CuePoint
Menu
Get notified of 1.0
All guide pages
On this page

Getting Started

This guide takes you from installing CuePoint to a first set of matched, reviewed tracks.

Install

Download the installer for your system from GitHub Releases. The Support Policy lists the supported systems.

  • macOS: open the DMG, drag CuePoint to Applications, and open it from there. Use the Apple Silicon download on a Mac with an M-series chip and the Intel download on an Intel Mac. Apple menu > About This Mac shows which you have.
  • Windows: run the installer and follow the steps. Start CuePoint from the Start menu.
  • Linux: make the AppImage executable with chmod +x <file>.AppImage, then run it. The Linux build is experimental and has no bundled player.

If macOS says the app is damaged or cannot be opened, the build is unsigned. Run xattr -cr /Applications/CuePoint.app in Terminal and open it again. You do this for the first download only. Windows builds are unsigned too, so SmartScreen may warn you: choose More info, then Run anyway.

This is the only time you need to do that. After the first install, CuePoint finds and installs new versions itself on Windows and Mac, and your library stays where it is. See Updates. On Linux, you download new versions yourself.

First run

CuePoint opens with a short guide of five screens: what CuePoint does, how to get your collection out of Rekordbox (Show me how), how to import it (Import your Rekordbox collection… closes the guide and starts the import), how to match your tracks on Beatport (Match tracks… opens Clean’s match window), and where everything is. Clicking outside the guide does not close it. Skip ends it, and Esc or the close button closes it for now and shows it again at the next start. Open it again, always from its first screen, with Help > Getting started.

The Library also shows First steps, a checklist that ticks itself: import your collection, match your tracks, play a track, and add your Beatport token. Before you import it is listed on the page. After you import, it is one entry on the line above the filters, First steps: 2 of 4 done; click it to see the list (with Match tracks…), and press Esc or click elsewhere to close it. When another note, such as the one about your music files being checked, is on that line, that note stays and First steps comes back when the line is free. Once all four are done it never shows again.

If you updated from an earlier version, CuePoint shows one note the first time you start it, What changed. It says that CuePoint is now Medium size (1.5×) with Change size (only if you never chose a size), and that keys now come only from Beatport, with how many of your tracks have a key and Match tracks…. It does not appear again.

1. Export your collection from Rekordbox

In Rekordbox, choose File > Export Collection in xml format and save the file somewhere easy to find. Help > Troubleshooting > How to export from Rekordbox… shows the same steps.

2. Import it

  1. Open CuePoint and go to Library.
  2. Choose Import your Rekordbox collection… and pick the XML file.
  3. Your tracks and playlists appear when the import finishes. The status strip at the bottom shows its progress.

CuePoint then checks, in the background, that your files are where Rekordbox says they are.

3. Match on Beatport

  1. Go to Clean.
  2. In In, choose the playlist to match, or leave it on the whole library.
  3. The first time, choose Match all N tracks, then Start matching with Tracks not looked up yet chosen. To start with one playlist instead, choose Match tracks… in the header, then Tracks in chosen playlists, Collections or Sets, and tick the playlist. Later, use Match tracks… the same way.

Matching runs in the background, so you can keep working. Tracks CuePoint is certain about are accepted for you. The rest wait under Waiting for you.

4. Review

  1. In Show, choose Waiting for you.
  2. Select a track. The comparison below shows it beside Beatport’s candidates, with differences marked.
  3. Press Left or Right to choose a candidate and A to accept it, or R to reject the match. Down moves to the next track.

5. Use Beatport’s values

For an accepted match, Apply from the accepted match copies the fields you tick (BPM, genre, label, year) into your own values. The key needs no apply: an accepted match gives it. Rekordbox’s values stay underneath, and you can revert any change from the track’s History.

CuePoint never deletes or moves tracks or files, and never writes to your Rekordbox export.

Good habits

  • Start small. Match one playlist first, so you see how matching behaves on your music.
  • Review before you apply. Look at each candidate beside your track before you accept it.
  • Find a track fast. Press Ctrl+K to search your whole library (Enter opens a result in the Library, Shift+Enter plays it), or Ctrl+F to search the table in front of you. All shortcuts are in The CuePoint window.
  • Save your work. Save review list as a file… on the Clean page saves the list as a spreadsheet or JSON. To put your values into the audio files, see Writing tags to files; Rekordbox shows them after Reload Tag.

CLI quick start

The command line works on an XML file directly:

python main.py --xml "collection.xml" --playlist "My Playlist"

Optional flags:

  • --output-dir PATH sets where the output goes. The default folder is Documents/CuePoint_Output on Windows, macOS and Linux.
  • --preflight-only (or --dry-run) runs the preflight checks and exits.
  • --run-summary-json PATH writes the run summary as JSON.
  • --preflight-report PATH writes the preflight report as JSON.

Configuration examples

Settings live in ~/.cuepoint/config.yaml. These are some of the keys (the desktop app keeps whether you have seen the guide in its own storage, not here):

product:
  preflight_enabled: true
  last_xml_path: ""
  last_output_dir: ""
  default_playlist: ""

run_summary:
  write_json: true
  json_path: ""

Help and privacy

Use Help > Privacy to open Settings → Privacy, where the data-handling controls are; its Privacy details button gives a summary.

If something goes wrong, see Troubleshooting and the FAQ. You can also report an issue or ask in Discussions.

Next steps

  • Your library: importing, browsing and Track details.
  • Keys: the keys in your playlists, Collections and Sets.
  • Clean: matching and review in detail.
  • The CuePoint window: the sidebar, the status strip and shortcuts.

Edit this page on GitHub