# 0:10 · Create Your First Asset

_LOFTai › Your First Hour_

**Goal:** a named place for work to live, with a file or two in it. Ten minutes. This lesson is where Loft's vocabulary clicks.

## First, the four nouns

Everything in Loft nests in the same four levels. Learn them now and the rest of the app stops needing explanation:

-   Project — the body of work (you made one in lesson 1).
-   Library — a category inside it: Characters, Environments, Shots, Editorial. These are the sidebar entries.
-   Asset — one thing in a library: a character, a shot, a cut. It has metadata, tasks, notes, and a set of tools.
-   Asset item — one file inside an asset: an image, a video, an annotation. Assets hold many items, and successive items are your takes.

Tip: The mistake newcomers make is treating an asset like a folder. It's closer to a _subject_: "the hero character", "shot 010". Everything you ever make for that subject — every take, every reference, every note — accumulates inside it, and that accumulation is what the Assistant reasons over later.

## Step 1 — Open a library

Click a library under **LIBRARIES** in the sidebar — Shots or Characters is ideal. This opens the **Files Browser** for that category. It'll be empty; that's expected.

If you have no libraries, add one from **MANAGE ▸ Libraries**first, then come back.

## Step 2 — Create the asset

1.  Click **\+ New** (top-right) and pick what you are making — **Shot**, **Character**, **Cut**… The list is the project's asset types; **Folder** is at the top for plain structure.
2.  Name it something concrete — `SH010`, or `Hero`. Names are for humans; Loft tracks it by an internal code either way.
3.  Create it, then **click the asset** to open its **Asset Detail** page.

Asset Detail is a preview on the left and a row of **tools** (tabs) across the top — Files, Tasks, Notes, Generate, and others depending on the asset type. Tabs are customizable: **\+ Add tool** adds one, the **×** removes one, and you can drag to reorder. If you don't see a **Generate** tab, add it now — you need it next lesson.

## Step 3 — Put something in it

Open the asset's **Files** tool and bring in a reference image — anything from your machine will do:

-   Drag files anywhere onto the browser — you'll see "Drop files here to upload", and progress appears in an uploads shelf.
-   Or use Action ▸ Create ▸ Upload Files.

Note: **Local track:** files you copy into the project folder outside of Loft appear here marked **Untracked**, and a yellow **Register** button shows up in the toolbar. Select them and click Register — until you do, Loft can't use them as generation inputs. This is the one Local-mode step people miss.

## Step 4 — Learn the status pill

Every file carries a **review status**, and it is not decoration — it's the signal the rest of the pipeline reads:

New — not yet reviewed. Everything starts here.

Selected — a candidate worth keeping.

Published — final. Other assets and Editorial only ever see Published takes.

Dropped — rejected. Hidden from the browser by default.

Reference — an input for generation, not a deliverable.

Mark the reference image you just uploaded as **Reference** — click its status pill, or open it and press `5`. You've just told Loft what that file is _for_.

## Checkpoint

-   Your library shows one asset, and opening it shows an Asset Detail page with tabs.
-   Its Files tool lists at least one image (registered, if you're on the Local track).
-   That image's status reads Reference.
-   There is a Generate tab on the asset.

Note: Reference topics for this lesson: **Core Concepts**, **Files Browser**, and **Asset Detail**.