What Is a Delivery Pipeline in Music?

Direct answer: A delivery pipeline is the ordered sequence a finished mix travels through before a client accepts it — capture of the rendered file, naming, metadata against the recipient’s spec, preflight validation, handoff, and post-delivery confirmation. Each stage has a distinct failure mode. A pipeline exists so the sequence is repeated rather than remembered.

The five stages, and what actually breaks at each

Stage	What has to be true	Where it breaks
1. Capture	The rendered file is attached to the right project record	Kora scores each new file against your projects — project-name similarity ×0.55, path-token overlap ×0.25, plus up to +0.15 if the DAW file changed in the last two days. It links at 0.55; anything lower goes to the Watch Inbox. Names like `bounce_03.wav` or `final_final.wav` classify as junk and auto-create nothing.
2. Naming	The filename can be read back as a title, mix type and version	A title needs ≥0.55 confidence. `Get Up and Ready_mix.master.final.v3.wav` carries two mix tags and two version tags, so it resolves as an alt mix rather than the master. Below threshold the file is flagged `needsUserClarification` with a toast pointing you at Watch Folders.
3. Metadata	Every field the recipient requires has a value	The required-metadata checklist — Album, Composer, Publisher, PRO/Copyright, ISRC, UPC and the rest — tells you a field is missing. It does not write it into the file: embedding is disabled in shipping builds, so supply the value in Kora and write the tag from your DAW.
4. Preflight and handoff	No collisions, no illegal characters, right target	Two alt mixes can resolve to the same output path under one template — duplicate-output detection catches that before anything is written, and adding `{version}` or `{mixType}` fixes it. Handoff is one project → one destination → one spec per run.
5. Confirmation	A delivered file has an approval state, not just a send date	Approvals do not chase themselves. Delivered under 14 days with no approval escalates to high urgency at day 7; a ledger marked NeedsChanges escalates immediately.

Why a pipeline is a sequence and not a folder

A folder holds files; a pipeline holds state. Stage 1 is the one most tools cannot do at all, so the mechanism is worth being concrete about.

Kora watches export directories through FSEvents. A write event is debounced (1,200 ms balanced, 500 ms live), deduplicated over 2,500 ms, then held behind a 1,500 ms export stability gate sampled at 250 ms granularity so a file still being written is never treated as a deliverable. End to end, an export becomes a linked deliverable in roughly 3.1 seconds on balanced and 2.4 on live; a DAW project file links in about 1.34 seconds because it skips the stability gate. A background reconcile runs every four hours and on launch, catching whatever happened while the app was closed.

That is the structural gap. Notion, Airtable, Trello and Asana are general-purpose databases with no concept of a stem, a mix type or a delivery spec, and no filesystem awareness — a file appears in them because a human uploaded it. Dropbox and Google Drive version files, but do not model a deliverable, a required-metadata spec or an approval state. A database cannot act on a filesystem event at any price.

What changes in practice is where the moment of truth sits: not “did I remember what this library wants” but “did preflight pass”. The delivery profile is attached to the contact, so the recipient defines the naming convention, folder structure and checklist.

Which stage is your delivery actually failing at?

Symptom	Stage	What it means
The bounce is on disk but no project shows it	1	It scored under 0.55. It is in the Watch Inbox, not lost. Auto-linked files bypass that queue, so an empty inbox means linking worked — the inbox is a review queue, not an activity log.
It attached to the wrong project	1	Project-name similarity carries the heaviest weight. Bring the project name and the export folder name into agreement; a 41-entry path-noise list already ignores generic segments like `documents`, `exports` and `ableton`.
The title comes out wrong or blank	2	Parser confidence fell below threshold. Resolve the clarification in Watch Folders. Junk-pattern names such as `Untitled.als` will never auto-create anything.
Every client wants a different filename	2	Map a delivery profile to the contact — per-contact naming templates exist. The reverse does not: Kora will not check an incoming file against a client’s convention.
They asked for MP3 320 or a different bit depth	4	Render it from your DAW. Conversion, loudness analysis and MP3 rendering are all disabled today; the profile states the target spec but does not produce it.
One album, three libraries	4	Three runs. Batch multi-library delivery does not exist. Per-contact profiles apply the right spec to each run automatically, but they stay separate runs.
Delivered, then silence	5	The follow-up ladder is the safety net — rule 2 raises it to high urgency after seven days without approval.
You need per-file revision numbers	—	Not supported at any stage. A delivered file records filename, output path and optionally size, SHA-256 and mix type. There is no version number, revision index or per-file date.

Frequently asked

Where does a delivery pipeline actually start?

At the filesystem, not at the upload — with a rendered file being recognised and attached to a project without you dragging it anywhere. Everything downstream depends on that link.

What still works offline?

Everything up to handoff. Watch folders, filename parsing, templates and folder recipes, deliverable and metadata checklists and preflight all run on your machine. Cloud sync is opt-in and off by default on every plan, and no audio or DAW file content leaves your machine regardless of the setting. Sending obviously needs a connection.

Is a delivery pipeline the same as a review and approval workflow?

No. The pipeline’s job ends when correct files reach the recipient; review and approval is what happens to them afterwards. In Kora those two are currently separated by an implementation detail — review links need a version record and MP3 normalisation, both produced by the export path that ships disabled.

Does the pipeline require a paid plan?

No. Export Flow is available on Local, Creator and Pro alike, and so are watch folders and the naming engine. Cloud sync is gated by authentication rather than plan.

What Is a Delivery Pipeline in Music?