FAQ

How many users can I have on how many devices?

You can actively use one key per device, and you can add an unlimited number of users to a key. You can run as many devices as you want at the same time. There is no need to create any additional users, as users can be used simultanously across many instances.

It seems you are missing a browse file button to select folder paths.

We are working on a solution that both just works and is safe. Right now, the Desktop App is a Wrapper around the core engine. This allows you to access your WrangleBot from other computers via your web browser. But this also means we are limited by web browser security measures – and that's probably for the better. It prevents us from grabbing folder paths from your device, even if you allow to do so.

We are implementing a native folder browser into our desktop app, which will be available in coming updates.

What information does wranglebot collect?

We only collect data if you use our Cloud Sync Services:

If wranglebot is free, how do you make money?

Your personal information is never sold to any third party.

Wranglebot is part of VAN ROTHE non profit software branch. Our main goal is to digitalize the Media & Entertainment Industry, as well as help Digital Archives around the world sort and collect data. Right now we fund the whole project ourselves with profits from our sister project https://dryhyr.com, doing the same thing but with hardware in more commercial, but sustainable concept.

As the community of wranglebot grows, we hope to attract larger sponsors, such as goverment institutions and private citizen owned entities.

We will be introducing AI enrichment services to pay for advanced features such as automatic tagging, high quality thumbnails, a stock video marketplace, and more. At one point we intent to make it possible to offer footage you already categorized on a P2P marketplace, and will earn provisions hosting the marketplace, which we will reinvest into the marketplace.

Please follow our Roadmap to see how far along we are.

How do I begin a copy operation in wranglebot?

Your hard drive containing the library and the media from which you wish to copy must be connected to the system. wranglebot displays all volumes that are connected.

  1. Choose either a single folder or the entire volume.
  2. You now give the task a name.
  3. You now select the targets.
  4. Create a copy task after that.
  5. All that remains is for you to begin this task.

Will my wranglebot license remain free of charge?

Yes. We are committed to open source licensing. Only the cloud sync we provide, as well as the associated AI services, will be charged. A local community offline version will remain available and will always be free of charge.

What checksum can wranglebot perform? MD5, xxHash64, etc.?

It supports xxHash64, xxHash3, xxHash32 and xxHash128 hashes.

We currently enabled xxHash64 as default in the engine, because it is the most widly spread version.

What types of reports does wranglebot generate - MHLs, ASC MHLs, MD5s, CSVs, PDFs...?

PDF is currently supported.
MHL, CSV, and JSON support are on the way.

We do not intend to support ASC MHL (it is too complicated and has a small user base), but because wea are Open Source, it is possible that someone will add that feature.

You can also export data to other apps using the REST API.

Can wranglebot perform multiple offloads at once?

As many as you need. Simply add multiple destinations to your task. The copy will be done in parallel with all other copies.

Are there plans for LTO/cloud support - LTFS/TAR and Netflix/S3/Frame.io/whatever?

We plan support for LTO Backups, S3 and FTP.

Does wranglebot check the consistency of each copy? How does it ensure the authenticity of each copy?

WrangleBot verifies the integrity of the copied file and generates a hash of each new file.

WrangleBot streams it's data sources to various endpoints. Essentially it builds a pipeline with twists and turns to the various designated destinations and then it turns on the faucet. As it moves the stream of data along, each pump is one chunk and this chunk is analysed, carbon copied and then spread across your destinations. If any of the chunks reads return an error, or if any of the write attempts fail, the copy is marked as failed.

It verifies that each data chunk streamed is complete using bit parity and low-level filesystem flags. If one chunk fails, the entire file is retired. This catches 99.9% of all errors. The only error it cannot detect is if the original medium is damaged – which can be an issue when working with volatile drives such as RED Mags, Codex Drives or similar hardware. If this is the hardware you tend to use, we recommend waiting until we have implemented source verification, before using this app in an production enviroment.

Is there an easy way to do the verification manually later down the line?

If you need to recheck a file's hash, you can use the API or our soon-to-be-released free check tool

Why should I use wranglebot instead of Shotput, YoYotta, Hedge+Foolcat, Silverstack, etc.?

Is wranglebot a MAM, offload utility or both?

We are a Media Asset Management that offers a very robust offload utility. We original started as an offload app for our DIT Services and have since grown into a full blown distributed MAM.

Can wranglebot make a "project" per show so that if I was doing DIT, I wouldn't have to wipe my system every time and could just start a new project for that season/feature/whatever?

Yes.

Are you planning on creating a Workflow Integration of wranglebot with DaVinci Resolve?

We are checking our options here. We have experience in scripting with Resolve. The most likely integration would be exporting Metadata in compatible csv format.

Wranglebot seems like a copy utility that also goes into some sort of cloud database. Are there plans to have a local, self-hosted database if internet access isn't possible?

The cloud sync is an added feature; the database is always stored locally first and then synced to the cloud in real time as a backup. The cloud sync is currently required in order to use WrangleBot.

This allows you to go offline and then reconnect to the internet at a later time, keeping multiple running installations in sync. The database is a transactional database, which means that each transaction is saved and rebuilt when the database is started from the entire transaction history. This enables very detailed syncing as well as the ability to remove or edit transactions from the list without interfering with data provenance.

You will be able to host your own cloud server in the future. The next version of WrangleBot Desktop will include the offline mode currently present in the engine build.

Can you provide testimonials from people working for major studios?

We wish to at some point be officially approved and recommended by studios of that size. Right now there are worldwide Pre Release tests and TV Shows running wranglebot from which we will hear from soon. We started in late 2022 and thourougly test every version.