FAQ & troubleshooting

Short answers to the questions teams ask most, plus fixes for the problems that come up in practice.

General

Do I need an account or internet connection?

No. Stratum is local-first. There is no Stratum account and no upload. Everything works offline; only team sync needs a reachable NAS or Git server.

Is my data locked into a proprietary format?

No. A space is an ordinary folder plus a standard Git repository. You can open the files and the history with any Git tool.

Which platforms are supported?

Windows, macOS and Linux. See Installation.

Sync & NAS

Sync says "Waiting" — what's wrong?

The remote is unreachable right now — the NAS is off, the drive unmapped, or you're offline. Stratum retries automatically; use Sync now once the path is back.

Can I use a mapped drive and a UNC path?

Yes. Both work. Everyone on the team should point at the same remote URL.

Do teammates need the same folder structure?

No. Each person clones into a folder of their choosing. The structure inside the space is what's shared.

Local AI

Do I have to install Ollama?

No. It's optional. Without it you still get versioning, browsing, tags and keyword search.

Search doesn't understand meaning — why?

Semantic search needs the nomic-embed-text embeddings model. Install it in Settings → Local AI, then give newly imported assets a moment to embed.

Does AI upload my assets?

Never. Requests go to your own Ollama instance on localhost. See Local AI.

Files & versions

I overwrote a file. Can I get the old one back?

Yes. Open the asset and pick the earlier version in the history, then Restore. History is never lost.

Why was my imported file renamed?

A file with the same name already existed, so Stratum kept both by adding a numeric suffix. See Importing assets.

Will big PSDs and textures bloat the repository?

Enable Git LFS when creating the studio hub so large binaries are stored efficiently. Even without LFS, everything still versions correctly.

Quick fixes

• "Git not found" (E:GIT_NOT_FOUND). Install Git, ensure it's on PATH, restart Stratum.
• Thumbnails look stale. Open the asset to regenerate, or run Rebuild index in Settings.
• Library feels slow on a huge space. Let the first index finish, then use kind and date filters to narrow the view.
• Restore fails (M:RESTORE_FAILED). Close the app that has the file open, then retry.

git --version
ollama --version
ollama list