AME Remote Job Manager

A web-based job submission and monitoring tool for Adobe Media Encoder (AME) in a Grassvalley AMPP environment. Editors upload .prproj files through the browser, the server remaps .gves proxy paths to high-resolution UNC paths, then delivers the remapped project to AME's watch folder for automated rendering.

How It Works

1. Editor uploads a Premiere Pro .prproj file via the web UI
2. The server parses and remaps any .gves proxy media paths to their high-res UNC equivalents
3. The remapped project file is written to AME's watch folder
4. AME picks up the file, renders it, and writes output to the output folder
5. The job manager polls both folders and updates job status automatically: queued → encoding → complete

Features

• .prproj path remapping — replaces .gves proxy references with full-resolution UNC paths
• Dry-run analysis mode — inspect what paths would be remapped before submitting
• Real-time job status tracking via watch folder and output folder polling
• AME log parsing — reads AMEEncodingLog.txt and error logs for encoding stats
• SMB/UNC path configuration via the settings UI
• Session-based authentication
• Docker-ready with volume-backed persistent storage

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose (with SYS_ADMIN capability enabled for SMB mounting)
• Adobe Media Encoder running on a Windows machine with a configured watch folder
• SMB network share accessible at //172.18.210.5/ame containing:
  • watch — folder where .prproj files are picked up by AME
  • output — folder where AME writes encoded files
  • logs — folder where AME writes AMEEncodingLog.txt
• Network connectivity from Docker host to SMB server
• .prproj files that reference .gves proxy media on the AMPP platform

Quick Start

1. Clone the repo and copy the example env file:

cp .env.example .env

2. Edit .env:

PORT=3100
AUTH_USER=admin
AUTH_PASS=changeme

# Docker volume mount paths
WATCH_FOLDER=/watch
OUTPUT_FOLDER=/output
AME_LOG_DIR=/ame-logs

# Polling interval (ms)
POLL_INTERVAL_MS=5000

# Job timeout — mark as error if AME hasn't produced output after this long (ms)
JOB_TIMEOUT_MS=3600000

3. Mount your watch folder and AME log directory in docker-compose.yml, then start:

docker compose up -d

4. Open http://localhost:3100 in your browser and log in.

Docker Compose Example

services:
  ame-job-manager:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3100:3100"
    volumes:
      - /mnt/ame-watch:/watch          # AME watch folder (SMB mount or local)
      - /mnt/ame-output:/output        # AME output folder
      - /mnt/ame-logs:/ame-logs        # AME log directory (contains AMEEncodingLog.txt)
      - job-data:/data
    env_file: .env
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  job-data:

SMB Network Share Configuration

The Docker container can automatically mount an SMB share on startup using credentials stored in the Settings GUI. This is useful when the watch folder, output folder, and logs are on a remote network share.

How It Works

1. The entrypoint.sh script reads SMB credentials from settings.json (persisted in /data)
2. On container startup, it mounts the SMB share at /mnt/smb-share using mount -t cifs
3. It then bind-mounts subdirectories to /watch, /output, and /ame-logs
4. The Node.js app accesses these paths as if they were local

Configuration Steps

1. Start the container (it will run with fallback Docker volumes if no SMB credentials yet)

2. Open the Settings panel in the web UI (⚙️ icon in header)

3. Fill in SMB credentials:

   • SMB Username: e.g., encoder or DOMAIN\encoder
   • SMB Password: Network password (stored server-side, never exposed to browser)
   • SMB Domain/Workgroup: Optional, e.g., WORKGROUP or BMG
   • Notes: Optional reference, e.g., \\172.18.210.5\ame

4. Create subdirectories on the SMB share (if they don't exist):

   \\172.18.210.5\ame\
   ├── watch\        (AME's watch folder)
   ├── output\       (AME's output folder)
   └── logs\         (Contains AMEEncodingLog.txt)
   

5. Restart the container — it will mount the SMB share on next startup

Troubleshooting SMB Mount Issues

• Mount failed: Check that credentials are correct and the SMB server is reachable
• Permission denied: Verify the SMB user has read/write access to the share
• Container falls back to local volumes: Check Docker logs for mount errors: docker logs ame-job-manager
• Shares already mounted locally: If the watch/output/logs folders are already mounted on the Docker host via /etc/fstab, use bind-mounts in docker-compose.yml instead:

volumes:
  - /mnt/host-smb-share/watch:/watch
  - /mnt/host-smb-share/output:/output
  - /mnt/host-smb-share/logs:/ame-logs

In this case, you don't need to configure SMB credentials in the app settings.

Job Lifecycle

Status	Meaning
queued	File written to watch folder, waiting for AME to pick it up
encoding	File disappeared from watch folder — AME is actively rendering
complete	Output file detected in the output folder
error	Job timed out or AME log reported an error

The server polls both folders every POLL_INTERVAL_MS milliseconds to detect status transitions.

Path Remapping

The core function of this tool is to make .prproj files renderable on a high-res render machine. Premiere projects created on AMPP workstations often reference .gves proxy files. This server rewrites those references to the corresponding UNC/high-res paths before handing the project to AME.

The remapping logic lives in prproj-remapper.js. You can test a remap without submitting a job using the analyze endpoint or the dry-run button in the UI.

API Reference

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/login	Authenticate and get a session ID
POST	/api/logout	End session
POST	/api/jobs	Submit a .prproj file and create a job
POST	/api/jobs/analyze	Dry-run analysis of a .prproj (no submission)
GET	/api/jobs	List all jobs
GET	/api/jobs/:id	Get a single job by ID
DELETE	/api/jobs/:id	Delete a job record
GET	/api/status	System status — folder health, job counts, AME log stats
GET	/api/ame/logs	Full AME log data with recent entries
GET	/api/settings	Get current settings
POST	/api/settings	Update settings (watch folder, SMB config, etc.)

All endpoints except /api/login require an x-session-id header from a valid login.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	3100	HTTP port
AUTH_USER	admin	Login username
AUTH_PASS	password	Login password
WATCH_FOLDER	/watch	Path AME watches for new projects
OUTPUT_FOLDER	/output	Path AME writes rendered output to
DATA_DIR	/data	Persistent storage for job records and sessions
UPLOAD_TEMP	/tmp/uploads	Temp dir for incoming file uploads
POLL_INTERVAL_MS	5000	How often to poll watch/output folders (ms)
JOB_TIMEOUT_MS	3600000	Time before a stuck job is marked as error (ms)
AME_LOG_DIR	/ame-logs	Directory containing AMEEncodingLog.txt