Resolve Vault
User Guide

Resolve Vault Documentation

Everything you need to know about using Resolve Vault — from your first backup to restoring a database on a new machine.

What is Resolve Vault?

Resolve Vault is a macOS app that runs quietly in the background while you work in DaVinci Resolve. It automatically exports and saves backups of your projects and databases — locally on your Mac, and optionally to cloud storage — without any manual steps from you.

It is built for anyone who uses DaVinci Resolve professionally and cannot afford to lose their work: solo editors, colorists, VFX artists, sound designers, motion graphics artists, and full post-production studios alike.

It solves a real problem: DaVinci Resolve does not have built-in automatic project backup or cloud sync. If your drive fails, a project gets corrupted, or someone on your team accidentally overwrites a database, your work can be gone permanently. Resolve Vault makes sure that never happens.

Who it is for

  • Freelancers — set it and forget it. Your projects are backed up automatically while you work, without interrupting your flow.
  • Studios with shared databases — back up your entire PostgreSQL Network database on a schedule, so every colorist, editor, and assistant's work is protected at the database level.
  • Large facilities with multi-seat Resolve — with collaborative database backups and cloud sync, every location has access to a consistent, up-to-date archive of your Resolve databases.
  • Anyone who has ever lost work — if you have ever had a Resolve project corrupt, a drive fail, or accidentally deleted something you needed, Resolve Vault is the safety net you wished you had.

What it backs up

  • Project backups — exports your active DaVinci Resolve project as a .drp file at a regular interval you set.
  • Database backups — backs up your entire Local Disk or Network (PostgreSQL) Resolve database as a compressed, encrypted archive.

Built for studios and collaborative teams

DaVinci Resolve's collaborative mode — where multiple users work simultaneously on shared Network databases — is powerful, but it introduces a new risk: a single corrupted database affects everyone on the team. Resolve Vault addresses this directly.

By scheduling automatic database backups on the machine that hosts the PostgreSQL server, your entire team's work is captured in a single archive. If anything goes wrong — a bad Resolve update, an accidental deletion, a server crash — you can restore the full database to any point in time, for everyone, in minutes.

Combined with cloud sync to Google Drive or Dropbox, these database archives are also stored off-site automatically, giving large facilities a disaster-recovery layer that previously required custom IT infrastructure to achieve.

Requirements

  • macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel)
  • DaVinci Resolve Studio (the free version does not expose the scripting API that Resolve Vault uses)
  • DaVinci Resolve must have External Scripting enabled: Resolve Preferences → System → General → Enable External Scripting using Network
DaVinci Resolve Studio required
The free version of DaVinci Resolve does not support external scripting, which is the API Resolve Vault uses to detect the active project and trigger exports. A Studio licence is required.

Project Backups

How it works

Once you start the auto backup, Resolve Vault connects to DaVinci Resolve in the background and exports the currently open project at a regular interval. Each export produces a .drp file — the same format Resolve uses when you manually export a project archive.

The backup runs automatically every time the interval elapses, and also triggers immediately when you switch from one project to another, so the previous project is always saved before you move on.

Resolve does not need to be in any particular state — it just needs to be open with a project loaded. The export happens silently without interrupting your work.

▶ Screenshot — Auto Backups page

Backup folder

You choose where your .drp files are saved. You can set up to two local destinations:

  • Primary folder (Path 1) — the main location where every backup is saved.
  • Secondary folder (Path 2) — an optional second local copy, useful if you want backups on an external drive as well as your internal drive.

Go to Auto Backups → Browse to set your folder. The path is saved immediately.

Backup interval

You can set how often Resolve Vault exports a backup — from every few minutes to every few hours. The default is every 30 minutes.

To change the interval, go to Auto Backups, adjust the slider or input field, and click Apply. The new interval takes effect immediately, even if a backup is already running.

Tip
For long grading sessions, a 15–20 minute interval gives you a good safety net without generating too many files.

Mirror folder structure

When this option is enabled, Resolve Vault recreates the folder hierarchy from your Resolve Project Manager inside your backup destination. For example, if your project lives in Clients / StudioName / ProjectName in Resolve, the backup will be saved to the same path inside your backup folder.

