Node reference — IngestDeck User Guide

Node reference

Advanced mode has nine node kinds. This is the complete reference for each — what it does, every setting, how many things it connects to, and what it refuses to do. Nodes fall into three groups: operations that move or check data (Copy, Convert, Verify, Compare, PDF Report), the Source that feeds them, and scheduling controls (Wait-all, Delay, Eject).

Every node has a single always-open output port — draw as many cables from it as you like to run several things after it. A cable sets order; a node's own settings choose which upstream result it acts on.

Connection rules at a glance

Sources are roots (nothing connects into them). Every other kind can follow any operation. Verify is the only node that cannot be immediately followed by another Verify — chain a second verification off the copy instead.

Node	Can follow	Can be followed by
Source	— (root)	Copy, Convert, Verify, Compare, PDF Report, Wait-all, Delay, Eject
Copy	any operation / scheduling node	everything
Convert	any operation / scheduling node	everything
Verify	Source, Copy, Convert (its results)	everything except another Verify
Compare	any operation / scheduling node	everything
PDF Report	Copy (its results)	everything
Wait-all	any (join point)	everything
Delay	any	everything
Eject	any (after the disk's work)	everything

Operation nodes

Source

source

Anchors the workflow: the card, folder, file — or several — that everything downstream reads from. A graph always begins with at least one Source.

Ports: No inputs (it's a root). One output.
Selection: A whole mounted disk, a folder, a single file, or several of these at once. Drop them from the disk browser or Finder onto the node.
File filter: Include / skip wildcards. A default skip list keeps system junk out of every copy: .DS_Store, ._*, __MACOSX, Thumbs.db, .Spotlight-V100, .fcpbundle.
Good to know: Several Source nodes into one Copy read in parallel lanes — one lane per source. Entries reorder by their grip handle in the details; the card shows a live read speed while its lanes are copying, and an ASC-MHL · N gen badge when the dragged-in media already carries a manifest history. The last remaining Source in a graph can't be deleted, and Source cards stay anchored on the canvas.
Blocks the run if: Nothing is selected, or the selected path isn't mounted. (An empty Source doesn't block — it waits, which is what an armed station wants.)

Real-world Two card readers on the cart: Source "A-cam" and Source "B-cam", both wired into one Copy — the cards ingest simultaneously as two read lanes. On the A-cam Source, the skip list gets one extra rule for the camera's *.bin calibration junk, so it never pollutes a delivery.

Copy

destination

The workhorse: a verified copy from its source to one or more destination disks. One Copy node produces one result covering every destination. Every copy gets an always-on file-size check; turn on the Verify add-on for full checksum verification.

Ports: One input (its schedule/source), one output (its result).
Destinations: One or more mounted disks or folders. Drag them onto the node or pick them in the detail panel. Multiple destinations copy serially, each into its own run folder.
Duplicate policy: What to do on a name collision: unique run folder (default), rename, skip, overwrite or fail. See the policy table.
Source context: Workflow source (default) reads the graph's Source. Relay reads an upstream copy's result instead — so a card can eject after the first copy while a slower disk keeps filling from the shuttle.
Verify add-on: Optional inline verification, fused with the copy (hash-during-read + destination read-back). Can also carry a Report add-on — legacy MHL, ASC-MHL, or both, written from the confirmed hashes and continuing an existing chain (N+1).
Smart order: When on, destinations are ordered fastest-first from a live speed benchmark.
Naming: Optional destination subfolder and per-file rename templates built from tokens (source name, drive, date, counters).
Metadata: Preserve dates created/modified, permissions, and Finder tags & extended attributes — each toggled independently (all on by default).
Flatten folders: Optionally drop every file into the destination root instead of reproducing the source's folder tree.
Blocks the run if: No destination; the destination is the same volume as the source; the destination sits inside the source; or a relay reads from a multi-destination copy (ambiguous).

Real-world The 3-2-1 workhorse: one Copy with three destinations — the working RAID, a backup HDD, and the production's shuttle. Smart order on, so the RAID (benchmarked fastest) is written and available first. Verify add-on + ASC-MHL report on, destination subfolder template {run-date}_{source-name}, Finder tags preserved. One node; three verified, signed, consistently-named copies.

Convert

convert

Transcodes eligible media to review proxies and writes them to a destination — decoded on the GPU, encoded through VideoToolbox, no external binary. Files it can't transcode follow the ineligible policy.

Ports: One input, one output (its result).
Reads: Blackmagic RAW (.braw), RED R3D (.r3d), Nikon N-RAW (.nev), Apple ProRes RAW, ProRes 422 (all), ProRes 4444, H.264 and H.265.
Output: H.264 (Baseline / Main / High) or H.265 (Main, or Main10 for genuine 10-bit HDR). Set it in the Output settings editor from the node card.
Rate control: Constant bitrate (Mbps) or variable quality (1–100).
Resolution: Original, half, quarter, or a fixed frame (UHD / FHD / 720p) with optional upscaling (off by default).
Colour: Gamma (auto / SDR / PQ / HLG) and gamut (auto / Rec.709 / Rec.2020) on H.265 Main10.
Ineligible files: Skip (default), pass through (copy unchanged) or fail the run.
Verify add-on: Optional write-integrity check: each output is read back and hashed after writing.
Audio: Compressed audio passes through untouched; camera-original PCM (BRAW/RED) is encoded to AAC in the proxy at the source's sample rate and channel count.
Good to know: A route is offered only when a real encoder backs it — you can't configure a conversion that won't run. New nodes default to an H.265 proxy at original resolution. Two-pass encoding is available for H.265. In v1 a Convert writes to a single destination.
Blocks the run if: No destination, no runnable output configured, or no input format can produce the chosen target.

