CLI Reference · Experimental

Video and timeline experiments

Evaluate selected local media workflows without treating derived output or parser results as source truth.

Preserve the original media

Format coverage is fixture-bounded. Structure-aware reconstruction and FFmpeg segmentation can produce files that are not byte-identical to the input. Keep the source master and verify every output in an independent tool.

Command	Current alpha behavior	Exact syntax
inspect	Parse a selected MP4/ISOBMFF file and run an in-memory structural roundtrip check	dits inspect <FILE>
roundtrip	Write a structure-aware reconstruction for inspection	dits roundtrip <INPUT> <OUTPUT>
segment	Create FFmpeg GOP-aligned MP4 segments and manifest.json	dits segment <FILE> [-o\|--output <DIR>] [-d\|--duration <SECONDS>]
assemble	Assemble local segments described by manifest.json	dits assemble <SEGMENTS_DIR> <OUTPUT>
inspect-file	Inspect current tracked storage information	dits inspect-file <PATH> [--chunks]
video-init	Create an experimental local timeline record	dits video-init <NAME>
video-add-clip	Add one tracked HEAD path to a timeline	dits video-add-clip <PROJECT> --file <PATH> --in <S> --out <S> --start <S> [--track <ID>]
video-show	Print one local timeline	dits video-show <NAME>
video-list	List local timeline records	dits video-list

Container inspection and reconstruction

dits inspect footage/scene.mp4
dits roundtrip footage/scene.mp4 /tmp/scene-rebuilt.mp4

# Generic tracked-file storage inspection is a separate current command
dits inspect-file footage/scene.mp4
dits inspect-file footage/scene.mp4 --chunks

inspect has no JSON, atoms-only, keyframe, tracks, or verbose flags. It prints the structure understood by the current MP4 parser and an internal structural roundtrip result. roundtrip normalizes moov data and reports when the output is not byte-identical.

Segmentation and assembly

# FFmpeg is required
dits segment footage/scene.mp4
dits segment footage/scene.mp4 --output scene-segments --duration 4

# The directory must already contain manifest.json and every local segment
dits assemble scene-segments scene-assembled.mp4

Segment duration defaults to two seconds. This command invokes FFmpeg to make GOP-aligned MP4 segments; it does not expose FastCDC size controls, a dry run, progress switch, or keyframe toggle. Assemble has no remote fetch, parallel-download, force, or byte-verification flag.

Local timeline records

dits video-init rough-cut
dits video-add-clip rough-cut --file footage/scene.mp4 --in 0 --out 12.5 --start 0
dits video-show rough-cut
dits video-list

Timeline records live in local .dits project storage and are not yet integrated into commit manifests, remote collaboration, or an NLE interchange contract. Clip paths must already be tracked in HEAD.

No universal media semantics

These commands do not promise support for every MP4/MOV/MXF variant, semantic edit identity, frame-level merge, remote partial retrieval, or a particular deduplication percentage.

See proxy experiments, metadata commands, and runtime help for the exact installed surface.