Cloud app guide

What this does: walks every job you do in the Helm Cloud App at app.helm.show, in the order a production meets them. For the reference view of each tab see Projects, Tracks & shows and Public pages.

The cloud never plays audio, fires timecode or sends MIDI. That stays on the desktop. The cloud holds the project and lets the team see it.

1. Sign in

1. Open app.helm.show. Click Continue with Google. There is no password sign-in.

2. Any licence issued to your email appears on Account, even one issued before you first signed in.

3. Land on Projects.

2. Create a project

1. New project. Give it a name. Description, production type and event date are optional and editable later under Settings.

2. You are the project’s owner.

3. The project lives in your personal storage pool. The pool owner pays for the space; see Accounts and licences.

3. Files and folders

Files live under Assets in the sidebar (the Files tab).

1. Upload: drag files from the desktop onto the browser, or click Upload and multi-select. Editors and owners only. Each file shows a percentage until it is stored.

2. Same name, same folder: a browser upload with the name of a file already in that folder becomes its next version, not a second file. Comments stay. See section 5.

3. New folder: type a name, Create. Rename and move folders from the folder’s own menu.

4. Move files: tick the boxes, Move…, pick a destination (Project root counts). Or drag rows onto a folder.

5. Delete: tick, Delete. The prompt says it cannot be undone. It cannot.

6. Folder permissions: the lock icon on a folder. Grant access to a user or a group with View, Edit, Share or Deny. They apply to listing, download, upload, move and comments. Deny beats a grant. Owners always pass.

7. Covers: Settings → Cover image. Pick an image already uploaded, then set height, focal point and fit.

A paired Helm Cues uploads the show’s media under the project’s upload mode (by default it asks before a batch over 1 GB) and mirrors its folder structure here. Files the show uses but has not uploaded yet show as greyed “Local only” tiles. Desktop uploads never make versions. See Cues cloud sync.

4. Review a file

1. Open a file. Video and images get an annotatable viewer; audio gets a waveform player; PDFs render inline; anything else offers Download.

2. Set the review state. Needs review, In progress or Approved, from the Review column in the file list or the toolbar’s far left. Editors and owners set it; everyone else sees a badge. A new version or a restore sets it back to Needs review.

3. Point comment: Comment at mm:ss drops a comment at the playhead. On images, Add comment, then click the image to drop a numbered pin.

4. Range comment (video and audio):

   1. Go to the start. Press In.
   2. Go to the end. Press Out · mm:ss. Playback pauses and the comment box opens, headed mm:ss – mm:ss.
   3. Type, then Post (⌘↵).

   Ranges show as bands on the scrubber; points as ticks. Out before In is swapped for you.

5. Drawing (images and video frames): pick Freehand, Rectangle or Arrow, pick one of 5 colours, draw, then post. On video a drawing shows while the playhead is inside its range; a point drawing shows for about a second.

6. Click a thread to jump to its moment. Reply inside a thread.

7. On a track page, Add a comment at the current playhead or pin one to a cue row. Comments show in the project’s Activity panel with a link back to the file.

Who can comment from the UI: owners and editors. Resolve and reactions are not in this release.

5. File versions and compare

1. Upload a file with the same name into the same folder. It becomes v2, v3… The drawer says so: “Uploading a file with the same name into the same folder adds a version here. Comments stay on the file.”

2. In the viewer, click vN in the toolbar. The Versions drawer lists each version with date, uploader and size.

3. Compare a version with the current one:

   • Images: Side by side, or Overlay with an A ◂ ▸ B wipe.
   • Audio and video: one transport, A and B buttons. Switching keeps the playhead. A length mismatch is flagged.

4. Restore makes an older version current. “Make version N current? The current version stays in the history.” Editors and owners, with edit access to the folder.

5. Open opens a version in a new tab.

Every version counts against the storage pool.

6. Project versions

A project version is a separate copy of the whole project’s data. The active one is what the desktop apps sync to.

1. Overview → Versions panel → + New version. Name it (“Festival edit”), Create & switch.

2. Switch saves the current state into the version you are leaving, then loads the other. Nothing is lost by switching.

3. Duplicate copies a version. Rename renames it.

4. Delete removes a version’s data copy for good. Switch away from it first; the active version cannot be deleted.

5. Versions count toward the storage pool.

7. Team and roles

Role	In the cloud	In a Helm Session
Owner	Everything: settings, members, links, archive, delete	Everything, including arm Live
Editor	Upload, change files, data and versions, comment, review state	Drive and edit the show
Operator	Read, like a viewer	Run the show: GO and transport. No edits.
Viewer	Read	Monitor

1. Team → Invite member. Email address, role Viewer, Operator or Editor. Nobody is invited as owner; promote them after.

2. An email that already has a Helm account joins at once. A new email gets an invitation that lasts 7 days; they accept by signing in with Google on that address. There is no accept page.

3. Change a role from the dropdown on the row. Remove asks first.

4. Groups: named sets of members (“Lighting team”) used as folder-permission targets. Everyone and Owners maintain themselves.

Open now on the Overview and Files headers shows who has the project open, in a browser or a paired desktop app. Hover for the product and device.

8. Share a file or folder

A share link opens one file, or a folder and everything inside it, with no sign-in.

