while you drag a slider. Turn it off if dragging feels laggy; the image then updates when you let go.	On
Live Preview Quality	Quality of the preview while dragging: High Quality or Performance.	High Quality
Grid Thumbnail Resolution	Size of the library thumbnails: 240 to 720 px. Higher looks sharper on large thumbnails but takes more disk space.	480 px
Editor Thumbnail Resolution	Size of the quick preview shown while the full image loads in the editor: 720 to 1920 px.	1280 px
Always Decode RAW	Builds thumbnails from the RAW data instead of the JPEG preview embedded in the file. Slower, but thumbnails then match the editor exactly.	Off
WGPU Direct Rendering	Draws the preview straight to the window with the GPU instead of sending images through the web view. Much more responsive. Not available on Linux and Android. Needs a restart.	On (Windows, macOS)
Processing Backend	The GPU API: Auto, Vulkan, DirectX 12 (Windows), Metal (macOS) or OpenGL. Change it if the canvas stays blank or the app crashes when you open an image. Needs a restart.	Auto
Linux Compatibility Mode (Linux)	Turns off GPU compositing in the web view. Only use it if RapidRAW still crashes after trying other backends. NVIDIA on Wayland already gets a lighter fix automatically. Needs a restart.	Off

Click Advanced Settings to show four more options:

Setting	What it does	Default
Thumbnail Worker Threads	How many thumbnails are generated at once, 2 to 10. More is faster but uses more CPU and memory. Needs a restart.	4
Decoded Image Cache	How many full-size images stay in memory so switching back to them is instant, 2 to 10.	5
Parallel Exports	How many images are exported at the same time: Auto, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8.	Auto
Export Memory Limit	How much of your RAM exports may use before RapidRAW slows down: 50, 65, 80 or 90%. Lower it if your computer becomes unusable during big exports.	80%

Image Preprocessing

These settings change how RAW files are decoded, before any of your edits are applied. They affect every image.

Setting	What it does	Default
Base Color Noise Reduction	Removes color speckles early in the pipeline. 0 to 1.	0.5
Base Pre-Sharpening	Gentle sharpening applied during decoding. 0 to 1.	0.35
Apply Preprocessing to Non-RAWs	Also applies the two settings above to JPEG, PNG, TIFF and other non-RAW files.	Off
Apple RAW 9 Engine (macOS only)	Decodes RAW files with Apple's own RAW engine. Needs macOS 27 or later and a supported camera, and is slower.	Off
Linear RAW Processing	How linear DNGs are interpreted. See below.	Auto
Baseline Exposure	Brightens RAW files by a fixed amount, the way many other RAW editors do. Turn it on if your RAWs look darker in RapidRAW than in other apps. The Baseline Amount slider goes from 0 to 2 EV (darktable uses +0.7 EV).	Off, 0.7 EV
Highlight Preservation Compensation	Some camera modes underexpose on purpose to protect highlights (Fujifilm DR200/DR400, Canon Highlight Tone Priority and Auto Lighting Optimizer, Nikon Active D-Lighting, Olympus gradation, Pentax Dynamic Range). This brightens those files back to normal.	On
Global Tonemapper Override	Forces one tone mapper for all images and hides the per-image Tone Mapper switch in Basic. When on, pick a Default RAW Tonemapper and a Default Non-RAW Tonemapper (AgX or Basic).	Off (AgX for RAW, Basic for non-RAW)

Linear RAW Processing

Some DNGs (DJI drones, some phone "ProRAW" modes, scientific cameras) store pixel data that is already demosaiced into linear light instead of raw sensor data. RapidRAW detects these files automatically. Auto works for most of them. If one opens with a pink or magenta cast, or looks washed out, try the other options:

Option	What it does
Auto	Applies color calibration, no gamma correction.
Apply Gamma	Applies gamma correction before calibration. Try this first.
Skip Calibrate	Skips color calibration.
Apply Gamma & Skip Calibrate	Both of the above.

This setting does nothing for normal RAW files (NEF, ARW, CR3, RAF and so on).

Data Management

The Storage part shows how much disk space RapidRAW uses and breaks it down. Each row has a Clear button, and caches that can grow have a Limit field (in GB). When a cache reaches its limit, the oldest entries are removed.

Item	What it is	Default limit
Thumbnails	Library thumbnails. Rebuilt automatically when needed.	10 GB
AI Denoise	Cached results of AI denoise, so denoised images open fast.	10 GB
Depth & Normal Maps	Used by Lens Blur, Fog and Relight.	4 GB
AI Models	Downloaded AI models. They download again when needed.	none
Immich	Images cached from your Immich server (only shown when Immich is set up).	20 GB
Metadata	Cached EXIF data for fast sorting and searching.	none
Logs	The application log. Cleared on every start. Show opens it in your file manager.	none

The Library & Workspace part has these actions:

Action	What it does
Delete All Edits	Deletes every `.rrdata` sidecar in all your root folders. This removes all your edits and cannot be undone.
Clear AI Tags	Removes AI-generated tags from all images.
Clear All Tags	Removes all tags. Color labels are kept.
Reset Workspace Layout	Puts all panels back in their default positions and sizes.

Controls tab

Mouse Controls

Setting	What it does	Default
Input Device Optimization	Mouse or Touchpad. With Touchpad, two-finger scrolling pans the image and pinching zooms.	Mouse
Zoom Speed Multiplier	How fast scroll and pinch zoom, 0.1 to 3.0.	1.0
Zoom photo to 100%	When on, clicking the image jumps straight to 100% and back. When off, clicking zooms in steps.	Off

Keyboard Controls

Lists every keyboard action, grouped into Library, Editing, View, Rating & Labels and Panels. To change a shortcut, click it and press the new key combination. Press Escape while recording to remove the shortcut. If two actions use the same keys, both are marked with a yellow warning. Reset All to Defaults restores everything.

The default shortcuts are listed in Keyboard Shortcuts.

Where is…?

Some settings moved in recent versions:

Hiding adjustment tools (Chromatic Aberration, Color Calibration and others) is no longer in Settings. Right-click a section header in the Adjustments panel and choose Customize Panels. See Panels Overview.
RAW Highlight Recovery is no longer a setting. Highlight reconstruction now happens automatically.
Clear Thumbnail Cache and View Application Logs are now rows in Data Management.