VEXiL is the centralized project management environment for VFX freelancers and indie studios. Today, it integrates with SideFX Houdini at a depth no generic PM tool can match — and Maya, Nuke, and Blender adapters are on the roadmap.
The name VEXiL is a nod to Vector Expression Language (VEX), the heart of the Houdini ecosystem — and a signal of where VEXiL goes deepest first. Generic project management tools treat Houdini work as disconnected file creations and ignore the conventions that make a VFX pipeline actually run. VEXiL starts where you start: inside the DCC. Houdini gets integration depth that is only possible when the tool is purpose-built for it; Maya, Nuke, and Blender adapters follow on the roadmap — but Houdini is the proof point.
Quality-of-life features built for the VFX professional.
A single Houdini package install wires VEXiL directly into your scenes. OpenTimelineIO (OTIO) sync handles audio, sequence scenes, reference imagery, and temporal overlaps inside Houdini — depth no general-purpose PM tool can reach. Maya, Nuke, and Blender adapters are on the roadmap.
Architect folder structures, manage external assets, and configure global defaults from a dedicated browser portal — DCC-agnostic by design. Includes a custom node-network editor for visually streamlining your VFX workflows.
Projects stay private and encrypted by default, but you can opt in to contribute or pull from shared community "Reusable Node-Graphs" to accelerate your pipeline — Houdini networks today, with cross-DCC integration planned alongside the Maya, Nuke, and Blender adapters.
Security is embedded by design. Safely share assets for client review and feedback via custom-branded project windows, ensuring restricted access to sensitive project files.
We believe in an accessible VFX ecosystem, which is why the primary VEXiL codebase is distributed under the MIT License.
Retain complete oversight of your infrastructure and meet stringent data residency needs with easy deployment via Docker Compose.
Prefer not to manage servers? Our managed platform serves as your online endpoint, unlocking long-term archiving via Amazon Glacier and seamless tracking of project progress.
VEXiL is an MIT-licensed monorepo: Bun + Turborepo orchestrate the JS workspaces, uv manages every Python and GoLang project. Five workspaces, one root install, one dev command.
vexil/ ├── apps/ │ ├── website/ — marketing site (Astro 7 · Tailwind v4) │ ├── frontend/ — product web UI (Astro 7) │ ├── backend/ — core API (GoLang) │ └── houdini-package/ — Houdini plugin (uv · Python 3.11) ├── tools/ │ └── dev-tui/ — developer TUI (GoLang) └── infrastructure/ — deployment & IaC (planned)
Static landing page (this site). Generated at build time, deployable to Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages.
The authenticated browser portal — folder layouts, asset management, node-network editor. Skeleton committed; feature work open for contributions.
GoLang based core which is locally managed using Sqlite
Native Houdini package supports v22+ by default, pinned to Python 3.13 (Houdini's interpreter). PySide6 + Qt Designer UI layer ships in the Alpha plugin release.
In-terminal control surface for contributors — drives local services, runs migrations, tails logs.
Bun handles JS workspaces and the lockfile. Turborepo fans the dev task out across all apps. Python apps each manage their own venv via uv. Compiled Go apps handle the heavy logic.
# 1. Clone and hydrate the JS workspaces git clone https://github.com/anhedonix/vexil cd vexil bun install # 2. Run every dev server in parallel (Turborepo) bun run dev # 3. TODO (rewrite in-progress)
MIT-licensed. Issues, RFCs, and pull requests welcome — especially around Houdini integration, the Go backend, and the plugin UI.
Security embedded directly from dev-start, incorporating rigorous pre-commit testing.
All management settings and project data are securely encrypted with organization-unique keys.
Automated plugin validation utilizing the native Houdini Python interpreter (Hython) environment.
Targeting public launch in 6-8 Months.
Core engineering & Alpha plugin release.
Repo publication & community contributions.
Debugging and feature planning.