PT Manager Documentation

The Manual.

Every screen in PT Manager and PT Manager Server, in the order you will use them.

Overview

PT Manager is a native macOS app for Pro Tools engineers. It builds Mixer Profiles that store plugin preset lists, Pro Tools preference backups, S6 presets, and a history log.

PT Manager Server is the Facility tier companion. One mac on the LAN hosts the shared plugin catalog, Mixer Profile repo, Global Plugin Presets, and local plugin install repo.

Install and Activate

Download the .dmg from ptmanager.app.
Drag PT Manager into /Applications. Launch it.
Grant Full Disk Access when prompted. Required for reading and writing Pro Tools preferences.
Grant Accessibility if you plan to use Remote Control Mode (unlocks the live save prompt relay).
Help › Activate License. Paste your key, or import a .ptlicense file for offline activation.

License Tiers

Tier	Seats	Unlocks
Free	1	Manage Plugins, Preferences Backup and Restore, Mixer Profiles, Manage Profile.
Individual	2	Free plus S6 Preferences Module and Pro Tools Maintenance.
Studio	8	Individual with one key across every seat. Priority support.
Facility	20 plus Server	Studio plus PT Manager Server, Plugin Install Manager, Mixer Profile sync, Global Plugin Presets, Remote Control Mode.

Locked features show an amber lock icon on the Main Menu.

Client App

Three screens drive the app: the Main Menu, the Profile View of the loaded Mixer Profile, and the editors reached from Profile View.

Create a Mixer Profile

A .ptmixer package holds profile.json, Plugins/presets, Pro Tools prefs backups, S6 presets, and history.json.

Main Menu › New Mixer Profile.
Enter Mixer Name, optional email and phone.
Pick save location. Desktop default. Folder gets the PT Manager icon.
Profile loads automatically.

Rename via Manage Profile › Mixer Details. Finder renames skip history logging.

Profile View

Home screen for the loaded profile. Card grid:

Plugin Presets. Quick Access popover. Click to apply.
Manage Plugins. Active and Unused browser.
Manage Profile. Stat bar plus preset, backup, S6, and history tables.
Backup Prefs / Restore Prefs. Pro Tools preference snapshots.
S6 Prefs (BETA). Soft Keys, User Prefs, Track Layouts.
Pro Tools Maintenance. Cache clears, DB rebuilds, prefs resets.
Sync Profile. Push or pull against the server.
Close. Unload and return to Main Menu.

Plugin Preset Lists

A plugin list preset is a snapshot of the Active folder. Applying one moves plugins so Pro Tools sees only the set you want.

Create

Arrange the Active column in Manage Plugins.
Click Save Current Plugins as Preset. Name it.
Written as .ptpl inside the profile's Plugins/presets.

Apply

Profile View › Plugin Presets popover.
Click a preset. Import Preview shows the pending moves.
Apply. Missing plugins get a Not Installed badge.

Edit / Delete

Manage Profile › Manage Plugin Presets. Rename, edit contents, show in Finder, delete. Delete requires confirmation.

Manage Plugins

Active vs Unused column view of every plugin. Pro Tools reads the Active folder on next launch.

Drag and drop between columns.
Multi select. Click, ⌘ click, ⇧ click.
Save as Preset button in the top bar.
Install sidebar appears when connected to a server.

Manage Profile

Admin console for the loaded profile.

Stat Bar. Plugin Presets, Pref Backups, S6 Presets, Profile Size.
Plugin Presets table. Edit contents, show in Finder, rename, delete.
Preferences Backups table. Expand a row to see included options and factory exclusion. Rename and delete.
S6 Preset Presets table. Active preset gets a badge. Rename, delete.
Mixer Details. Name, Email, Phone. Saving renames the .ptmixer.
Backup Profile. Save to Location exports the whole profile. iCloud is planned.
Profile History. Every event, newest first. Pinned events permanent, unpinned cap at 100. Expand for metadata including source: remote when Remote Admin triggered it.

Pro Tools Preferences

Typed option buckets so you can back up or restore subsets cleanly.

Backup

Profile View › Backup Prefs.
Name the backup (timestamp auto appended).
Uncheck any buckets you want to skip. Plug In Settings exposes an Exclude Factory Default Presets sub option.
Backup. Folder lands in the profile's Pro Tools dir with a .manifest.

Restore

Profile View › Restore Prefs.
Pick a backup. Options preselect from its manifest.
Uncheck anything to skip. Restore Factory Default Presets appears for backups that included factory.
Restore. Progress overlay + results banner on errors.

Restore overwrites Pro Tools state on disk. Every destructive action asks first.

S6 Preferences Module

Avid S6 Master Module asset manager. BETA.

Soft Key Editor. Visual grid. Drag commands in. Export straight to MTM, no XML.
User Preferences. Backup and restore S6 User Prefs and Display Module settings.
Track Layout Editor. Assign fader strips to layout slots. Save into a Mixer Profile.
S6 Preset bundle. Soft keys plus user prefs plus display plus track layout. Loads atomically.

Plugin Install Manager

Facility tier. When connected to a server, Manage Plugins gains an install sidebar with Install and Update buttons for mismatched plugins.

Install queue with cached admin password (no prompt spam).
Version resolver for vendors with non standard version strings.
Stale checkmark reset after Pro Tools rescans.
Click to toggle any active row back into the sidebar.

Pro Tools Maintenance

Clear Plugin Cache. Forces a rescan on next launch.
Rebuild Workspace Database. Deletes the DigiBase index.
Reset Prefs. Audio Engine, I/O Settings, Workspace, or All Prefs. All Prefs auto backs up first.
Clear Avid Caches and Clear AudioSuite Cache.
Refresh Plugin Database (legacy). Clears the pre 2024 InstalledPlugIns file.
Playback Engine Diagnostics and Spotlight Check panels.
PT Log Viewer. Live filterable tail.

Every file editing action asks for confirmation and writes to history.

Remote Control Mode

Facility tier. Administrator drives Satellites on the LAN from one PT Manager.

Setup

Settings › Remote Control. Pick Administrator or Satellite.
Grant Accessibility on Satellites to enable the live save prompt relay.

Administrator View

Grid of machine cards. Each shows hostname, IP, online state, loaded profile + version, Update Available badge, and Pro Tools status.

Actions Popover

Apply Preset, Manage Plugins, Manage Profile. Remote equivalents of the client surfaces.
Backup Prefs / Restore Prefs with the same option pickers.
PT Maintenance. Every maintenance task, with confirmations on the destructive ones.
Push to Server. Uploads current profile, bumps version. Confirms first.
Close Profile. Unloads the Satellite's profile.

Machine Control

Open Pro Tools, Close Pro Tools (live save prompt relay), Remote Control via macOS Screen Sharing.

Load a Profile

Click Load Profile on a Satellite card.
Pick a profile from the server list.
Pick an Admin machine save location (Desktop default). Admin keeps a local copy.
Load. Amber banner with elapsed time and progress bar. Actions button pulses on completion.

Unload

Bottom right Unload button on every loaded card. Confirms first.

Settings

General. Appearance, history retention, tutorial reset.
Server. Bonjour picker or manual URL. Same machine servers get a This Machine badge.
License. Tier, seats, offline import, deactivation.
Remote Control. Mode, hostname, interface, Accessibility status.
Permissions. FDA, Accessibility, chmod fixers.
Updates. Check for App Updates, release notes.

Help Menu

Check For App Updates.
Tutorial. Replays the first run walkthrough.
Documentation. Opens this page.
Support. support@crawfordaudiotools.com.
Activate / Deactivate License.
Send Diagnostic Report.

Server App

Native macOS app wrapping a Vapor HTTP server, Bonjour advertiser, SMB share, and SwiftUI admin console. One mac on the studio LAN hosts it. Clients auto discover over Bonjour.

Single source of truth for plugin installers, catalog metadata, Global Presets, Mixer Profiles, and S6 configs. Clients cache locally and sync on demand.

First Run Setup

Install and launch. Grant Full Disk Access.
Name the server, pick a data directory (~/Library/Application Support/PT Manager Server default), confirm ingest share path.
Set an Admin Password (bcrypt hashed). Clients need it for admin endpoints.
Enter the Facility license.
Optional: set the Ingest Share SMB URL for Plugin Update Checker auto mount.
Server advertises on Bonjour. Dashboard opens.

Dashboard

Status tiles. Uptime, port, data dir, repo disk usage, active clients, app version.
Activity log. Streaming inbound request log, filterable.
Studio Config export. One click .ptrepoconfig for client auto onboarding.
Redundancy tile. Last run, next run, Run Now.
Version badge. Tracks installed version so auto metadata backups fire on upgrade.

Connected Clients

Every client the server has seen: hostname, IP, PT Manager version, last seen, online state. Expand for last request and session info.

Plugin Catalog

Card view of published plugins. Metadata changes ripple to clients on next refresh.

Edit metadata. Title, manufacturer, version, formats, PT versions, min macOS, bundle, Base or Incremental update flags.
Bundles. Group related plugins (Komplete, Horizon, etc.).
Publish / Unpublish without deleting.

