Al Nostro Logo

SVP User Guide

Welcome to the Al Nostro Social Video Pipeline (SVP) User Guide. This manual provides step-by-step instructions on how to set up, configure, and operate every feature within the application.

1. Initial Configuration & Workflow

The core of SVP relies on actively watching a folder on your computer for new videos and processing them.

Setting up the Watch Folder

  1. Open the main SVP application window and click on the Settings button.
  2. In the General section, find the Watch folder field.
  3. Click Browse... and select a folder on your local drive (e.g., C:\Users\You\Videos\To Process).
  4. Click Save. SVP will now monitor this folder. Whenever you drop an .mp4 or .mov file into this folder, it will automatically enter the processing pipeline.

Setting the Time Zone

  1. In the Settings > General section, locate the Time zone dropdown.
  2. Select your local timezone (e.g., America/New_York). This ensures your scheduled uploads align perfectly with your local time.

Content Modes (Podcast vs Music)

  1. In Settings > General, select the radio button for either Podcast mode or Music mode.
  2. Podcast Mode: Use this for spoken word content. It automatically enables AI transcription and dynamic SEO generation based on the dialogue.
  3. Music Mode: Use this for non-verbal or music videos. It turns off transcription (preventing AI hallucinations) and relies on your manual SEO configuration.

2. AI Providers (Gemini & ChatGPT)

SVP uses AI to intelligently analyze transcripts and generate rich SEO titles, descriptions, and tags. You must provide API keys for these services to enable automatic generation.

  1. Google Gemini: Go to Google AI Studio (aistudio.google.com) and create a free API Key.
  2. OpenAI (ChatGPT): Go to the OpenAI Developer Platform (platform.openai.com) and generate a new secret API key.
  3. In SVP, click on the Secrets/API Keys status bar at the bottom of the main window.
  4. Paste your generated API keys into their respective fields and click Save.

3. Social Platform Connections (OAuth)

Before SVP can schedule posts, you must link your social media accounts.

Connecting YouTube

Most users can simply sign in via OAuth. However, if you are bringing your own YouTube API credentials, you must first create a project in the Google Cloud Console.

  1. BYOK - Bring Your Own Key (Required): Go to the Google Cloud Console, create a project, and enable the YouTube Data API v3. Generate OAuth Client ID credentials and configure them in SVP.
  2. Open the main SVP application and click Accounts on the left sidebar.
  3. Click the YouTube button.
  4. Click Connect YouTube Channel. Your web browser will open.
  5. Sign in with your Google account and grant SVP permission to manage your YouTube videos.
  6. Return to the app and configure your defaults: set your desired Privacy Status (Public, Unlisted, Private) and default Category.

Connecting TikTok

  1. Under Accounts, click the TikTok button.
  2. Click Sign in with TikTok.
  3. Authorize the app in your browser window. Once successful, SVP will pull in your TikTok profile and be ready for uploads.

Connecting Meta (Facebook & Instagram)

  1. Under Accounts, click the Meta button.
  2. Click Connect Meta Account.
  3. Log in to Facebook. You must grant access to the Facebook Pages and Instagram Professional accounts you wish to manage.
  4. Once connected, use the UI dropdowns in SVP to select which specific Page and Instagram account should receive the uploads.

Connecting X (Twitter)

Due to strict API rate limits on X, you must supply your own Developer App keys (Bring Your Own Key).

  1. Go to the X Developer Portal and create a Free or Basic Project/App. (Read the App Documentation for help).
  2. Under your App settings, generate your Consumer Keys (API Key and API Secret). Ensure your app has "Read and Write" permissions.
  3. In SVP, under Accounts > X, paste your API Key and API Key Secret into the respective fields.
  4. Click Sign in with X. A browser window will open for you to authorize your account.
  5. Upon success, return to SVP and click Save.

4. Automated Editing & Processing Features

SVP can intelligently edit your footage. Set these features up in Settings > Features and Settings > Editing.

Auto-generate 9:16 Cuts (Portrait Tracking)

This converts 16:9 videos into tracked 9:16 Shorts/Reels.

  1. In Settings > Features, check the box for Auto-generate 9:16 cuts.
  2. Set the Length (e.g., 60 seconds). SVP will chop long videos into multiple 60-second vertical clips.

Switched Camera Cuts

If you record your content with multiple camera angles stored in the same frame (or if you want to define dynamic zoom regions), you can use Switched Camera Cuts to automatically bounce between angles.

  1. In Settings > Features, check the box for Switched Camera Cuts.
  2. Click Configure... to open the Camera Switch designer.
  3. You can define profiles that represent your camera setup. For example, if you have a wide shot, a close-up on speaker A, and a close-up on speaker B all baked into a 4K canvas, define those sub-regions here.
  4. Save your profile and select it from the dropdown in the settings panel. SVP will now auto-switch angles dynamically based on the audio and transcription!

Removing Silences

Cut out dead air automatically to make videos more engaging.

  1. In Settings > Editing, check Remove silences.
  2. Silence threshold (dB): Set this to match your background noise. E.g., -35.0 dB. Anything quieter than this is considered silence.
  3. Min silence duration (s): E.g., 0.35. A pause must be at least this long to be cut out.
  4. Padding (s): E.g., 0.08. Adds a tiny buffer around the cut so speech doesn't sound clipped.

Mute Words (Word Filters)

Automatically bleep/mute profanity or specific brand-unsafe words.

  1. In Settings > Editing, click Word Filters....
  2. Check the Enable Word Filter box at the top.
  3. Type a word in the text box and press Enter (or click Add).
  4. Choose a replacement mode (e.g., Mute audio). SVP will analyze the transcription and silence those timestamps automatically. Click Save.

