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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/CaramelHQ/Flashback/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

The Clip Library is your local collection of every MP4 that Flashback has captured, whether through Instant Replay, Manual Recording, or the Clip Editor’s export. Everything lives on your own machine — there is no account, no upload, and no cloud dependency. The library scans your configured clips folders on demand and presents the results in a browsable grid.

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How clips are organised

Clips are displayed in a grid grouped by day, with the most recently modified clip at the top by default. Day groups are labelled Today, Yesterday, or a date in DD Mon YYYY format for older recordings. Within each day group, clips are sorted by modification timestamp (newest first unless you switch to ascending order). This matches the order in which Flashback wrote the files, so your most recent recordings are always a glance away.

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Refreshing the library

The library calls list_clips() to scan all configured library directories for .mp4 files. The scan reads ISO-BMFF metadata directly from each file to determine duration and embedded source information, with no external database. If you add clips to the folder outside of Flashback (e.g. by copying files in Explorer), click Refresh to re-scan.
If two configured library directories contain a file with the same path (e.g. a symlinked folder appears twice), Flashback deduplicates by full path so each clip appears only once.

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Searching clips

Type in the search bar at the top of the library to filter clips by:
  • Title — matches the filename stem (without .mp4)
  • Source — matches the game or monitor name embedded in the clip’s metadata
The search is case-insensitive and filters results live as you type. Clear the search field to return to the full library view.

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Filtering clips

Use the filter chips above the grid to narrow the library to a specific subset:

Edited clips

Shows only clips whose filename ends with _edit — i.e. clips exported from the Clip Editor. Useful when you want to find your polished versions and not the raw recordings.

Source filter

Shows only clips captured from a specific game or monitor. Source filters are generated dynamically from the source metadata embedded in your clips. Multiple source filters can be active simultaneously; a clip matches if it satisfies any of the active filters (OR logic).
Filters and search can be combined. When no filters are selected, all clips are shown.

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Sorting

Toggle between newest first (default) and oldest first using the sort button in the library toolbar. The sort applies across all day groups and reorders them accordingly.

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Thumbnails

Each clip card shows a thumbnail image lazily loaded from a cached JPEG generated by clip_thumbnail(). Thumbnails are:
  • Extracted from the first frame of the clip.
  • Stored in %APPDATA%\com.flashback.app\thumbs\ and keyed by a hash of the clip path.
  • Generated on first view and served from cache on subsequent visits — reopening the library is instant.
  • Loaded with a concurrency limit of 4 simultaneous requests to avoid saturating thumbnail generation when the library is large.
Thumbnails are cached by full file path. If you move a clip file and re-add the folder to the library, Flashback will regenerate its thumbnail on the next view.

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Favorites

Star any clip to mark it as a favorite. Favorites are stored locally in localStorage keyed by clip ID (the filename including .mp4 extension). They persist across app restarts without any backend involvement.
  • Click the star icon on a clip card to toggle its favorite status.
  • When you rename a clip, its favorite status moves with it to the new name automatically.
  • When you delete a clip, its favorite entry is removed from the store.
Favorites are stored per-device in the browser’s localStorage. They are not embedded in the MP4 file and do not travel with the clip if you copy it to another machine.

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Clip metadata

Each clip card displays the key facts extracted when the library is scanned:
FieldDescription
TitleFilename stem, e.g. Flashback_2025-01-15_21-04-37
SourceGame name or monitor label embedded in the MP4 metadata
DurationClip length in MM:SS format, read from the mvhd box in the MP4
SizeFile size in MB or GB
DateModification timestamp, used for day grouping and sorting
Source metadata is embedded directly in the MP4 as a uuid box (the ISO-BMFF extension point). This means the source label travels with the file and is still readable if you move or copy the clip.

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Edited clips

Clips exported from the Clip Editor are saved with _edit appended to the stem, for example: 
Flashback_2025-01-15_21-04-37_edit.mp4
These clips are tagged as edited in the library and can be filtered to separately from raw recordings. Edited clips are stored in a dedicated Clips-Edit subfolder so they do not intermix with your raw captures on disk.

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Renaming clips

Right-click a clip card (or click the ⋯ menu) and choose Rename to give the clip a custom name. The rename:
  1. Validates the new name (no empty strings, no Windows-invalid characters such as / \ : * ? " < > |).
  2. Renames the .mp4 file on disk.
  3. Re-keys the clip’s entry in edits.json so any existing editor edits are preserved under the new name.
  4. Updates the clip’s favorite entry if it was starred.
  5. Returns the new full path.
Renaming does not change the source metadata embedded inside the MP4. The clip’s game/monitor label shown in the library comes from the file’s internal uuid box, which is unaffected by renaming.

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Deleting clips

Click the Delete button on a clip card to remove it. Flashback sends the clip to the Windows Recycle Bin using SHFileOperationW with the FOF_ALLOWUNDO flag — it is recoverable from the Recycle Bin if you change your mind. The delete operation also:
  • Removes the clip’s entry from edits.json.
  • Cleans up any legacy sidecar files (.clip.json, .edit.json) that accompanied the clip.
  • Removes the clip from the favorites list if it was starred.
Deleting a clip sends it to the Recycle Bin, not permanent deletion. However, Flashback does not provide a way to restore clips from the Recycle Bin — use Windows Explorer to recover a deleted clip if needed.

Clip Editor

Trim, cut, and export clips directly from the library.

Instant Replay

Save retroactive gameplay moments that will appear here automatically.

Storage Settings

Configure which folders Flashback scans for clips.

Reference: Library Commands

Full reference for all library Tauri commands.

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