Getting started: how ReelBase is set up

ReelBase is built around one idea: your original footage stays where it is. This guide explains the parts of a ReelBase setup and the order in which a team usually connects them.

The four pieces

• Your storage. The NAS or drives that already hold your footage. Nothing moves; ReelBase reads the files in place.

• The ingest agent. A small program on a Windows PC on the same network as your storage. It fingerprints each file by its content, creates a 720p H.264 proxy, a poster frame and a hover-scrub sprite sheet, and uploads only those previews and the clip's metadata.

• The ReelBase web app. Where your team browses, logs, searches, builds selects and rough cuts, and sends review links to clients — from any modern browser.

• Your editing software. Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve receive exports that point back to the original files on your storage.

Setting it up

1. Your workspace and your team

ReelBase accounts are invite-only. An admin invites people from Settings → Admin → Invite a user and gives each person the admin or member role. Admins manage settings, integrations and people; members do the day-to-day work. People sign in with email and password or with Google.

2. Install the ingest agent

In Settings → Agents & Installers, register the machine that will run the agent (this creates its key), download the installer, run it on that PC and paste the key. The installer includes Node.js and FFmpeg and starts the agent automatically when the PC signs in. It isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen shows a warning the first time.

3. Choose your watch folders

In Settings → Ingest, add the folders the agent should scan, written as the agent's PC sees them — for example Z:\Footage or \\nas\media\projects. Changes apply on the agent's next scan, or use Scan now. You can also set an exports folder for client deliverables.

4. Set up your tag vocabulary

In Settings → Tags, create categories and their options. Mark a category tag at ingest to show it as checkboxes on the Ingest tab, or use in file naming to build consistent names when footage comes in.

5. Decide about AI

Transcription, search by meaning and visual auto-tagging are optional and can be turned on or off per clip and per ingest batch. Settings shows an estimate of the AI cost. Everything else works without AI.

6. Connect your editors

In Settings → NLE Integration, each editor generates a personal access token and pastes it into the DaVinci Resolve panel (requires Resolve Studio) or the Premiere Pro panel. Exports to FCPXML, Premiere XML and EDL don't need a panel at all.

What to expect day to day

• New clips appear in the Log tab as the agent processes them. The Activity button in the top bar shows what's being processed right now.

• Clips are tracked by content, not by path, so tags and notes survive when a file is renamed or moved. To move media safely: copy it to the new location, add that location as a watch folder, let it scan once, then delete the old copy.

• If a file disappears from your storage, ReelBase flags it as missing and removes only its own copies after 24 hours. It never deletes your source files.

Want to see this on your own storage? Request a demo.