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Collection Audit

Find artist, title, tag-layer, filename, and directory problems; approve safe fixes; and finish with a verified report of what changed or was deliberately deferred. Genre assignment is a separate workflow.

Start here

Section titled “Start here”

Fix inconsistent file names and tags.

Safety: Can change files · asks first

Time
Scope-dependent; review volume and file-read failures determine the work.
You'll get
A persisted audit report, verified file fixes, and a list of intentionally deferred issues.

Files can change. The assistant must show you its plan and wait for approval. There is no automatic rollback, so keep a recoverable backup.

Online access: Online services are used only when the chosen step needs information that is not available locally.

For the full collection, copy:

Audit my collection for naming and tagging issues.

Add a directory to that sentence when you want a narrower scope.

What happens next

Section titled “What happens next”
  1. Choose the scope. Use the full collection or a confirmed directory and make a file backup before approving writes.
  2. Review findings. Separate safe convention fixes from ambiguous identity questions, unreadable files, and imported-path changes.
  3. Approve and verify. Approve the fix plan before any tag or filename write, then re-read changed files and re-scan the scope.
  4. Synchronize Rekordbox. Reload tags only for the listed imported tracks and leave path changes to Rekordbox relocation.

Decisions and approval checkpoints

Section titled “Decisions and approval checkpoints”
  • Decide review-tier artist and title corrections rather than applying them in bulk.
  • Imported files are never renamed behind Rekordbox, because Rekordbox stores absolute paths. Defer those cases for Rekordbox relocation.
  • Common conventions are NN Artist - Title.ext for album tracks, Artist - Title.ext for loose tracks, and Album (Year)/ for album folders.
  • Confirm the exact Reload Tag selection before the audit is called complete.

What changes and how to recover

Section titled “What changes and how to recover”

Approved findings can write audio tags and can rename files that are not yet in Rekordbox. Audit state and review decisions persist locally, while the file changes themselves are durable. If you resume, re-scan before declaring the scope clean. Retry unreadable files; if a direct change was wrong, restore it from the file backup and scan again.

WAV needs special care: Rekordbox reads RIFF INFO rather than ID3v2 from WAV, so the workflow writes both tag layers. RIFF INFO does not carry label or track number, and Reload Tag cannot transfer those fields; use XML import or a manual Rekordbox edit when they change.

Finish in Rekordbox

Section titled “Finish in Rekordbox”

For every successful tag change to an imported track, select only the exact tracks reported by the workflow and use Reload Tag. Reload Tag can overwrite intentional Rekordbox-only edits with values from the audio file, so verify the selection first. Confirm a small sample against the file tags. Use Rekordbox relocation—not a filesystem rename—for imported path changes.

Technical details

Section titled “Technical details”
Technical details, safety, and recovery

Complete reference

Workflow contract

Writes audio-file tags or names

Find naming and tag problems, approve safe fixes, verify file writes, and synchronize changed imported tracks.

Best for
Users cleaning artist, title, tag-layer, filename, and directory conventions.
Network
Network when neededOnly ambiguous review-tier issues that need provider lookup; scanning and file-tag operations are local.
Scope
Full collection by default, or a user-selected directory or subset.
Time
Scope-dependent; review volume and file-read failures determine the work.
Resuming
Audit issues and resolutions persist in local state. Direct file changes are durable; re-scan after resuming before declaring the audit clean.
Result
A persisted audit report, verified file fixes, and a list of intentionally deferred issues.

What can change

Staged metadata
This workflow does not create staged metadata.
Direct user files
  • Audio tags When needed — The scan finds a tag issue and the user approves the proposed write.
  • File or directory moves/renames When needed — The scan finds a naming issue on a file not already imported into Rekordbox and the user approves the rename.
Local state
  • Audit state Always
  • Enrichment cache When needed — A review-tier issue needs an uncached provider lookup.
  • Provider session When needed — Discogs authentication is required for an uncached lookup.
Files created
None.

Before you start

  • reklawdbox connected to the intended library.
  • A confirmed scan scope; the full collection is the default.
  • A file backup before approving tag or rename changes.

Approval checkpoints

  • Approve the fix plan before any file write.
  • Choose how to resolve review-tier issues and ambiguous metadata.
  • Confirm the scoped Rekordbox Reload Tag checkpoint before the final report.

Recovery

  • Retry unreadable files and re-scan; persistent failures mean the audit remains incomplete.
  • Defer imported-file renames and use Rekordbox relocation instead of changing paths behind Rekordbox.
  • Use the file backup to undo direct tag or rename changes, then re-scan.

Rekordbox handoff

  1. Reload Tag for changed imported tracks When needed — Successful tag changes affected files already imported into Rekordbox.
  2. Relocate files in Rekordbox When needed — An imported file needs a path or filename change.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”

If you’re following the Library Cleanup guide, next is enrichment (reklawdbox hydrate in your terminal), then: