under the hood · 02

Sync architecture.

There is no SmartLog server. The shared log is a file in your own Google Drive, and every device on the team reads and writes it. Offline first, always: everything saves to this device instantly, and the cloud copy catches up whenever the device is online again.

merge rules

What travels, what doesn't

Adds and updates travel to the whole team. Deleting a take only deletes it on your device, and it can return on the next sync: the log is deliberately hard to destroy from one phone. With dated snapshots on, SmartLog also keeps one dated copy per shoot day, so a bad merge is recoverable. Restore from Drive brings any of it back.

• Adds / updatestravel to every device on the next sync
• Deleteslocal only, can return on next sync
• Snapshotsone dated copy per shoot day, optional
• Recoveryrestore from Drive, any snapshot
• No signaleverything saves to this device first, instantly

• The fileone JSON, smartlog-backup.json, in your own Drive. Takes, production setup, stills and diagrams, readable by any build of the app.
• Permission askedonly for files the app itself creates. SmartLog cannot see the rest of your Drive.
• Same take, two phonesmerges key on date, camera, roll, scene and take: the slate's witnessed timecode wins, and detail you typed survives
• Two productionsnever merge silently. A file naming a different production stands down and asks first.
• When it syncsa few seconds after a save, when the app comes back to the foreground or online, on a timer while team sync is on, and whenever you tap Sync now
• Version skewa device on an older build merges safely and tells you a newer build exists rather than quietly stripping its data