Documentation

Getting Started

DAW Project Manager is a free, open-source desktop and mobile app for organising your music production projects. It scans your drives for DAW project files, extracts metadata automatically, and gives you a single view across your entire library.

Installation

macOS

1. Download the DMG from the Releases page on GitHub.
2. Open the DMG and drag DAW Project Manager.app into your Applications folder.
3. First launch: macOS may show a Gatekeeper warning because the app is not distributed through the Mac App Store. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.
4. The app opens and the First Launch dialog appears.

Windows

1. Download from the Microsoft Store — search for "DAW Project Manager" or use the direct link on the website.
2. Click Install. The app is signed and installs without warnings.
3. Launch from the Start menu. The First Launch dialog appears if no folders are configured.

Android

1. Search DAW Project Manager on the Google Play Store.
2. Install and open. Grant storage permissions when prompted so the app can scan your device folders.
3. On Android, playlists and deadline notifications are also available.

First Launch

On desktop, if no scan roots are configured yet, a startup dialog appears the first time you open the app (and again whenever all roots are removed). It gives you two paths:

• Add Project Folder — Browse your file system and pick the folder(s) where your DAW projects live. Best starting point for new users.
• Sync Google Drive Backup — Restore an existing database from Google Drive. Choose this if you previously backed up from another machine.

A checkbox labelled "Don't show this on startup" lets you skip the dialog on future launches. You can always add folders later from Settings.

Adding Folders

Scan roots are the top-level folders the app watches for DAW project files. You can add as many as you want — local drives, external hard drives, network volumes, cloud-synced folders.

1. Open Settings from the navigation bar.
2. Under Scan Roots, click Add Folder.
3. Browse to the parent folder that contains your DAW projects (e.g. ~/Music/Projects) and confirm.
4. The app immediately starts a scan of the new root.

Scanning

The app uses a two-phase scan to keep things fast even on large libraries.

Phase 1 — Fast Detection

Immediately on launch (or when you add a new folder), the app walks your scan roots and finds any file whose extension matches a supported DAW. For each project it records:

• File path and name
• File size
• Last-modified and created timestamps
• DAW type (from extension)

This phase is nearly instant — even 10,000 projects scan in a couple of seconds.

Phase 2 — Deep Metadata Extraction

On demand (or automatically when you open a project), the app reads the project file's binary content to extract:

• BPM
• Musical key
• DAW version that saved the file

Deep scanning happens in the background and doesn't block the UI.

Rescanning

Press Cmd+R (Mac) or Ctrl+R (Windows) to trigger a rescan of all roots. New files are added, moved/deleted files are removed. On macOS the app also watches the filesystem in real time — files you add while the app is open appear automatically.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is your library's command centre. Every project across all your scan roots appears here in a sortable, searchable table.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Projects  Releases  Task Queue  Statistics  Settings               [ Jess ] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  🔍 Search projects…   Phase ▾  DAW ▾  Deadline ▾  Hide finished  ⟳ Rescan  │
├──┬──────────────────────────┬──────────┬─────────────┬──────┬──────┬───────┤
│ ☐│ Name ↑                   │ DAW      │ Phase       │ BPM  │ Key  │ Todos │
├──┼──────────────────────────┼──────────┼─────────────┼──────┼──────┼───────┤
│ ☐│ Midnight Groove          │ Ableton  │ Mixing      │  128 │ Am   │   3 ✓ │
│ ☐│ Solar Drift              │ FL Studi │ Mastering   │  140 │ F#m  │   1 ✓ │
│ ☑│ Cold Signal              │ Ableton  │ Arranging   │   96 │ Cm   │   5 ✓ │
│ ☐│ Neon Rain                │ Logic P  │ Idea         │   -- │ --   │   0 ✓ │
│ ☐│ Pulse Wave 002           │ Bitwig   │ Finished    │  124 │ Gm   │   0 ✓ │
└──┴──────────────────────────┴──────────┴─────────────┴──────┴──────┴───────┘
  127 projects  •  3 selected  •  Cmd+R to rescan

Overview

The Dashboard is the default view when you open the app. It shows all detected projects in a table powered by TrinaGrid, which supports thousands of rows without slowing down. Column headers are clickable to sort by any field. Your column order, visibility, and sort preference persist across sessions.

