Prerequisites

• A workspace Owner or Admin, or a Filespace admin of the filespace.
• A filespace with format 3.6 or newer for S3-compatible storage or 3.8 or newer for HTTP data stores (this is shown as Filespace format under Filespace details: in the web app, select Filespace details in the filespace menu; in the desktop app, open the filespace dashboard).
• An access key and secret key with s3:GetObject on the objects in the bucket, plus s3:ListBucket on the bucket to browse it in the app. LucidLink Connect needs no write or delete permission; use read-only keys scoped to the bucket.
• A bucket endpoint or link starting with https://. Plain http:// does not work in either app.

The web app reads your bucket directly from the browser, so the bucket's CORS policy (a bucket setting that lists which websites can read it) must allow https://app.lucidlink.com and expose the ETag and Content-Range headers. The desktop app does not need it. An example policy in Amazon S3 format:

[
  {
    "AllowedHeaders": ["*"],
    "AllowedMethods": ["GET", "HEAD"],
    "AllowedOrigins": ["https://app.lucidlink.com"],
    "ExposeHeaders": ["ETag", "Content-Range", "Content-Length"]
  }
]

For provider-specific steps, see Configuring CORS for Custom Storage Buckets.

Open LucidLink Connect

In either app, expand the filespace in the sidebar and select LucidLink Connect (only visible to admins on filespaces where LucidLink Connect is available). The screenshot shows the web app; the desktop app's filespace menu lists LucidLink Connect among different items.

Until you add a data store, the page shows Connect your external files and an Add data store button.

Add a data store

Click Add data store. In the Create data store dialog, enter a Data store name of 1 to 64 characters: the letters A to Z (no accents), numbers, spaces, hyphens or underscores. The name must be unique in the filespace. You cannot rename a data store later.

S3 data stores

On the S3 tab (on filespace formats below 3.8, the dialog shows these fields without tabs):

• Provider: Amazon AWS for Amazon S3, or Other for any S3-compatible service. Other adds Endpoint URL, the service endpoint including https://.
• Bucket name of an existing bucket, and its Cloud storage region (Amazon AWS) or Region name (optional) (Other).
• Access key and Secret access key. LucidLink stores the secret key encrypted and never shows it again.

Expand Advanced settings for two options:

• Use virtual-hosted-style addressing is off by default. Turn it on for Amazon S3 buckets, as the app recommends.
• URL expiration sets how long the access URLs that LucidLink generates for external files stay valid: 7 days (default), or Custom from 4320 to 10080 minutes (3 to 7 days). LucidLink renews them automatically.

Click Create data store. The app opens the bucket, the first test of the connection details: wrong keys or an unreachable endpoint show Can't reach, and a bucket name that does not exist shows "We couldn't load the bucket objects. Please try again later."

HTTP data stores

On filespace format 3.8 or newer, the dialog also has an HTTP tab. An HTTP data store holds HTTP links and no credentials: select HTTP, enter a name and click Create data store.

Your data stores

The LucidLink Connect page shows a card for each data store: the bucket name on S3 cards, HTTP on HTTP cards. Each card has a three-dot menu with Connect files and Delete data store, plus View bucket and Manage data store for S3 data stores.

Browse a bucket and connect files

Click an S3 data store card to open its bucket, then click folders to open them. The app loads a whole folder before it shows it, so large folders take a moment.

Tick the checkbox of each file or folder you want (a folder includes everything beneath it) and click Connect files. Clicking a folder row opens the folder. Opening another folder or using the breadcrumb clears your selection, so connect one folder at a time. The magnifier opens Search this list, which filters the current folder by name; files hidden by a search are not connected.

The Connect files to filespace dialog lists the files. When the selected folders hold more than 1000 objects, it pauses once: Continue lists everything, Cancel closes the dialog without connecting. To rename a file in the filespace, click its pencil (Rename file in filespace), type a name without slashes, and press Enter or click the check mark.

Keep the file extension when you rename a file, so applications still recognize it.

Under Filespace destination, Destination folder starts at Root, the top of the filespace. Click the pencil, type a path, and press Enter or click the check mark; clicking elsewhere discards it. Or click the folder icon (Browse filespace folders) and pick a folder. Missing folders are created.

