Recipe

Convert photo presets between Nikon NP3 and Adobe Lightroom XMP formats.

All processing happens locally on your device. Files are never uploaded to any server.

Web app: recipe.shuttercoach.app -- no install needed, runs entirely in your browser via WebAssembly.

Features

• Privacy-first -- all conversions run client-side (WebAssembly in browser, or local CLI)
• Fast -- sub-millisecond conversions (0.003-0.079ms per file)
• Accurate -- 98%+ conversion fidelity via exact offset mapping for 48 NP3 parameters
• Web + CLI -- browser-based converter and command-line tool for scripting/batch workflows

Quick Start

Web

Visit recipe.shuttercoach.app, drag and drop your preset files, and download the converted output.

CLI

Download a pre-built binary from GitHub Releases, or build from source:

make cli
./recipe convert portrait.xmp --to np3
./recipe convert preset.np3 --to xmp
./recipe batch *.xmp --to np3

Tone curve options (NP3 ↔ XMP)

NP3 and Lightroom render tone curves differently. Two opt-in flags help bridge the gap:

# Flatten an NP3 tone curve into approximate basic parameters
# (Contrast / Highlights / Shadows / Whites / Blacks) in the output XMP.
./recipe convert preset.np3 --to xmp --flatten-curves

# Pre-bake a monotonic-cubic spline into the XMP tone curve so Lightroom's
# linear-segment renderer approximates NX Studio's smooth-spline shape.
./recipe convert preset.np3 --to xmp --densify-curves

Both flags are off by default, apply only to NP3→XMP, and are mutually exclusive (flatten wins when both are set). The same toggles are available in the web UI.

Building from Source

Requires Go 1.25.1+ and Node.js 18+.

# CLI
make cli

# WASM module for web interface
make wasm

# Web dev server (hot reload)
cd web && npm install && npm run dev

How It Works

Recipe uses a hub-and-spoke conversion pattern with a UniversalRecipe intermediate representation:

NP3 --Parse--> UniversalRecipe --Generate--> XMP
XMP --Parse--> UniversalRecipe --Generate--> NP3

All conversions flow through a single entry point: converter.Convert(input, from, to). Format parsers and generators are isolated in internal/formats/.

Supported Formats

Format	Extension	Used In	Direction
NP3	.np3	Nikon Z cameras	NP3 <-> XMP
XMP	.xmp	Adobe Lightroom CC	XMP <-> NP3

Known Limitations

NP3 is a compact binary format with fewer parameters than XMP. Some XMP features cannot be represented in NP3:

• Vibrance, Temperature/Tint, Grain, Vignette, Parametric Tone Curves

See docs/known-conversion-limitations.md for the full list.

VSCode Extension

A custom editor for NP3 preset files directly in VSCode. Open any .np3 file to get a visual parameter editor with live photo preview.

Features:

• Visual sliders for all NP3 parameters (exposure, contrast, HSL color, color grading, sharpening, etc.)
• Live photo preview with real-time filter updates via WebAssembly
• Tone curve visualization
• Undo/redo with full edit history
• Copy/paste parameters between open presets
• Multi-tab editing with dirty-state tracking
• Automatic backup file creation on open
• Crash recovery with auto-restart

Architecture: The extension runs a local Go binary (np3tool) for file parsing and a Svelte 5 webview for the UI, communicating over JSONL IPC.

Status: Fully functional for editing and saving NP3 presets. The photo preview applies filters in real-time but is not yet color-accurate compared to Nikon NX Studio's rendering. Not yet published to the VSCode Marketplace.

See extension/ for build instructions.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines.

Legal

The NP3 format was analyzed through clean-room methods for interoperability purposes, protected under DMCA Section 1201(f).

Support

If you find Recipe useful, consider supporting development:

License

MIT