1. In the file list, the share icon on a file or folder row. In the viewer, Share link.

2. Set the options:

   • Label (e.g. for the promoter)
   • Passphrase (optional)
   • Expires: the link works to the end of that day, local time
   • Allow download: on by default
   • Allow comments (guests post under a name they type): off by default

3. Create link. Copy it now: “Helm cannot show the full link again.”

4. Send it. The guest opens it, types the passphrase if there is one (it holds for 12 h in that browser), and sees the file or the folder’s file list.

• Live links in the modal lists each link with its options, N views · last … and Revoke. Revoke stops it at once.
• Settings → Share links lists every link in the project. Owners revoke any; a creator revokes their own.
• Who can create: owners, and editors with Share on the folder. Files at the project root: owners only.
• Copy link in the viewer is the other button: a members-only link into the app.

Name the risk:

• A folder link shows the whole subtree, including subfolders a member Deny would hide.
• Allow download off hides the button. Media still streams to the browser and can be saved from it.
• Guest comments appear in the app under the typed name, with no guest marker.

9. Public page

For a curated page about the show, block by block.

1. Settings → Public page → Enable public page. Set a Password if the page is not for everyone.

2. Optional: Expires. After that date visitors see “This page has expired. Ask the production for a new link.”

3. Open page builder. Add blocks: Text, Divider, Asset bucket, Documents, Track list, Track packs, Link buttons, Team, Details, Progress tracker.

4. Set each block’s access: Public, Password or Members. Locked blocks render as a locked card so visitors know more exists.

5. Watch the Live preview as Public, Password holder or Member. Everything autosaves.

6. Send the page link: app.helm.show/p/<project-id>.

Settings and the builder show N visitor views · last viewed …. Members and owner previews are not counted. A password unlocks the page for 12 hours in that browser. Comments never appear on a public page.

10. Live overview

Live in the sidebar: a read-only overview of the show as Cues last synced it. It refreshes every 30 s.

• Tiles: Tracks, Cue stacks, Cues, Markers, Run time, Devices on.
• Tracks expand to offset, length, cues and stacks, with Open track →.
• Last sync: version, when, who. Connected devices. Running orders, if any.

It has no playhead and no GO.

11. Settle a sync conflict

Two machines changed the same show. The second push is refused and kept.

1. Project Overview → Sync conflict · helm-cues. It names who pushed, when, and both versions.

2. Per track: Same on both, Changed on both, Only in mine or Only in the cloud.

3. Pick Keep mine (the refused push) or Keep theirs (the cloud) per track. The default is theirs. All mine and All theirs set every row.

4. Write merge as vN. It saves as a normal new version. Or Dismiss to throw the refused push away.

5. On the desktop that was refused: pull before you push again. Its copy is now behind.

Anything outside the tracks stays as the cloud has it. Editors and owners settle; others see “An editor can settle this.”

Cues settles per-track conflicts on the desktop too: see Cloud sync.

12. Pair the desktop

1. In Cues or DJ, start the cloud sign-in. It shows a code like WX7K-MN42 and opens the browser.

2. On /pair, check the product, device and account, click Authorize. Opened by hand: type the code, Approve & pair.

3. The desktop is signed in within a few seconds. The device appears under Account → Connected devices: last used … · signs out after 90 days unused, with Sign out.

Codes expire after 10 minutes. Only authorise a code you just started yourself.

• 90 days unused signs a device out. Cues shows “Signed out of Helm Cloud after 90 days without use —” with Pair again.
• A busy desktop is slowed, not stopped. Cues waits and tries again; you see nothing unless that fails. Uploads pause instead, and the Cues upload pill says Uploads paused — rate limited.

When it goes wrong

• Upload stops with no message in the browser. The pool is full or read-only. The storage bar on Projects or Account reads “Storage full — delete files or upgrade.” Delete files or ask the pool owner for space. Older versions count: delete the ones you no longer need.
• Cues says “Uploads stopped: cloud storage full — X of Y used. Free space or upgrade the plan, then Retry.” Same pool, seen from the desktop. Cues stops that project’s uploads at once. Free space here, then Retry in the Cues upload pill.
• Cues says “You no longer have edit access to this cloud project — changes stay on this Mac”. The project refused a push: the role is Viewer or Operator now, or a folder Deny covers it. The show stays linked; Cues stops pushing it on its own. Restore the role to Editor, then push by hand in Cues. Or Unlink there to keep the show local.
• The upload became v2 instead of a new file. Same name, same folder. Rename the file before uploading to keep both.
• “Another device is writing.” Two desktops pushed the same project at once. Open the project Overview and settle the Sync conflict panel, then pull on the refused desktop.
• A member cannot see a folder. A Deny on that folder, or no View grant. Check the lock icon. Deny beats every grant.
• “Sharing needs share access on this folder”. An editor without Share on that folder. An owner grants it, or creates the link.
• “This link has expired” or “This link was revoked”. Create a new link and send that.
• Public page shows the expiry notice. Clear or move Expires in Settings → Public page. Sub-pages 404 for everyone while it is expired.
• Invite never arrived. Invites expire after 7 days and only fire for addresses with no Helm account. Check spam for mail from noreply@helm.show, or ask them to sign in with that Google address directly.
• Cannot remove or demote a member. They are the last owner. Promote someone else first. The app does not say so yet.
• Public page 404s. It is disabled. Settings → Public page → Enable.
• Password block stays locked for everyone. No password is set. Set one in Settings → Public page.
• Desktop says it is signed out. 90 days unused, signed out from Account, or the licence was revoked. Pair again. Cues builds up to 0.2.11 cannot pair: update first.