Analyze first.
Codec, bitrate, resolution, stream, and hardware facts inform a deterministic plan.
Open source / A Dead Signal Works project
Alchemist
Self-hosted media transcoding automation that encodes only when the result is worthwhile—and explains every decision.
Copyright Brooklyn Halmstad. AGPL-3.0-or-later, with no paid tier or private feature tree.
01 / Purpose
Transcode what is worth transcoding.
Alchemist scans a media library, measures what is there, and safely encodes only the files where a better result is worthwhile.
It analyzes codecs, resolution, bitrate, streams, and available hardware before it decides to transcode, remux, or skip a file. The original stays in place until the new output passes validation.
02 / Decisions
Useful automation should still tell you what it did.
Alchemist is deliberately narrower than a visual workflow system or general file-automation suite.
Protect the original.
New output is validated before it can replace anything, and deletion remains explicit.
Explain every skip.
When a file is already efficient or cannot be processed safely, Alchemist records why.
03 / Project facts
What it is and where it runs.
- Purpose
- Self-hosted media transcoding automation
- Application
- Rust server with a web interface
- License
- AGPL-3.0-or-later
- Paid tier
- None
- Private feature tree
- None
- Platforms
- Linux, Windows, macOS, and Docker
- Targets
- AV1, HEVC, and H.264
- Hardware
- NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, Apple, and CPU fallback
- Copyright
- Brooklyn Halmstad
- Project
- Dead Signal Works
04 / Project links
Source, releases, issues, and the full manual.
Alchemist’s source and working history are public. The documentation is mirrored here from the same repository.