Starred Keeper Digest

Media / AUTOMATE.md

Every evening at 7:00pm, pull the frames marked as picks from the shoot log and post a count per subject, with the first ten to start on.

This is the whole automation. Run it as it is, or change any word, including the tools it names.

Keeper count per subject
Retouch order agreed up front
Rejected frames kept out of the queue

How it runs

1. Starts
Every evening at 7:00pm
2. Reads
the shoot log
3. Delivers to
Slack
4. You decide
Approve each time, or let the steps you trust run. Your choice.

Why photographers and video teams set this up

A 900-frame card gets retouched in whatever order the editor opens it, so one sitter ends up with three treatments and nobody can say which one shipped. Review notes sit in an inbox instead of next to the frame they are about.

See the whole job: Culling and Retouch Queue

Use it as is. Or make it yours.

Edit it the way you would edit a note to a colleague. It follows the new version from the next run.

Change when it runs
Move it to another day or time, or start it when something arrives, like a new email.
Add your own rules
Limits, exceptions and what good looks like go in the same file, in plain words.
Decide what waits for you
Mark the steps that need your OK, and let the rest run.

You stay in charge.
At every step.

It checks and files. Every creative call stays yours.

It never deletes on its own
It checks, lists and files. Deleting or formatting anything waits for your OK.
Undo a move you don't want
Every step is recorded, and files it moved or renamed can be put back.
Your drives stay yours
It works on the folders you point it at, on your computer. Nothing is uploaded to a new library.

Starred Keeper Digest

Approve before it posts in Slack?

ReviewApprove

Before you download.

Where does it run?: On your Mac or Windows computer, in the background. It keeps working after you close its window, and only reaches the folders and apps you connect for each automation.
How does it connect to our CRM and other tools?: Through each app's own connection where it offers one, signed in once by you, or by using the app in a browser the way you would. Each automation gets only the connections you give it, and the tools a page names are examples you can swap for your own.
Does it run when my computer is asleep?: It keeps your computer awake while a job runs and just before a scheduled one. While the computer is closed or off, nothing runs; when it wakes, it checks the inbox, calendar and other sources it watches for anything that arrived meanwhile.
How does my team use it?: Each person who runs automations installs the app. Keep a project in a shared folder, such as Google Drive or a network drive, and teammates can open it and follow every run, while one person owns it and runs it.
Do I need anyone technical to set it up?: No. Download the app, add an automation in plain words, and connect only what that job needs. Nothing runs until you switch it on.

Already have tools for this? Here is the difference.

Instead ofGood atWhere it stops

Presets and actions in your editor

Repeating the same edit across many files.

They can't check a delivery against an approval or tell you a card didn't copy.

Flowchart automation tools

Moving data between cloud apps.

They rarely reach local drives, and every exception becomes another branch.

Doing it by hand

Knowing exactly what happened.

It is the part of the job that waits until midnight.

AUTOMATE.md

Your routine, written in plain words. It runs on its own, follows your rules, handles the exceptions a flowchart can't, and asks you when it matters. The file stays yours, whichever AI model runs it.

Other setups for the same job.

Retouch Note Attach

When a reviewer leaves a note on a frame, copy the comment into the retouch list with the file name, and notify the retoucher so nothing sits unread.

When a reviewer leaves a note on a frame

Retouch Queue Aging

Every Monday at 9:00am, list the frames still in the retouch queue after three days and email the list with the name of whoever picked each one up.

Every Monday at 9:00am

Related workflows

Client Proofing and Selection

Give the client a small, decidable set of proofs and record exactly what they picked.

3 automations

RAW to Delivery Color

Apply one agreed look across a shoot and export delivery files that match the proof the client approved.

2 automations

Photo tagging

Puts reviewed keywords on a shoot as it lands, so a decade-old library is findable by the words a client actually says out loud.