Real-world Editorial proxies on the way in: H.265, variable quality 65, half resolution, writing to the editorial SSD while the originals copy to the RAID in a parallel branch. Ineligible policy set to pass through, so the sound department's WAVs land on the editorial disk unchanged instead of being skipped. For an HDR show: profile Main10, gamma PQ, gamut Rec.2020 — true 10-bit HDR proxies.

Verify

verify

Confirms integrity. Point it at an upstream copy or convert result to hash-verify it, or wire it directly to a Source to audit that card against its own existing ASC-MHL — no copy involved.

Ports: One input, one output (its result).
What it verifies: The selected upstream results (each cable is meaningful), or a Source's recorded ASC-MHL when wired straight to a Source.
Mode: Hash-during-read: hash the source as the copy reads it, then read the destination back from disk (cache bypassed) and compare.
Algorithm: SHA-256, xxh3-64, MD5 + SHA-256, or all implemented.
Report: Optionally write an MHL / ASC-MHL manifest after verifying (reusing the confirmed hashes). Enabling a report forces full checksum verification, and continues an existing ASC-MHL chain.
Good to know: Verifying against a Source re-hashes every recorded file with its recorded algorithm and fails on any mismatch, missing or unreadable file — or if the card has no ASC-MHL.
Blocks the run if: Nothing is selected to verify, a chosen copy has multiple destinations (no single source to compare), or the upstream copy didn't record the hashes this check needs.

Real-world Two uses on one show: (1) a standalone Verify after the overnight archive copy, writing the ASC-MHL so the vault gets generation N+1 of the chain that started in camera; (2) a Source → Verify audit run every Monday against the previous week's shuttle — no copying, just re-hashing against its manifest to prove the disk survived the courier.

Compare

compare

Reads two directory trees and reports whether they match — file and folder counts, sizes, and optionally content hashes. It writes nothing; it's a check you can browse.

Ports: One input, one output (its result — a browsable diff).
Source side: The workflow source, or a relay from an upstream copy result.
Compare against: The workflow source, a relay from an upstream copy, or a disk / folder you drag straight onto the node.
Checks: File & folder count, and per-file content: off, size (default) or hash (xxh64). At least one check must be on.
Good to know: Both sides skip the default system-junk patterns, so .DS_Store never causes a false mismatch. Any discrepancy fails the node red, but the two-sided diff stays browsable (only-in-source, only-in-reference, size / hash mismatch).
Blocks the run if: No checks are enabled, the compare-against target is missing, or you compare a tree against itself.

Real-world The wipe-the-shuttle check: production wants shuttle #2 back in rotation. Source = the RAID's show folder, compare-against = the shuttle (dragged onto the node), content check on hash. Green means every byte on the shuttle exists on the RAID — wipe it. Red gives you the browsable diff of exactly what would have been lost.

PDF Report

pdfReport

Renders a saved report template against finished copy results and writes a PDF — per-run facts, hashes and production metadata — at each copy's run-folder root.

Ports: One input, one output.
Depends on: One or more upstream copy results (each is both the data and the save location).
Template: A report layout you built in the PDF report builder (required).
Naming: Optional wrap-subfolder and filename templates (whole-run tokens).
Good to know: It's a whole-run PDF and does not force checksum verification — pair it with a Verify add-on if you want signed hashes in the report.
Blocks the run if: No template is selected, no copy is selected, or a chosen copy has multiple destinations (ambiguous save location).

Real-world The daily offload report: wired after the RAID copy, rendering the production's saved template — header bound to the Info panel's project/crew/location fields, stat cells for files/GB/verified, then the full file table with hashes. Every run folder gets its PDF automatically; production stops asking. Design the template in the report builder.

Scheduling nodes

Wait-all

waitAll

A synchronization barrier. It joins parallel branches: nothing after it starts until every branch flowing into it has finished. Use it before an Eject, a report, or a final step that must not begin early.

Ports: Many inputs (the branches it joins), one output.
Settings: None — it's pure scheduling and moves no data.

Real-world The full dailies graph: the verified copy branch and the proxy-transcode branch both feed a Wait-all, and the Eject hangs off it — so the card is only released when both the backups and the proxies are done, never just the faster of the two.

Delay

delay

Holds the schedule for a fixed time before continuing — stagger jobs, or wait out a busy disk before the next stage.

Ports: One input, one output.
Duration: A number plus a unit — seconds or minutes (defaults to 5 seconds).

Real-world A NAS destination that needs a breath after heavy writes: Copy → Delay 2 min → the archive relay copy. The pause lets the NAS flush its own cache before the second wave of writes hits it.

Eject

eject

Unmounts the selected disks once their work is done and verified — the safe end to a card's journey.

Ports: One or more inputs (the work that must finish first), one output.
Target: One or more mounted disks to unmount.
Safety: Requires explicit upstream work on the disk, so IngestDeck only ejects after that work completes. It may eject early if it can prove no other branch still needs the disk.
Good to know: Reports each disk's result independently and fails if any target couldn't eject. Disabled for relay sources and read-back modes that would re-read a source you're trying to eject.
Blocks the run if: No target is selected, or a target disk is missing / already unmounted.

Real-world The loader's contract: every station graph ends in Eject (the card). When the reader's light goes out and the card unmounts, that is the signal the copy verified — the loader never has to ask, and never pulls a card early. Cards that fail verification stay mounted and the node goes red.

See these nodes wired into complete, real-world graphs on the workflow recipes page.