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Kitsu

Open-source production tracker for animation, VFX, and game studios, developed by CGWire. Brings teams, assets, shots, reviews, and tasks into a single place so distributed teams can collaborate and ship faster.

  • Developer: CGWire.
  • Type: open-source production management system (frontend + Zou API backend, distributed as a Docker image).
  • Website: kitsu.cloud.
  • On this production: running locally at localhost:5000 (project “One Small Crawl”).

What it tracks

  • Shots – individual camera angles/scenes organized into sequences; each shot carries technical specs (frames, resolution, FPS), frame in/out, max retakes, and per-task status (Layout, Animation, Lighting, Compositing, …).
  • Assets – characters, props, environments, with custom asset types and task types.
  • Tasks & status – per-shot, per-department task status with colour-coded progress, artist avatars, time spent / estimation.
  • Reviews – upload previews, supervisor review, comments, H264 playback.
  • Import/export – CSV export of shot lists (sequence+shot names, specs, metadata, statuses, assignations, time tracking); EDL timecode import for frame in/out.

On One Small Crawl

Kitsu is the authoritative shot list and review backbone for the production:

  • Set up – Kitsu environment set up by cedric-lejeune on 2026-06-25-frames-call: manages sequences, shots, reviews, H264 playback, comments; Kitsu API import/export tested with chris-vienneau; Kitsu Slack connector investigated; NemoClaw integration checked.
  • Demoed – Kitsu workflow demoed (Docker) on 2026-06-01-frames-call, then presented again on 2026-06-08-frames-call (2026-06-08-frames-call, 2026-06-01-frames-call).
  • Shot list – the 5 sequences (sc01–sc05) and their 50+ shots on this production were pulled from the local Kitsu instance and turned into markdown pages (2026-09-02, see log). Shot pages carry full Kitsu data; 18 of the 50 shots are canceled in Kitsu (sc03_0060–0100, sc04_0100–0220).
  • Team – 11–12 Kitsu accounts on the production (team); cedric-lejeune is the instance admin (“Super Admin” role label on Kitsu).
  • Milestones – Kitsu milestones for the sizzle deadline discussed on 2026-08-17-frames-call.

Kitsu kind vs export kind

Notes on conflicts: Kitsu kind vs export kind differ on some shots; export records are kept verbatim alongside Kitsu data (see log). This is tracked per shot page in entities/production/shots/.

  • render-youtube-final-py – Resolve render script that exports the final timeline
  • resolve – DaVinci Resolve edit/colour/delivery pipeline
  • topaz – Topaz upscaling/enhancement feeding generated/archival frames
  • entities/production/shots/ (see the sequence pages under sc01-sc05) – shot pages pulled from local Kitsu
  • cedric-lejeune – manages Kitsu setup and Resolve post/colour
  • team – 11 Kitsu accounts on the production

Kitsu - CGWire open-source production tracker (no Wikipedia article; official site)