Search & Filters

The search bar at the top of the Dashboard uses fuzzy matching — you don't have to type the exact project name. Type a few scattered characters and the app finds the closest matches. Press Cmd+F from anywhere to focus the search bar instantly.

Four filter controls sit alongside the search bar:

• Phase — Show only projects in a specific production phase (Idea, Arranging, Mixing, Mastering, Finished).
• DAW — Show only projects from a specific DAW application.
• Deadline — Filter by upcoming deadline (e.g. due this week, overdue).
• Hide Finished — Toggle to hide projects marked as Finished, keeping the view focused on active work.

Filters stack — you can combine Phase + DAW + search at the same time. All filters update the table instantly.

Table Columns

Every column is sortable. Click a header once to sort ascending, again to sort descending. You can show, hide, and reorder columns from View → Customize Tabs.

Row Actions

Select a row by clicking it, then use these actions (available via keyboard or the row context area):

• View Details (Enter or D) — Open the full Project Detail page for editing metadata, todos, and preview songs.
• Open in DAW (O) — Launch the project file directly in its associated DAW application. Desktop only.
• Open Folder (F) — Reveal the project's parent folder in Finder/Explorer. Desktop only.
• Play Preview (P) — Play or pause the project's preview song directly in the app.
• Change Phase — Click the Phase cell to open an inline dropdown and change the production phase without leaving the table.

Navigate between rows with ↑ and ↓. Press Cmd+T to focus the table from anywhere in the app.

Bulk Actions

The leftmost column is a checkbox column. Select multiple rows and a bulk-action toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, letting you change the production phase for all selected projects at once. Useful when you want to mark a batch of tracks as "Finished" or move a group to "Mixing".

Project Details

Double-click a project row (or press Enter) to open the Project Detail page. This is where you manage everything about a single project.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ← Back   Midnight Groove                        [Open in DAW]  [Open Folder] │
├──────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Display Name  Midnight Groove        │ Phase        ⬤ Mixing             │
│ BPM           128                    │ Deadline     2026-06-15           │
│ Key           Am                     │ Notes        needs sidechain fix… │
│ DAW           Ableton Live 11.3     │                                      │
├──────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ TODOS                                         [+ Add todo] [Import template] │
│  ☑ Fix kick drum bus                                                        │
│  ☐ Sidechain the bassline to the kick                                       │
│  ☐ Send stems to mastering engineer                                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ PREVIEW SONG    midnight_groove_mix2.wav                                  │
│  ▶ 0:47 ───────────────────────────●────────────── 3:24                  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ FILE INFO   /Music/Projects/House/Midnight Groove.als   12.4 MB   2026-04-11 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Metadata

The top section of the Project Detail page shows all metadata fields. Fields with a pencil icon are editable — tap or click to edit inline. Changes save automatically.

Production Phases

Every project has a phase that represents where it sits in your creative workflow. The default progression is:

You can change the phase in three places:

• The Phase dropdown in the Project Detail page
• The inline dropdown in the Dashboard table (click the Phase cell)
• Bulk change — select multiple projects and use the bulk action toolbar

Every phase change is recorded in the project's Timeline with a timestamp, so you can see how long a project spent in each stage.

Todos

Each project has its own to-do list — perfect for tracking mixing notes, stems to send, references to check, or any checklist you need to complete before moving on.

• Add a todo: Click + Add Todo and type the item text. Press Enter to save.
• Check off: Click the checkbox next to any item. Completed todos are struck through.
• Edit / Delete: Hover over a todo to reveal edit and delete buttons.
• Import from template: Click Import Template to apply a pre-built todo list. Create templates in Settings for repeatable workflows (e.g. "Mixing checklist", "Release checklist").

Preview Songs

Each project can have a preview song — an audio file (WAV, MP3, or AIFF) representing the latest mixdown you want to reference. The preview player appears in the Project Detail page and lets you listen without switching apps.

Setting a Preview Song (Desktop)

1. In Project Detail, find the Preview Song section and click Pick File.
2. Browse to your mixdown file and confirm. The player appears immediately.

Auto-Detection

If your DAW exports to a subfolder named something like Mixdown, Bounces, or Exports, the app scans for the newest .wav, .mp3, or .aiff in that folder and automatically sets it as the preview. The scan skips the file if it is already up to date (checked by modification timestamp), avoiding unnecessary re-downloads.

