audio-inventory

Scan, inventory, and track audio plugins and their licenses on macOS.

Walks the standard macOS plugin directories, parses metadata from each bundle (Info.plist, moduleinfo.json, AudioComponents), deduplicates across formats (VST2/VST3/AU/CLAP), and stores everything in a local JSON file. Includes license tracking, bundle/account/source management, and a web UI.

Install

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Quick start

# Scan your system
audio-inventory scan

# Browse what's installed
audio-inventory list
audio-inventory list --vendor "Arturia"
audio-inventory list --format clap
audio-inventory list --category instrument

# View details for a plugin
audio-inventory show "Diva"

# Mark plugin status (demo, free, licensed, etc.)
audio-inventory set-status "Pigments" demo
audio-inventory set-status "Surge XT" free

# Add a license key
audio-inventory license add "Diva" --key "XXXX-XXXX-XXXX" --manager "u-he"

# Organize plugins into bundles, accounts, etc.
audio-inventory bundle create "Komplete 15" --vendor "Native Instruments"
audio-inventory account create "Native Instruments" --email "me@example.com"
audio-inventory manager create "iLok"
audio-inventory source create "Plugin Boutique" --url "https://pluginboutique.com"

# Check license coverage
audio-inventory status

# Export inventory
audio-inventory export --format json --output inventory.json
audio-inventory export --format csv --output inventory.csv

# See what changed since last scan
audio-inventory diff

# Launch the web UI
audio-inventory ui

Commands

scan

Walks /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/ and ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/ for .vst, .vst3, .component, and .clap bundles. Parses metadata, deduplicates across formats, and upserts into the database.

audio-inventory scan

list

List all tracked products with optional filters.

audio-inventory list [--vendor NAME] [--format FORMAT] [--category CAT]
                     [--status STATUS] [--licensed] [--unlicensed] [--missing]

• --format: vst2, vst3, au, clap
• --category: instrument, effect, generator
• --status: unknown, licensed, demo, free, subscription, bundled
• --licensed / --unlicensed: filter by license status
• --missing: show plugins that were removed since last scan

show

Show full details for a plugin: all installations, paths, versions, AU codes, and license info.

audio-inventory show "Kontakt 8"

Supports fuzzy matching — if multiple results match, you'll be prompted to choose.

set-status

Mark a plugin's status: licensed, demo, free, subscription, bundled, or unknown.

audio-inventory set-status "Pigments" demo
audio-inventory set-status "Surge XT" free
audio-inventory set-status "Kontakt 8" licensed

Use list --status demo to see all plugins running in demo mode.

license add

Attach license info to a product.

audio-inventory license add "Diva" \
  --key "SERIAL-KEY" \
  --manager "u-he" \
  --date "2023-06-15" \
  --url "https://u-he.com/account" \
  --file "/path/to/license.file" \
  --email "me@example.com" \
  --source "Plugin Boutique" \
  --notes "Bought during summer sale"

All flags are optional.

license list

Show all products that have license info recorded.

audio-inventory license list [--vendor NAME] [--all]

bundle

Manage plugin bundles and commercial suites (e.g., NI Komplete, Arturia V Collection).

audio-inventory bundle create <name> [--vendor V] [--source S] [--key K] [--date D] [--notes N]
audio-inventory bundle list
audio-inventory bundle show <name>
audio-inventory bundle delete <name>
audio-inventory bundle add-products <bundle> <products>...

account

Manage vendor accounts (login credentials for vendor websites).

audio-inventory account create <name> [--email E] [--url U] [--notes N]
audio-inventory account list
audio-inventory account show <name>
audio-inventory account delete <name>

manager

Manage license managers (activation software like iLok, Native Access).

audio-inventory manager create <name> [--url U] [--notes N]
audio-inventory manager list
audio-inventory manager show <name>
audio-inventory manager delete <name>

source

Manage purchase sources (stores like Plugin Boutique, Splice).

audio-inventory source create <name> [--email E] [--url U] [--notes N]
audio-inventory source list
audio-inventory source show <name>
audio-inventory source delete <name>

status

Inventory summary: total products, license coverage, breakdown by vendor/category.

audio-inventory status

export

Export the full inventory to JSON or CSV.

audio-inventory export --format json --output plugins.json
audio-inventory export --format csv --output plugins.csv

Without --output, prints to stdout.

diff

Show changes since the last scan (removed plugins, new additions).

audio-inventory diff

ui

Launch a web UI in your browser for browsing, filtering, and managing your plugin inventory.

audio-inventory ui
audio-inventory ui --port 9000
audio-inventory ui --no-open

Opens http://localhost:8787 by default. Features:

• Sortable, filterable table of all products
• Live search (press / to focus)
• Filter by vendor, category, status, format, bundle, and source
• Click any row to open a detail drawer with installations, bundle IDs, AU codes, and license info
• Edit status, notes, bundle/account/manager/source assignments from the detail view
• Manage licenses (add, edit, delete) per product
• Tabbed management overlay for bundles, accounts, license managers, and sources
• Bulk operations: select multiple products and assign to a bundle, account, manager, or source
• Trigger a re-scan from the browser
• Export to JSON or CSV

Database

Stored as a JSON file at ./data/inventory.json (gitignored). All access goes through an in-memory store with atomic writes (tempfile + os.replace()). Every save rotates a timestamped backup to ./data/backups/, keeping the 10 most recent.

Override the path with --db:

audio-inventory --db /path/to/inventory.json scan

Data model

• products — deduplicated logical products (name, vendor, category, status, installed flag). Link to bundles, accounts, license managers, and sources via ID references.
• installations — individual plugin bundles on disk (path, format, version, bundle ID, AU codes)
• licenses — serial keys, license files, purchase dates, vendor URLs, notes
• bundles — commercial suites (name, vendor, serial key, purchase date, notes)
• accounts — vendor logins (name, email, URL, notes)
• license_managers — activation software (name, URL, notes)
• sources — purchase stores (name, email, URL, notes)
• scans — scan history with counts

Schema version: 6.

How deduplication works

The same plugin often exists in multiple formats (e.g., Diva.vst3, Diva.component, Diva.clap). The tool groups these into a single product by:

1. Stripping format suffixes from bundle identifiers (com.u-he.Diva.vst3 → com.u-he.Diva)
2. Matching on normalized name + vendor as a fallback
3. Merging at the database level by (name, vendor) uniqueness

Vendor detection

Vendor names are extracted from multiple sources (in priority order):

1. AU AudioComponents name field ("u-he: Diva" → u-he)
2. VST3 moduleinfo.json Factory Info
3. Bundle identifier reverse-DNS (com.native-instruments.* → Native Instruments)
4. Copyright string parsing

Extracted names are normalized against a known alias table to prevent duplicates like "Native Instruments GmbH" vs "Native Instruments".

Suggested workflow

1. audio-inventory scan — populate the database
2. Set up your infrastructure:
   • account create for each vendor you have a login with
   • manager create for license managers (iLok, Native Access, etc.)
   • source create for stores you buy from
   • bundle create for commercial suites you own
3. audio-inventory list --vendor "Arturia" — work through one vendor at a time
4. audio-inventory license add "Plugin Name" — record serial keys
5. Assign products to their bundle, account, manager, and source (via CLI or web UI)
6. audio-inventory status — track your progress