Assets

Assets are the media files used in your project: audio, video, images, MIDI, face animation data, and Fountain screenplays. The Asset Module is the single source of truth for all project assets, merging the project’s asset index with the file system to give you a unified view.

Asset Manager

Toggle the Asset Manager panel with A or from the footer bar.

Action	Shortcut	Command ID
Toggle Asset Manager	A	assets:toggle-modal
Sync to Cloud	⌘⇧Y	assets:syncToR2

Browsing

The Asset Manager displays a folder view of your project directory, merging two sources:

1. File system — Files and folders on disk within the project root
2. Project index — Asset metadata stored in the .plin file

Each item shows:

Property	Description
Name	File or folder name
Type	Detected from file extension (audio, video, image, MIDI, face, script)
Size	File size in bytes
Icon	Native OS file icon (cached for performance)
In Project	Whether this file has an Asset entry in the project index
Missing	Whether an Asset entry exists but the file is not on disk

Hidden files (starting with . or _) are automatically excluded.

Navigation

The Asset Manager supports folder navigation with breadcrumb UI:

Action	Description
Click folder	Navigate into that folder
Click breadcrumb	Jump to any parent folder
Navigate Up	Go to parent folder
Navigate to Root	Return to the project root

Importing Assets

Import files from your filesystem into the project:

Action	Command ID	Description
Import file	assets:import	Copy an external file into the project and create an Asset entry
Import data	assets:import-data	Import raw data (used by AI generation pipelines)

Import Flow

When you import a file:

1. The file is copied to the appropriate subfolder based on its type:

   Extension	Target Folder
   .wav, .mp3, .aiff, .flac, .ogg, .m4a	audio/
   .mp4, .mov, .avi, .mkv, .webm	video/
   .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .webp, .bmp, .tiff	video/
   .mid, .midi	midi/

2. An Asset entry is created with:

   • Unique ID (asset_{uuid})
   • Detected MIME type
   • Audio metadata (sample rate, channels, frame count, duration) for audio files
   • Video metadata (fps, resolution, frame count) for video files
   • MD5 hash for cloud sync

3. For audio assets, the file is cached to PC32 planar format at the project sample rate for real-time playback

4. Waveform LODs are generated asynchronously for audio timeline display

If a file with the same name already exists, Plinken appends a number suffix (e.g., drums 1.wav).

Supported Asset Types

Type	Extensions	Description
Audio	wav, mp3, ogg, flac, aiff, aif, m4a, aac	Audio clips for playback and recording
Video	mp4, m4v, mov, avi, webm, mkv	Video clips synced to timeline
Image	png, jpg, jpeg, gif, webp, bmp, tiff, tif	Images for compositor or reference
MIDI	mid, midi	MIDI note data
Face	pface	ARKit blendshape animation data
Script	fountain	Fountain screenplay files

Audio Metadata

For audio assets, Plinken reads:

Property	Description
sample_rate	Sample rate in Hz
channels	Number of audio channels
frames	Total sample frame count
duration	Duration in seconds

Video Metadata

For video assets (macOS), Plinken probes using AVFoundation:

Property	Description
video_fps	Frames per second
video_frames	Total video frame count
video_width	Pixel width
video_height	Pixel height
audio_sample_rate	Embedded audio sample rate
audio_channels	Embedded audio channels
audio_frames	Embedded audio frame count
duration	Total duration in seconds

Organizing

Create Folder

Create new folders within your project directory:

Action	Command ID
Create Folder	assets:create-folder

Payload:

{
  "name": "Stems",
  "parentPath": "audio"
}

Rename

Rename files or folders in the project:

• Validates that the new name is non-empty and contains no path separators
• Checks for naming conflicts before renaming
• Updates the icon cache automatically

Delete

Delete files or folders from the project:

• Removes the file from disk
• Removes the matching Asset entry from the project index
• Clears the loaded audio cache for audio assets
• If the file is missing on disk, removes the orphan metadata entry

Open in OS

Open any asset in the default OS application (Preview, QuickTime, Finder, etc.):

Action	Command ID
Open Asset	asset:open

Audio Cache

When a project loads, all audio assets are cached to PC32 (32-bit float planar) format at the project sample rate. This enables:

• Zero-latency playback — Pre-converted audio plays instantly
• Sample-rate matching — All audio is resampled to the project rate
• Content-addressed storage — Cache files are keyed by a hash of the asset ID, so identical assets share cache entries

The cache is stored in the Plinken application data directory, separate from the project.

Cloud Sync (R2)

Sync assets to Cloudflare R2 cloud storage for backup and multi-device access.

Action	Shortcut	Command ID
Sync to Cloud	⌘⇧Y	assets:syncToR2
Sync from Cloud	—	assets:syncFromR2

How It Works

1. Compute MD5 — Each asset’s content is hashed
2. Check remote — Compare against already-uploaded assets
3. Upload/Download — Only transfer files that differ
4. Content-addressed — Files are stored at {spaceId}/assets/{md5}.{ext}

Sync requires a linked Space and valid R2 credentials.

Lua API

-- Toggle the asset manager
pl.cmd("assets:toggle-modal")

-- Import a file
pl.cmd("assets:import", {
  sourcePath = "/Users/me/Desktop/drums.wav",
  targetFolder = "audio"
})

-- Create a folder
pl.cmd("assets:create-folder", {
  name = "Stems",
  parentPath = "audio"
})

-- Open an asset in the OS
pl.cmd("asset:open", { name = "vocals.wav" })

-- Sync to cloud
pl.cmd("assets:syncToR2", { spaceId = "my-space" })

See Also

• Projects — Project structure and management
• Keyboard Shortcuts — Full shortcut reference
• Lua Actions — Scripting commands