Plugin Database

Full table view. Search, filter by manufacturer or format, sort any column. Useful for bulk inspection and version drift.

Staging and Ingest

Drop installer packages into the ingest directory or SMB share.
Server creates a staged entry with status: needs_metadata.
Admin Menu › Staged. Fill the metadata panel.
Save Draft to persist without publishing.
Ready entries flip to status: ready. Publish moves them into the live catalog.

Global Plugin Presets

Facility wide plugin list presets shared across every client.

CRUD plus soft delete with TTL auto prune.
Feature flag. enableGlobalPresets in Server Settings.
Client polling keeps Profile Views current without manual refresh.

Mixer Profile Repository

Central versioned store for Mixer Profiles.

Push. Client Sync › Push streams .ptmixer up. Server bumps the version, rejects with 409 on stale pushes.
Pull. Client receives the same layout plus an X-Relative-Path header.
Password protected profiles. Optional per profile password (server admin password also accepted).
History. Every sync logs on the client with a server source tag.

Redundancy Backup

Scheduled mirror of the server's metadata tree. Off by default.

Targets. Multiple mirror destinations, independent schedules, Keychain credentials for SMB.
Source pause. preferSnapshot uses an APFS local snapshot; falls back to stopping the embedded HTTP server.
Verify. File count and bytes checked against the manifest after each run.
Notifications. macOS banners. Email, Slack, Pushover fields persist for future releases.
Restore Wizard. Auto opens when primary data is missing and a mirror is reachable.

Server Logs

Live activity log. Filter by client, route, status, time. Export slices to .log for support.

Server Settings

General. Name, port, data dir override, repo disk override.
Admin Access. Set or change the bcrypt admin password.
Ingest. Local path plus optional SMB share URL.
Redundancy. Toggle, targets, notifications, soft delete TTL.
Features. Global Presets toggle.
Upgrades. Auto metadata backup controls.

Licensing and Admin Access

Facility license validates against Keygen with an offline grace period. Admin endpoints require the admin password session or a derived JWT.

Workflows

First Mixer Profile

Main Menu › New Mixer Profile. Name it. Save to Desktop.
Manage Plugins. Drag anything you never use into Unused. Save the Active set as Default.
Backup Prefs. Name it Base. All options checked. Backup.
Manage Profile › Profile History. Confirm Profile Created and Preferences Backed Up entries.

Push and Pull with the Server

Settings › Server. Pick the Facility server. Connection pill turns green.
Sync Profile › Push. Server bumps the version.
On another client, Load Mixer Profile › pick from the server list.
Edit locally, Sync › Push again. A 409 means pull first, reapply, then push.

Facility Setup

Install PT Manager Server on a LAN mac.
First Run Setup: admin password, data directory, ingest SMB share.
Dashboard › export Studio Config. Ship the .ptrepoconfig to every client mac.
Drop installers into the ingest share. Admin Menu › Staged. Fill metadata. Publish.
Settings › Redundancy. Pick an external SSD or share. Verify the first run matches.

Remote Control

Settings › Remote Control › Administrator.
Remote Control page shows every Satellite on the LAN.
Load Profile on PT1. Pick the template. Desktop save location. Load.
Actions › Manage Plugins. Drag a plugin over. Save Active as Preset.
Actions › PT Maintenance › Clear Plugin Cache. Confirm.
Open Pro Tools. Launching flips to Running.
End of session: Close Pro Tools. Save dialog relays into the popover.
Unload. Then push the Global Facility Sanctioned Plugin List preset and Pro Tools Preferences. PT1 is clean and ready for the next mixer.

Server App How-To Guides

Step-by-step recipes for the Server App tasks that come up most often. Each box is self-contained — jump straight to whichever one you need.

Setup

Configure Server App on First Launch

Run once on the mac that will host the facility's plugin repo + Mixer Profile sync.

Install PT Manager Server.app in /Applications. Launch it.
Grant Full Disk Access when macOS prompts (required to read/write plugin installers + Mixer Profiles).
Server Name. Friendly Bonjour name shown to clients (e.g. Studio A Repo).
Data Directory. Default is ~/Library/Application Support/PT Manager Server. Override to an external SSD here if you want catalog + installers off the boot drive — the Server respects this for every file it writes.
Repo Disk override. Optional separate location just for pkgs/ (the installer files). Useful when installers live on a big shared volume but metadata stays local.
Admin Password. bcrypt-hashed at rest. Clients enter this once to unlock admin endpoints (publish, edit metadata, etc.).
Facility License. Paste the key or import a .ptlicense file. Server validates against Keygen with an offline grace period.
Ingest Share SMB URL (optional). Lets Plugin Update Checker auto-mount the ingest folder over the network — paste the same path engineers would type into Finder › Connect to Server.
Server publishes via Bonjour (_ptpluginrepo._tcp). Dashboard opens automatically. Clients on the LAN will discover it within seconds.
Export Studio Config. Dashboard › Studio Config › Save .ptrepoconfig. Drop that file on every client mac for one-double-click onboarding.

Redundancy

Set Up a Backup Redundancy Target

Mirror the server's metadata + installers to a second volume so a failed boot drive doesn't take the catalog down.

Plug in the redundancy volume (external SSD or mounted SMB share). Verify Finder can read + write to it.
Server App › Settings › Redundancy. Toggle the feature on.
Click Add Target. Name it (e.g. Nightly — Backup SSD) and pick the destination directory.
Schedule. Pick a cadence (hourly, every 6 h, nightly, weekly). Each target keeps its own schedule — you can run two on different cycles.
Credentials (SMB only). Enter the share username + password — stored in macOS Keychain, never in server.json.
Source pause. Leave preferSnapshot on so the run uses an APFS local snapshot. If snapshots aren't available the Server will briefly stop the embedded HTTP server during the copy — clients reconnect automatically.
Click Run Now for the first run. Verify finishes after copy and reports matching file count + bytes against the manifest.
Optional: under Notifications, leave macOS banners on. Email / Slack / Pushover fields persist for future releases.
Dashboard › Redundancy tile shows last run + next run + a manual Run Now shortcut for any target.

Recovery

Restore a Config & Point to the Redundant Backup After a Drive Failure

When the primary data drive fails, the Server can boot straight from a mirror. The Restore Wizard walks you through it.

Confirm the mirror is healthy. Finder into the redundancy target. You should see a primary/ folder plus a manifest-<timestamp>.json. If the manifest is missing or the file count is short, fall back to the most recent prior run (each run is timestamped).
Launch the Server App. With the primary dataDirectory missing or unreadable, the Restore Wizard auto-opens on launch.
If the wizard didn't auto-open: Settings › Redundancy › Restore from Mirror….
Pick the redundancy target. The wizard validates the manifest (file count + total bytes against what the mirror actually has).
Choose Restore in Place (rebuilds the original dataDirectory on a replacement drive) or Point Server at Mirror (skips the copy — Server runs directly off the mirror until you replace the failed drive).
If pointing at the mirror, confirm the new data directory path. The Server rewrites server.json to use the mirror as the live data root and restarts the embedded HTTP server + Bonjour advertiser.
Watch the Activity log for "Restore complete". Catalog + Mixer Profiles + Global Presets all come back online without client reconfiguration (clients are bound to the Bonjour service name, not the disk path).
Once a replacement primary drive is installed, run Settings › Redundancy › Promote to Primary on the next sync to copy the mirror back and resume normal redundancy from there.

Maintenance

Troubleshoot & Fix Orphaned Packages

Orphan scan flags two states: orphaned packages (installer files in pkgs/ with no pkginfo entry pointing at them) and stale pkginfo entries (catalog rows whose installer file is missing from disk).

Plugin Catalog › Scan for Orphans. Wait for the sheet to populate.
Possible Moves Detected. If the same filename appears as both orphan and stale, the Server pairs them and offers a one-click Relink — the pkginfo's pkgPath is rewritten to the file's new location (no re-ingest needed). Use Relink All when many files were moved at once (e.g. you reorganized into versions/ sub-folders).
Orphaned Package Files. Files that are real but unused. Common causes:
- Installer was uploaded but never published — find it in Staged and complete metadata, or delete it from the orphan sheet.
- You manually copied a file into pkgs/ outside the ingest pipeline. Use Staging instead.
- An incremental update's base file was archived to versions/ but the pkginfo's versionHistory wasn't updated. Relink (above) handles this case.
Stale pkginfo Entries. Catalog rows whose installer is gone. If the file is permanently gone, click Remove to drop the row. If the file just moved, use Relink in the Possible Moves section instead so version history + admin-edited metadata are preserved.
Show in Finder on a published plugin's expanded row reveals the actual installer at its current path. Useful for confirming a relink landed in the right place.
Re-run the scan after every batch of fixes. The list should shrink to zero before you trust the catalog.
If a recurring orphan keeps reappearing for the same file, check whether your ingest workflow is dropping into pkgs/ directly (wrong) instead of ingest/ (correct).