Preview Player Controls

• Space — Play / Pause (when player is focused)
• ← / → — Seek backward / forward 5 seconds
• Ctrl+← / Ctrl+→ — Seek backward / forward 30 seconds
• Click the seek bar to jump to any position

Timeline

Every project has a Timeline tab in Project Detail that shows a chronological log of phase changes. Each entry includes:

• The phase the project moved into
• The date and time the change was made

The timeline lets you see how long a track spent in each stage — useful for understanding your own workflow patterns over time.

Releases

Releases let you group one or more projects into a named catalogue entry — an EP, an album, a single, or any collection that makes sense to you. Each release can have artwork, a description, a release date, and attached files.

Creating Releases

1. Navigate to the Releases tab in the navigation bar.
2. Click New Release.
3. Enter a title (required), optional description, and optional release date.
4. Add artwork — tap the artwork placeholder and pick an image file from disk.
5. Under Projects, click Add Projects and select one or more projects from your library to associate with this release.
6. Save. The release appears in the Releases table.

Release fields at a glance:

• Title — Name of the release (e.g. "Meridian EP").
• Description — Free text: credits, liner notes, distribution notes.
• Artwork — A cover image stored locally (and synced to Drive if you use backup).
• Release Date — The planned or actual release date.
• Projects — The project(s) that make up this release.

Release Files

Beyond project links, you can attach arbitrary files to a release — stems, final master WAVs, distribution ZIPs, artwork source files, notes PDFs.

• In the Release Detail page, scroll to Files and click Add File.
• Browse and select any file from your file system.
• Files are listed with their name and size. Tap a file to preview (if supported) or reveal in Finder/Explorer.
• The Download All as ZIP button packages every attached file into a single archive — handy for sending to a distributor or backing up an entire release package.

Task Queue

The Task Queue is a unified view of every open to-do item across all your projects. Instead of opening each project to check what's pending, you can see — and act on — everything from one screen.

How It Works

• Projects are grouped by pending todo count, highest first — the busiest projects float to the top.
• Within each group, individual todos are listed with a checkbox.
• Check off a todo directly from the Task Queue. The change syncs back to the project immediately.
• A search bar lets you filter todos by keyword across all projects.
• Projects with no open todos are hidden (only active work is shown).

Adding Todos from the Task Queue

You can also open a project's todo list directly from the Task Queue by tapping its name — this takes you to the Project Detail page with the todos section pre-expanded. Add or edit todos there and navigate back with Cmd+[ or Alt+←.

Playlists Mobile

Playlists are an Android and iOS feature that lets you create ordered sequences of preview songs from your library. Perfect for reviewing your work while travelling, commuting, or away from your studio machine.

Creating a Playlist

1. Open the Playlists tab on the mobile app.
2. Tap New Playlist and give it a name (e.g. "Summer 2026 Review").
3. Tap Add Songs and select preview songs from your project library.
4. Drag to reorder. Tap the play button to start playback from any position in the list.

Playback

The playlist player plays songs in sequence and loops when it reaches the end. Use the standard transport controls to skip forward, go back, or scrub within a track. All preview songs must be available locally on the device — sync them from Google Drive first if needed.

Statistics

The Statistics tab gives you a visual summary of your entire library — useful for understanding your creative output over time and spotting bottlenecks in your workflow.

Available Charts and Metrics

• Production Phase Distribution — A breakdown of how many projects are in each phase. If you see a pile-up in Mixing, you know where your workflow is stalling.
• DAW Breakdown — Which DAWs you use most across your library.
• Projects Over Time — An activity chart showing when projects were created or last modified. See your most and least productive periods.
• Totals — Quick counts: total projects, total releases, total open todos, total completed todos.

All charts update automatically as your library changes. Statistics are scoped to the current profile, so switching profiles shows you that profile's data.

Profiles

Profiles let you run completely separate library environments inside the same installation. Each profile has its own scan roots, projects, releases, todos, playlists, and settings. Switching profiles is instant.

Use Cases

• Multiple artist aliases — Keep your personal projects separate from your alias or side project.
• Client work isolation — One profile per client, or one for client work and one for original material.
• Studio sharing — Multiple producers sharing one machine, each with their own profile.
• Context switching — A "focus" profile with only active in-progress projects, and a full library profile.

