Getting Started

Welcome to Lazer, an orchestration and traceability layer for AI-assisted film production. Lazer helps you manage the complete lifecycle of AI-generated film assets: draft scripts, generate content on external platforms, capture results, compare versions, select finals, approve deliverables, and assemble your project.

What Lazer Does

Lazer is not a media generator. Instead, it provides a centralized hub for:

• Script Management: Upload and parse scripts into structured scenes and shots
• Asset Orchestration: Track assets generated across multiple AI platforms (Sora, Veo, Freepik, etc.)
• Version Control: Capture and compare multiple versions of each shot
• Rights Tracking: Monitor licensing and rights status for every asset
• Traceability: Maintain complete provenance from prompt to final deliverable

Tagline: "Generate anywhere, decide here, ship with traceability."

Object Hierarchy

Lazer organizes your production work in a clear hierarchy:

Project
  └─ Script
      └─ Scene (e.g., S001, S002)
          └─ Shot (e.g., S001-001, S001-002)
              ├─ Asset Version (immutable captures)
              └─ Prompt Package (generation parameters)

Each level serves a specific purpose:

• Project: The top-level container for your film or series
• Script: The screenplay, parsed into structured scenes
• Scene: A narrative unit with a unique ID (S001, S002, etc.)
• Shot: The atomic unit of capture, where AI-generated assets live
• Asset Version: An immutable snapshot of a generated image or video
• Prompt Package: The full set of parameters used to generate an asset

Prerequisites

Before installing Lazer, ensure you have:

• Node.js 18+: JavaScript runtime (download here)
• PostgreSQL 14+: Database server (download here)
• Cloudflare R2 Account: For asset storage (sign up here)
• npm or pnpm: Package manager (npm comes with Node.js)
• Git: Version control (download here)

Note: Lazer uses Cloudflare R2 for scalable, cost-effective object storage. You'll need an R2 bucket and API credentials before running the application.

Setup Overview

Getting started with Lazer involves four main steps:

1. Installation: Clone the repository, install dependencies, and configure your environment
2. Database Setup: Run migrations and seed initial data
3. Create Your First Project: Upload a script and review parsed scenes
4. Install the Chrome Extension: Connect the browser extension for capturing AI-generated assets

Each step is covered in detail in the following pages.

Tech Stack

Lazer is built with modern, production-ready technologies:

• Next.js 16: React framework with App Router and Server Components
• React 19: UI library with latest concurrent features
• Prisma v7: Type-safe database ORM
• PostgreSQL: Relational database for structured data
• Supabase Auth: Authentication and session management
• Cloudflare R2: S3-compatible object storage
• Tailwind CSS 4: Utility-first styling
• Zod: Runtime schema validation
• OpenRouter: AI provider aggregation (for script parsing and analysis)

Architecture Philosophy

Lazer follows these core principles:

• Immutability: Asset versions are never modified, only appended. Selection is not deletion.
• Platform Agnostic: Capture assets from any AI platform via browser extension
• Traceability First: Every asset maintains complete provenance metadata
• Rights Aware: Track licensing status at the version level
• Offline Resilient: Chrome extension queues captures when offline

What's Next?

Ready to get started? Head to the Installation page to set up your local environment.

If you encounter any issues during setup, check the Troubleshooting guide or visit our GitHub Issues page.

Production Deployment

This Getting Started guide focuses on local development. For production deployment instructions, including environment configuration, database hosting, and R2 setup, see the Deployment Guide.