Please modify the `IMMICH_INSTANCE_URL` and `IMMICH_API_KEY` environment variables as suitable. You can also use a Docker env file to store your sensitive API key.
This will store your credentials in a `auth.yml` file in the configuration directory which defaults to `~/.config/immich/`. The directory can be set with the `-d` option or the environment variable `IMMICH_CONFIG_DIR`. Please keep the file secure, either by performing the logout command after you are done, or deleting it manually.
Once you are authenticated, you can upload assets to your Immich server.
```bash
immich upload file1.jpg file2.jpg
```
By default, subfolders are not included. To upload a directory including subfolder, use the --recursive option:
```bash
immich upload --recursive directory/
```
If you are unsure what will happen, you can use the `--dry-run` option to see what would happen without actually performing any actions.
```bash
immich upload --dry-run --recursive directory/
```
By default, the upload command will hash the files before uploading them. This is to avoid uploading the same file multiple times. If you are sure that the files are unique, you can skip this step by passing the `--skip-hash` option. Note that Immich always performs its own deduplication through hashing, so this is merely a performance consideration. If you have good bandwidth it might be faster to skip hashing.
```bash
immich upload --skip-hash --recursive directory/
```
You can automatically create albums based on the folder name by passing the `--album` option. This will automatically create albums for each uploaded asset based on the name of the folder they are in.
It is possible to skip assets matching a glob pattern by passing the `--ignore` option. See [the library documentation](docs/features/libraries.md) on how to use glob patterns. You can add several exclusion patterns if needed.
