Getting started · CutroomOS

Before you start

You need the folders or drives that hold your footage connected to your Mac. External drives work like local folders while they are mounted. Network volumes are not supported yet.

Connect your folders

Open CutroomOS and choose Connect folders.
Select one or more folders with the standard macOS folder picker. You can include subfolders and give each folder a friendly label.
Check the summary: folder path, drive, subfolder inclusion and permission status are shown before anything is indexed.

Linking a folder never copies, moves, renames or deletes your videos. Selecting an entire disk is possible, but it is an intentional choice rather than the default.

Discovery and indexing are different steps

Discovery reads file information so your videos appear in the library quickly. It does not decode every video. Indexing is the separate step that builds time-based evidence so a video can be searched and asked about by its content.

What each step gives you
Step	What happens	What you can do
Discovery	Files are listed with name, folder, duration and size where known	Browse, filter by folder and filename
Indexing	Permitted evidence is extracted and connected to source time	Search moments, ask questions, share with an assistant you authorize

A visible file may not be searchable yet, and an indexed video may sit on a drive that is currently disconnected. CutroomOS shows these as separate states rather than one badge.

Choose what to index

After discovery you can index everything that was found, index a selection, or browse first and decide later. Before any work that sends derived data to a service, the app explains what leaves your Mac. Read Indexing and your data for the details.

You can turn on Automatically index new videos for each folder after you have given indexing consent. Discovery keeps running for that folder even when automatic indexing is off.

Get your first useful result

You do not need to wait for the whole library. As soon as one video is indexed, try a search for a scene you remember, or ask a question about a recording. Setup is complete when you play a relevant search result or answer citation.