This makes it easy to browse old backups by project, especially if you work on many different productions.

When disabled, all backups are saved flat in the root of your backup folder.

Retention — keep last N backups

To prevent your backup folder from growing indefinitely, you can enable retention. When enabled, Resolve Vault automatically deletes older backups and keeps only the most recent N files per project.

For example, if you set retention to 10, only the 10 most recent .drp files are kept. When a new backup is created, the oldest one is removed.

Important
When retention deletes an old backup, the file is permanently removed from disk. If cloud sync is enabled and the file was also uploaded, the cloud copy is not deleted — only the local file. Make sure cloud sync is on if you want to keep a longer archive history.

Database Backups

In addition to backing up individual projects, Resolve Vault can back up your entire DaVinci Resolve database. This is useful if you want a complete snapshot of everything — all bins, metadata, colour grades, and timelines — not just a single project export.

Resolve Vault supports both types of Resolve databases:

  • Local Disk — the default Resolve database stored on your Mac.
  • Network (PostgreSQL) — used in collaborative studio setups with a shared database server.
▶ Screenshot — Database Backups page

Local Disk databases

Local Disk databases are stored as folders on your Mac. Resolve Vault compresses them into a .diskdb archive file, which contains everything needed to restore the full database.

To enable backups for a Local Disk database, go to Database Backups, find the database in the list, and toggle it on. The first backup runs immediately.

Backups are saved to your configured database backup folder, organised into one subfolder per database name.

Network (PostgreSQL) databases

Network databases run on a PostgreSQL server — either on your local machine or a shared studio server. Resolve Vault connects to the server, dumps the database using PostgreSQL's native tools, encrypts it, and saves it as a .rvdb file.

To configure a Network database backup, enter the server connection details (host, port, username, password) and select which databases to back up.

PostgreSQL tools required
Resolve Vault uses pg_dump to export Network databases. DaVinci Resolve Studio bundles these tools inside its app package, so no separate installation is needed in most cases.

Restoring a database backup

Resolve Vault can restore a database backup directly from the Database Backups history. Click Restore on any entry to open the restore dialog.

Restore always creates a new database
Resolve Vault never overwrites an existing database. Every restore creates a brand-new database with a name like MyDB_BACKUP. Your original database is always left untouched. Once the restore is complete, you can open the new database in Resolve's Project Manager to verify the contents before deciding what to do with it.

After restoring a Local Disk database

  1. Resolve Vault restores the backup into a new folder on your Mac.
  2. Open DaVinci Resolve and go to Project Manager.
  3. Click the menu icon (☰) and choose Add Database.
  4. Select the restored folder to connect it as a new database.

After restoring a Network database

  1. Resolve Vault creates a new database on your PostgreSQL server.
  2. Open the Project Server app and click Refresh, or in Resolve go to Project Manager → Add Database.
  3. Enter the same server details and the new database name to connect.

Cloud Storage

Resolve Vault can automatically upload every backup to cloud storage right after it is created. Cloud sync gives you an off-site copy of every backup, independent of your local drives.

Supported providers:

  • Google Drive
  • Dropbox

Cloud sync is optional. If you only want local backups, you can leave cloud sync disabled.

▶ Screenshot — Cloud Manager page

Google Drive

Connecting Google Drive authorises Resolve Vault to upload files to your Drive account. Your backups are stored inside a folder called Resolve Vault at the root of your Drive, with one subfolder per project.

How to connect Google Drive

  1. Go to Cloud Manager in Resolve Vault.
  2. Click Connect Google Drive.
  3. Your browser opens to Google's sign-in page. Sign in and approve all requested permissions.
  4. Return to Resolve Vault — the status should show Connected.

You can also choose a custom destination folder inside your Drive. Click Choose Folder after connecting to browse and select a folder.

Reconnection required after permission changes
If you see a "Google Drive needs reconnecting" error, it means the stored connection was granted with limited permissions. Go to Cloud Manager, click Remove Account, then connect again and approve all permissions on the consent screen.

