# Upload

[← Documentation index](../index.md) · [Guided first pass](../first-pass.md)

![Upload preflight](../images/uploads.png)

**What it is for.** Sending an approved album to Immich through `immich-go`, with an
audit trail of exactly which bytes went.

**What you decide.** Which albums, and whether to proceed once the preflight has
listed its blockers. Upload is never an automatic consequence of renaming.

**What it changes.** Nothing locally. On the Immich server, assets appear. Locally a
batch is recorded: the album, the asset ids, the redacted command, the uploader
version, the pre-upload SHA-256 **and** the SHA-1 Immich matches on, the output log,
and the outcome counts.

**What it refuses.** Preflight blocks on: missing credentials, an unreachable server,
a missing `immich-go`, an unresolved rename, an undecided or deferred safety
decision, an unverified EXIF checkpoint, incomplete analysis for an SFW photo, a file
whose bytes changed since it was checkpointed, and a partial scope you have not
explicitly accepted. The approval is then **re-proved immediately before the uploader
runs** — bytes edited after you approved fail with `stale_preflight` and the uploader
never starts.

## Reading the view

The scope shows exactly which albums and how many photos. The command preview is the
real command with the API key removed; the key never reaches the browser and never
reaches a log.

## Uncertain is not failed

If the process dies after the server accepted files, the batch becomes
`unknown_requires_verification` — not "failed", and **not retryable**. The server may
already hold the photographs, and uploading again would create duplicates or
upgrades. Verification asks Immich about the recorded SHA-1 and answers present,
absent, or inconclusive; an inconclusive answer is resolved by you, with the evidence
recorded.

If a file's bytes change after a successful upload, it is marked
`changed_after_upload` and you are warned that uploading again may create or upgrade
an asset rather than doing nothing.

Next: [archive](archive.md).