The recent live stream you had really resonated when you talked about learning all of these different things that might seem like a waste, but then all of a sudden it becomes a valuable skill. I was able to build and troubleshoot, much faster.

@Doris Hernandez thank you! And that's a great question. I use the database purely as an updated and organized spreadsheet that powers the Softr interface. The short answer is that databases store data (text/numbers/URLs), while Object Storage (like Cloudflare R2) stores actual files (videos/photos). Since storing large files would get expensive quick, I split the job between 3 tools. 1. Storage = Cloudflare R2: The ingestion script uploads the actual MP4 video files and JPEGs directly to Cloudflare R2. Cloudflare hosts the file and gives back a lightweight text link (URL) like [https://pub-xxxx.r2.dev/video.mp4](https://pub-xxxx.r2.dev/video.mp4). 2. Database = Airtable: The script creates a new row/record in Airtable. Instead of uploading the giant video file into Airtable, it simply saves the text URL string from R2 into a regular "URL" field, along with all the metadata (filename, duration, AI transcript, tags, etc.). 3. Frontend/Web App = Softr: When a client logs into the portal (e.g., Softr), the portal queries Airtable for the record, grabs that R2 URL link, and feeds it into a video player so the user can stream it smoothly.

Congrats!

Thanks for doing this! I've been enjoying watching and listening while I'm working.