Jeremias Meister - Tools & Pipeline

Settings

Access settings through Menu → Help → Settings. The Settings dialog allows you to configure Project Succession’s behavior, integrations, and security.

Settings Dialog Overview

The Settings dialog is organized into tabs:

  • General: Backend and connection settings
  • Integrations: DCC tool configurations
  • Vault: Secure secret storage

General Settings

Backend Connection

These settings control how the frontend communicates with the backend service:

Backend Address

  • Default: 127.0.0.1 (localhost)
  • Description: The IP address where the backend service is running
  • When to Change: Only change this if you’re running the backend on a different machine (advanced use case)

Backend Port

  • Default: Auto-assigned port
  • Description: The port number for the backend service
  • When to Change: Usually not necessary; the application manages this automatically. It can be useful for custom setups.

Integrations

Project Succession can integrate with various DCC (Digital Content Creation) tools. Each integration requires the tool’s bridge/plugin to be installed.

Configuring Integrations

For each integration, you can configure:

Backend URL

  • Format: http://[address]:[port]
  • Example: http://127.0.0.1:8765
  • Description: The URL where the DCC tool’s bridge server is listening
  • Default: Uses localhost and the default port for that tool

Command Port

  • Description: The port number the DCC tool listens on
  • Customization: Change if you have port conflicts or multiple instances

Installing DCC Plugins

  1. You find all the integration plugins in the Project Succession installation directory
  2. Launch the DCC tool
  3. Install the plugin with the DCC specific workflow
  4. you should find Project Succession settings, where you can tweak the connection settings.

See individual DCC tool documentation for detailed installation steps.

Path Roots

Path roots are named directories you can reference from any parameter expression as @name/relative/path, instead of typing out a machine-specific absolute path. See Parameter Scripting for the full expression reference — this section covers where to configure them.

The built-in lib root

Every installation ships with one root already configured: lib, pointing at ~/.project-succession/lib. The folder is created for you on first launch, so @lib/cleanup.json resolves without any setup — drop a graph in there and reference it from anywhere.

Resolving is not the same as being allowed to read: a configured root is still subject to the Filesystem Access policy, which denies everything until you grant folders. If @lib/... resolves but the node reports a blocked path, add ~/.project-succession/lib (or a parent of it) to your allowed paths.

You can repoint lib at a different directory, or remove it entirely; once you save your own list it is never re-added.

Adding a Path Root

  1. Open Settings → scroll to the Path Roots section
  2. Click Add Path Root
  3. Enter a name (e.g. assets) and a directory path (e.g. /Volumes/share/assets)
  4. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the dialog — closing the dialog any other way (the X, the footer Close button, or clicking outside the dialog) discards your edits without saving

The target directory does not need to exist yet — a root can name a location such as a volume that gets mounted later.

When to use a path root

Use a path root for locations outside your current project — a personal graph library reused across unrelated projects, or a machine-specific mount like /Volumes/share/assets. For anything inside your project, use an ordinary relative path instead: it already resolves against the referencing graph’s directory and travels with the repo for every teammate, with no per-machine setup required.

Rules

  • Name: alphanumeric characters and underscores, starting with a letter or underscore — the same rule as node aliases. The names env, secret, subgraph, and input are reserved (they are the built-in expression namespaces) and rejected if used as a root name.
  • Path: a ~/ prefix is expanded to your home directory; an absolute path is stored as-is. A relative path is rejected — a relative root would point at the backend’s working directory for the engine and at the parent graph’s directory for the editor, so it has no single meaning. Use ~/... or a full absolute path. Because the check runs before anything is written, one bad root blocks the whole Settings save, not just that row; the error names the offending path.
  • Machine-local: path roots live in your local settings file, not in the graph. A graph that references @assets/... only resolves on a machine where assets is configured — deploying that graph elsewhere requires adding the same root there too. lib is the exception: it is configured by default everywhere, so a graph referencing @lib/... resolves on any installation (though what lives in that folder is still per-machine).

Example

"pathRoots": {
  "lib":    "~/.project-succession/lib",
  "assets": "/Volumes/share/assets"
}
@lib/cleanup.json            ->  /Users/jere/.project-succession/lib/cleanup.json
@assets/textures/brick.png   ->  /Volumes/share/assets/textures/brick.png

Windows paths

On Windows, a root such as C:\graphs joins with the forward-slash-separated relative part, producing a mixed-separator path like C:\graphs/cleanup.json. This is expected and works correctly — Windows accepts mixed separators — so do not treat it as a bug.