Keep source prefixes as folder structure is off by default. Off, files keep only the folders below the one you were browsing; on, they keep their full object key path. For example, you browse projects/, select the folder 2026 and set the destination to /incoming:

• Off: /incoming/2026/spring-campaign/hero_v3.mov
• On: /incoming/projects/2026/spring-campaign/hero_v3.mov

Click the connect button, for example Connect 2 files. Files connect one at a time, and the dialog stays open until the run ends (but can be dismissed without killing the job). When all of the files connect, the dialog closes and a message confirms it; in the desktop app, its Open folder button opens the destination in your file manager. The desktop app shows new files after its next sync.

If some files fail, the dialog lists each one with its reason, for example "A file with this name already exists in this folder. Rename it or choose another folder." Existing files are never overwritten. Fix the cause, then click the retry button, for example Retry 1 file.

Connect files by object key

An object key is the file's full path inside the bucket, without the bucket name, for example projects/2026/spring-campaign/hero_v3.mov.

When the data store's keys lack s3:ListBucket, opening it shows a No browsing for screen naming the bucket, with a Connect files button. You can also click Connect files on the LucidLink Connect page, choose the Data store, then Enter object keys.

In Object keys, enter keys, s3:// addresses in this bucket, or https:// addresses on the data store's own endpoint, such as https://acme-media-archive.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/projects/2026/spring-campaign/hero_v3.mov. Separate entries with a comma, a space or Enter. To enter a key that contains a space, paste it: pasted text splits only at commas.

Choose the Destination folder as above. Each file lands at its full key path under it: with /incoming, the key projects/2026/spring-campaign/hero_v3.mov becomes /incoming/projects/2026/spring-campaign/hero_v3.mov, whatever Keep source prefixes as folder structure says. Click the connect button.

The app checks only the format of each key. A key with no object fails when you connect, with "You are not allowed to read this object from the bucket." or "This file couldn't be connected."

Connect files from HTTP links

Each link must:

• Start with https:// and point at the file itself, not at a share or preview page.
• Come from a host that reports the file size (the Content-Length header) and lets apps download part of a file (byte-range requests).
• In the web app, come from a host whose CORS policy allows requests from https://app.lucidlink.com, both to connect and to open the file. The desktop app does not need this.

Open an HTTP data store and click Connect files. In HTTP links, enter your links. Each becomes a file named after the last part of the link's path, without anything after a ? (for example cut_04.mov); rename it with the pencil. Two links in one batch cannot share a file name.

Choose the Destination folder and click the connect button; files land directly in it.

If a link fails, it turns red in HTTP links. Hover over it to see the reason, fix or remove the link, then click the retry button, for example Retry 1 file.

LucidLink uses each link as-is and never renews it. When a link expires or changes, the external file stops opening. Delete the external file and connect the new link, or update the link in place through the LucidLink API (see HTTP link files on the Developer Portal).

When you paste links or object keys, only commas separate entries, and an entry can contain spaces. A pasted list with one entry per line becomes a single entry.

Working with external files

External files open, stream, pin and cache like any other file, for everyone with access to their folder, standard users included. Nobody who opens them receives your storage keys.

In the web app's file browser, external files carry a small LucidLink Connect badge on their icon. With the desktop app, macOS Finder shows an "External File" badge and Windows File Explorer shows an overlay icon. The iOS and Android apps show an icon on external files in the file list.

Moving, renaming, or deleting an external file in the filespace does not affect the data in the source.

Snapshots include external files, but access URLs inside a snapshot are not renewed. Files from S3 data stores stop opening there after the URL expiration, and files from HTTP links stop opening there when their link expires.

Manage and delete data stores

To change the keys of an S3 data store, select Manage data store, replace the Access key if it changed, enter the Secret access key, and click Save changes. If files are already connected, LucidLink tests the new keys against one of them and rejects wrong keys, or keys without s3:GetObject, with "Storage credentials pair is invalid." Otherwise the next bucket listing tests them.

LucidLink then refreshes the access URLs of external files in the background. Keep the old keys active for the data store's URL expiration (7 days by default); if you revoke them sooner, external files stop opening until the refresh reaches them.

The other details are read-only. To change them, delete the data store and add a new one. Deleting removes its external files, and the app has no list of them, so note them first and connect them again from the new data store.

To remove a data store, select Delete data store. Files connected from it are removed from LucidLink; the files in your storage are not deleted. Type the data store name and click Yes, delete data store.

The app then disconnects each external file and removes the data store, showing progress in a notification; keep the app open until it confirms. Cancel stops the run while files are being disconnected; disconnected files stay disconnected and the data store stays. If some files are locked or you lack permission to remove them, the notification reads Data store deletion failed and the data store stays. Resolve the cause and delete it again; only the remaining files are disconnected.