5. Branding, Visuals & Overlays

Branding Panels (Landscape & Portrait)

SVP lets you design and burn-in graphical elements onto your videos. You can set up completely different branding designs depending on whether the output is Landscape (16:9) or Portrait (9:16).

  1. In the main SVP window, find the Branding (Landscape) or Branding (Portrait) buttons.
  2. Inside the editor, you can add text elements (like your social handles) or progress bars to keep viewers engaged.
  3. Position the elements on the canvas preview to exactly where you want them to appear on the final video.
  4. SVP will automatically apply the Landscape branding to standard videos, and the Portrait branding to any generated Shorts/Reels.

Overlay Menu

The Overlay Menu allows you to inject image (PNG/JPG) or video (MP4/MOV) overlays directly into your processed footage.

  1. Open the Overlay Menu from the main dashboard.
  2. Click Add Overlay and choose an image or a video file (with transparency/alpha channel if desired).
  3. Adjust the Scale and Position (X/Y coordinates) to place it on the screen (e.g., a logo watermark in the top right corner, or a transparent animated lower-third).
  4. Set the opacity and exactly when the overlay should appear/disappear on the timeline.

6. Scheduling, Queues, & Job Management

Queue Overview & Actions

The Queue is the command center where you manage and track every video job. From the Queue toolbar, you have access to several powerful management features:

  • Create Jobs: Manually enqueue a video file for processing, bypassing the automatic watch folder.
  • Export CSV / Import CSV: Similar to publishing slots, you can export your entire queue of jobs to a spreadsheet, manipulate metadata or scheduling dates in bulk, and import them back into SVP.
  • Run All: Immediately kicks off processing for all jobs currently in the "Pending" state.
  • Clear Queue: Removes all pending, unprocessed jobs from the queue.
  • Clear Active: Aborts and removes jobs that are currently in the "Processing" state.
  • Delete History: Cleans up your view by removing all successfully completed jobs from the database history.

Handling Failed Jobs

Sometimes APIs timeout or a video file is corrupted. The queue provides tools to handle these failures gracefully.

  • Viewing Failure Reasons: If a job fails, it will be moved to the Failed state. You can click on the failed job to view the exact stack trace and error log explaining why it failed (e.g., "YouTube API Rate Limit Exceeded").
  • ReRunning Failed Jobs: Instead of starting entirely from scratch, you can click the Retry button on a failed job. SVP is smart enough to pick up exactly where it left off, avoiding redundant rendering or tracking.

Publishing Slots

Instead of manually picking dates and times for every upload, you can define your ideal weekly "Publishing Slots". SVP will automatically place newly processed videos into the next available slot!

  1. Click Publishing Slots in the main app.
  2. Select a platform (e.g., YouTube) and define your weekly schedule (e.g., Mondays at 9:00 AM, Wednesdays at 5:00 PM).
  3. Click Add Slot for each desired time.
  4. Bulk Import/Export: If you manage multiple accounts or environments, you can click Export to save your entire slot schedule to a CSV file. You can edit this file in Excel and Import it back into SVP to rapidly set up hundreds of slots!

YouTube Rescheduler

Sometimes you need to shift your entire content calendar. The YT Rescheduler lets you manage videos that are already scheduled natively on YouTube.

  1. Click the YT Rescheduler tool.
  2. Click Refresh from YouTube. This securely syncs down all videos currently sitting in your channel's "Scheduled" state.
  3. Select one or more videos in the list to shift their scheduled publish dates using the drag-and-drop or calendar tools.
  4. CSV Import/Export: To manage large scheduling calendars offline, click Export CSV. This will generate a spreadsheet of all your scheduled videos and their current dates. You can edit the dates directly in Excel or Google Sheets, then click Import CSV to load your modified spreadsheet back into SVP.
  5. Staging Queue: Whether you modify dates via the UI or by importing a CSV, your changes are first placed into a Staging Queue. This acts as a safety buffer, allowing you to review all pending date changes before they go live.
  6. Once you are satisfied with the pending changes in the Staging Queue, click Apply Changes to sync the new dates back to YouTube.

7. Cloud Backups & Auto-Purge Maintenance

Setting up Google Drive Cloud Backups

  1. In Settings > General, check Enable Backup (Google Drive).
  2. Click Configure....
  3. In the backup dialog, click Sign in with Google.
  4. Authorize SVP in your web browser. SVP will now securely upload your database and configurations to Google Drive every night.
  5. You can also click Backup Now to manually push a backup, or Restore... to recover settings from a new computer.

Configuring Auto-Purge

Keep your hard drive clean by deleting old videos.

  1. In Settings > Features, check the Auto-purge box.
  2. Click Configure....
  3. Processed folder retention: How long to keep original files after processing (Default: 30 days).
  4. Output folder retention: How long to keep generated clips after they successfully upload (Default: 30 days).
  5. (Optional) Add a custom folder path to purge arbitrary folders based on file modification date. Click Save.

8. Notifications & Manual Overrides

Email Notifications

  1. In Settings > General, check the Notifications box.
  2. Click Configure....
  3. Enter your SMTP server details (e.g., smtp.gmail.com), port (587 for TLS), your email, and app password.
  4. Enter the destination email address in the To Address field.
  5. Check the events you want to be notified about (e.g., Notify on Job Failure).
  6. Click Send Test Email to verify your setup, then click Save.

Manual Tags

  1. In Settings > General, check Manual Tags.
  2. Click Configure....
  3. Add your preferred hashtags (e.g., #Music, #LiveSession) to the list.
  4. When enabled, SVP will use this exact list for SEO outputs instead of relying on the AI to generate dynamic tags from the transcription.