Vault (Secret Storage)

The Vault is a secure storage system for sensitive information like API keys, passwords, and tokens.

Why Use the Vault?

  • Security: Secrets are encrypted and stored separately from your pipeline files within the Operating Systems default credential manager.
  • Convenience: Access secrets across all your pipelines
  • Version Control Safe: Pipeline files don’t contain secrets, safe to commit to git

Managing Secrets

Adding a Secret

  1. Open Settings → Scroll down to the Vault section
  2. Click “Add Secret” or the ”+” button
  3. Enter the secret name (e.g., OPENAI_API_KEY)
  4. Enter the secret value (e.g., sk-...)
  5. Click “Save”

Viewing Secrets

  • The Vault shows a list of secret names (keys)
  • Security Note: Secret values are never displayed in the UI

Deleting a Secret

  1. Find the secret in the list
  2. Click the trash/delete icon next to it
  3. Confirm deletion

Using Secrets in Pipelines

Secrets can be accessed in two ways:

1. Load Secret Action

Use the “Load Secret” action node to load a secret into your pipeline data flow.

Example:

[Load Secret: OPENAI_API_KEY] → [AI Prompt]

2. Automatic Secret Loading

Some nodes automatically load required secrets from the Vault:

  • AI Prompt Action: Looks for OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, or GOOGLE_API_KEY
  • Send Email Action: Can load SMTP credentials
  • Slack Actions: Can load bot tokens

3. Required Secrets

Certain nodes document required secret keys:

  • AI Prompt Action:
    • OPENAI_API_KEY (for GPT models)
    • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (for Claude models)
    • GOOGLE_API_KEY (for Gemini models)

Check individual node documentation for required secrets.

Common Secrets

Here are examples of commonly stored secrets:

Secret NamePurposeExample Value
OPENAI_API_KEYOpenAI API accesssk-...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEYAnthropic Claude APIsk-ant-...
GOOGLE_API_KEYGoogle Gemini APIAIza...
SLACK_BOT_TOKENSlack bot authenticationxoxb-...
JIRA_API_TOKENJira API accessATATT...
SMTP_PASSWORDEmail server passwordpassword123
GITHUB_TOKENGitHub API tokenghp_...
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URLDiscord webhookhttps://discord.com/api/webhooks/...

Best Practices

  1. Never Commit Secrets: Don’t hardcode secrets in your pipeline files
  2. Use Descriptive Names: Use clear names like PROD_OPENAI_API_KEY vs DEV_OPENAI_API_KEY
  3. Rotate Regularly: Update API keys and tokens periodically
  4. Least Privilege: Use API keys with minimal required permissions
  5. Separate Environments: Use different secrets for development and production

Saving Settings

Settings are saved only when you click Save Changes at the bottom of the Settings dialog. Closing the dialog any other way — the X, the footer Close button, or clicking outside the dialog — discards all unsaved edits.

Secrets are the exception: they commit immediately. The Vault’s own Save button writes a new secret to your keyring straight away, and the delete icon removes one straight away — neither waits for Save Changes, and closing the dialog does not undo either. Deleting is not recoverable from here: secret values are never shown in the UI, so there is nothing to read back if you change your mind. Make sure you have the value elsewhere before you delete it.

Settings File Location

Settings are stored in:

  • Windows: %APPDATA%/Project Succession/settings.json
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Project Succession/settings.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/project-succession/settings.json

Backing Up Settings

To back up your settings (excluding secrets):

  1. Close Project Succession
  2. Copy the settings file to a safe location
  3. To restore, copy the file back

Note: Secrets are stored separately in the operating systems default vault.

Troubleshooting

Integration Not Connecting

  1. Verify plugin installed: Make sure the DCC tool plugin is installed and enabled
  2. Check DCC tool is running: The DCC application must be open
  3. Verify port: Make sure the port number matches in both settings
  4. Firewall: Check if your firewall is blocking the connection
  5. Test connection: Use the “Test Connection” button

Lost Secrets

If you lose access to your secrets (e.g., corrupted vault):

  1. Secrets must be re-entered manually
  2. Keep backups of important API keys externally
  3. Use a password manager for additional security