Dropbox

Connecting Dropbox authorises Resolve Vault to upload files to a dedicated folder inside your Dropbox account. Backups are stored in Apps / Resolve Vault by default, with one subfolder per project.

How to connect Dropbox

  1. Go to Cloud Manager in Resolve Vault.
  2. Click Connect Dropbox.
  3. Your browser opens to Dropbox's authorisation page. Sign in and approve access.
  4. Return to Resolve Vault — the status should show Connected.

You can also choose a custom subfolder inside the Resolve Vault Dropbox folder. Click Choose Subfolder after connecting.

What happens if a cloud upload fails

If a cloud upload fails for any reason — no internet connection, expired token, storage full — Resolve Vault keeps the local backup file on disk regardless of your local disk settings. You will not lose the backup.

For manual exports, Resolve Vault shows a dialog telling you which provider failed and asks whether you want to keep the local copy or delete it. The default is to keep it.

For automatic backups running in the background, the failure is logged silently and the local file is kept.

Cloud errors are shown in the app
When a cloud upload fails, a notification appears in the app with a plain-English explanation of what went wrong and how to fix it — for example, whether you need to reconnect the account or free up storage space.

Settings Reference

Every option in the Resolve Vault Settings page, explained.

Startup

Setting What it does
Start Project Backups on launch Automatically starts the auto backup when you open Resolve Vault, without needing to press Start manually.
Start Database Backups on launch Automatically starts database backup polling when Resolve Vault opens.

Local Backup

Setting What it does
Primary backup folder (Path 1) The main folder where .drp project backup files are saved.
Secondary backup folder (Path 2) An optional second local destination — useful for saving to an external drive simultaneously.
Mirror folder structure Recreates your Resolve Project Manager folder hierarchy inside the backup destination. Keeps backups organised by project and client.
Keep local copy When enabled, the .drp file is always kept on disk even after a successful cloud upload. When disabled, the local file is removed after uploading to save disk space.

Retention

Setting What it does
Enable retention When on, old backup files are automatically deleted to keep only the most recent N backups per project.
Keep last N backups The number of backups to keep per project. Older backups beyond this count are permanently deleted from disk.

Cloud Sync

Setting What it does
Enable cloud sync Master toggle. When off, no cloud uploads happen regardless of which providers are connected.
Upload to Google Drive Uploads each backup to your connected Google Drive account.
Upload to Dropbox Uploads each backup to your connected Dropbox account.

Backup interval

Setting What it does
Backup every X minutes How often Resolve Vault automatically exports the active project. The timer resets after each successful backup. Minimum is 5 minutes.

Troubleshooting

DaVinci Resolve is not detected

Resolve Vault connects to DaVinci Resolve through its scripting API. If Resolve appears as "Not connected" in the sidebar, check the following:

  • Make sure DaVinci Resolve is open and a project is loaded.
  • Go to DaVinci Resolve → Preferences → System → General and confirm that Enable External Scripting using Network is checked.
  • Restart DaVinci Resolve after enabling the setting — it does not take effect until you restart.
  • Make sure you are using DaVinci Resolve Studio. The free version does not support external scripting.

Google Drive upload fails with a permission error

If you see a "Google Drive needs reconnecting" error, your stored connection token is missing the required permissions. This can happen if you connected Google Drive in an older version of the app before full Drive access was requested.

To fix it:

  1. Go to Cloud Manager in Resolve Vault.
  2. Click Remove Account under Google Drive.
  3. Click Connect Google Drive and sign in again.
  4. On the Google consent screen, make sure to approve all requested permissions.

A backup is not appearing in the history

If a backup ran but is not showing in the history list, the most likely cause is that the export file was empty or could not be written to disk — for example, the destination folder was full or had permission issues.

  • Check that your backup folder exists and that Resolve Vault has write permission to it.
  • Check that there is enough free disk space at the destination.
  • Look at the app log (Help page) for any export error messages.

If the file was exported but is not in history, try clicking the Refresh button on the Auto Backups page — Resolve Vault will scan the backup folder and add any files it finds that are not yet recorded.