Managing Profiles

1. Click your profile avatar or name in the top-right corner of the app to open the Profile Manager.
2. The Profile Manager lists all existing profiles. Click a profile to switch to it immediately.
3. Click New Profile, enter a name, and optionally set a profile photo.
4. To rename or delete a profile, long-press (mobile) or right-click (desktop) it in the list.

Google Drive Sync

Google Drive Backup lets you back up your entire project database — metadata, preview songs, release artwork, and profile photos — to your Google Drive. You can then restore it on another machine or the same machine after a reinstall.

Setup

1. Open Settings → Google Drive Backup.
2. Click Sign in with Google. A browser window opens to complete OAuth authentication.
3. Grant the app access to your Google Drive files (it creates a dedicated app folder — it cannot access the rest of your Drive).
4. Once authenticated, your account name appears in Settings. You are ready to upload or download.

Upload (Backup)

Uploading creates a snapshot of your current profile and stores it in your Google Drive.

1. In Settings, tap Upload Backup.
2. A progress dialog appears, showing the current stage: collecting data → uploading project database → uploading preview songs → uploading artwork → done.
3. Each file is compared by a content hash before uploading. Files that haven't changed are skipped, so subsequent backups are fast.
4. When complete, the dialog shows a timestamp of the backup.

What Gets Uploaded

• Full project metadata (all fields, todos, phases, timeline)
• Releases (metadata and attached artwork)
• Preview song audio files
• Profile photos

Download (Restore)

Downloading replaces the current profile's database with the contents of the Drive backup.

1. Sign in to the same Google account on the new (or reinstalled) device.
2. In Settings, tap Download Backup.
3. A progress dialog shows the restore stages: fetching metadata → writing database → downloading preview songs → downloading artwork.
4. Once complete, your projects appear in the Dashboard. Because scan roots are local paths, you may need to re-add your scan folders if the file system paths differ on the new machine.

Settings

Settings are accessible from the navigation bar. All settings are stored per-profile unless noted.

Scan Roots

Add, remove, and manage the folders the app scans for DAW project files. Click Add Folder to browse to a directory. Click the trash icon next to a root to stop scanning that location (existing projects from that root remain in the database until you run a rescan).

Ignored Paths

Add specific subfolders to exclude from scanning. Useful for template folders, sample libraries, or any directory that contains DAW-adjacent files you do not want tracked as projects.

Language

DAW Project Manager is fully localised in 9 languages. Change the language at any time — no restart required.

• English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese

Theme

Choose between two dark themes:

• Classic Dark — Neutral dark grey palette (default).
• Neon Dark — Higher-contrast with bolder accent colours.

Customize Tabs

Choose which tabs appear in the main navigation bar. The Projects tab is always visible. All other tabs (Releases, Task Queue, Playlists, Statistics) can be toggled on or off. Drag tabs to reorder them.

TODO Templates

Create reusable to-do lists that can be imported into any project. Example templates: "Mixing Checklist", "Pre-Release Checklist", "Collab Workflow". Each template is a list of text items. Apply a template in Project Detail by clicking Import Template.

Notification Preferences (Android)

On Android, the app can send local notifications for approaching deadlines. Configure how many days in advance you want to be reminded. Requires notification permission to be granted.

Clear Library

Removes all projects from the current profile's database. Scan roots and settings are preserved. Running a rescan after clearing will re-populate projects from disk.

Delete All Data

Wipes everything — all profiles, all projects, all releases, all settings. Two confirmation dialogs are shown before any data is deleted. This action cannot be undone.

Keyboard Shortcuts

DAW Project Manager is designed for keyboard-first use. On macOS, shortcuts use Cmd. On Windows, use Ctrl in place of Cmd. Press Cmd+Shift+/ inside the app to open the in-app keyboard shortcut cheatsheet.

Global Shortcuts

Projects Table (when table is focused)

Releases Table (when table is focused)

Preview Player (when player is open)

Supported DAWs

DAW Project Manager detects project files by extension. The following DAWs are supported. Deep metadata extraction (BPM, key, version) is available for most of them — where it's not, you can enter BPM and key manually.

Logic Pro Note (macOS)

Logic Pro project packages end in .logicx and are actually directories (bundles) on macOS. The app detects them correctly and treats the bundle as a single project entry. File size is calculated from the total size of the package contents.

BPM and Key Override

If deep scan cannot extract BPM or key from a particular file, or if the extracted value is wrong, you can always override it manually in the Project Detail page. Manual values are stored in the app database and take precedence over future deep scans.