ClipDo I have to use projects?
Not for the basics. Ratings, flags, color labels, titles, notes, keywords/tags, markers, and segments are "native" metadata that work on any clip anywhere on disk, project or not. A project becomes required the moment you want structured fields: your custom palette fields and the AI logging built on them. That gate exists because those fields need a schema and a cast to be meaningful; the app prompts you to pick or create a project when you first touch one.
What does a project own?
Three things: a palette snapshot (its own copy of a Log Selector profile, covering your field schema, key bindings, lookup tables, and naming templates), a subject cast (the people, items, and places it knows), and a brief (deliverable intent plus an optional AI digest, a model-written overview of the whole project used to prime later runs). The palette is copied on attach, so editing it inside the project never mutates your library template.
Where does a project live on disk?
You choose at creation. A volume-homed project is a JSON document at <volume>/.cliplogger/projects/ right beside the footage. It travels with the drive and appears wherever that drive mounts. An app-folder project lives in ~/Library/Application Support/ClipLogger/projects/. It survives the drive being disconnected and opens with zero volumes mounted. Both are the same file format read by the same store; a local mirror keeps every project listable and openable even when its volume is offline.
Does adding clips to a project move or copy them?
No. Membership is a reference: the project document records each member, and the clip's own sidecar carries a per-project block (which fields and subjects apply in that project). That backlink means a second machine that mounts the same storage can rebuild the project view from the clips themselves. Files never move for a project.
What happens when I open a project?
The members list comes from the project document joined against the index, never from scanning your drives. A member whose file can't currently be reached (drive unplugged, file moved, or a synced project whose media was never on this Mac) shows as an explicit offline placeholder with an orange badge, still carrying whatever metadata is known. An unmounted drive is never treated as a deletion. Directory scans only happen when you explicitly browse a folder.
What happens to my metadata if I delete a project?
Deleting a project removes an organizing record rather than authorizing deletion of camera media. Before doing it, preserve the project document and any project-specific logging you still need. Native clip values and project-scoped fields are different layers, so inspect the affected project and export what you need instead of treating project deletion as an archive-cleanup shortcut.
What are bins and smart bins?
Both are query views inside a project, not folders that hold files. A manual bin is a curated list you drag clips into; a smart bin is a saved search: a stored query that evaluates live against the index on each machine, plus any clips you've pinned into it explicitly. Bins can nest, and a child bin without its own palette inherits the nearest ancestor's.