Expression Vault

A free, open-source After Effects CEP panel for saving, organizing, and applying expression snippets. Built for motion designers in the 411 community — no accounts, no license keys, and no server calls. Everything runs locally in After Effects.

Features

• Expression library — Categories, favorites, tags, notes, and inline code editing
• Search & filter — Instant search across names, tags, and notes; sidebar filters for All / Favorites / per-category
• Apply to selection — Push vault code onto selected Timeline properties
• Grab from AE — Pull expressions from the current property into a new entry or the add form
• Backup & restore — Export / import your library as JSON via the settings menu
• Native AE styling — Dark panel UI that matches After Effects chrome

Requirements

• Adobe After Effects CC 2014 or later (CEP 9+)
• Windows or macOS with CEP extensions enabled

Installation

Option A — Manual install (recommended for development)

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Copy the entire expression-vault folder into your CEP extensions directory:
   • Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CEP\extensions\
   • macOS: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/
3. Enable debug mode for unsigned extensions (one-time setup):
   • Windows: Create or edit the registry key
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\CSXS.11 (or your CSXS version)
     Set PlayerDebugMode = 1 (DWORD).
   • macOS:
     defaults write com.adobe.CSXS.11 PlayerDebugMode 1
4. Restart After Effects.
5. Open Window → Extensions → Expression Vault.

Option B — Symlink for active development

Link this repo into the extensions folder so changes reload without copying:

# macOS example
ln -s "/path/to/expression-vault" "/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/expression-vault"

Reload the panel from the Window menu after saving file changes.

Project structure

expression-vault/
├── CSXS/manifest.xml    # CEP extension manifest
├── index.html           # Panel markup
├── css/style.css        # UI styles & design tokens
├── js/
│   ├── main.js          # UI controller & event handling
│   ├── storage.js       # localStorage CRUD & import/export
│   ├── host-bridge.js   # CEP ↔ ExtendScript bridge
│   ├── notifications.js # Toast notifications
│   └── CSInterface.js   # Minimal CSInterface shim
└── jsx/hostscript.jsx   # After Effects host functions

Data storage

Library data is stored locally in the panel's localStorage under the key expression-vault.library. No data is sent to any external server.

Backup files are standard JSON:

{
  "version": 1,
  "categories": [{ "id": "…", "name": "…" }],
  "expressions": [{
    "id": "…",
    "categoryId": "…",
    "name": "…",
    "notes": "",
    "tags": [],
    "code": "",
    "favorite": false
  }]
}

Theming

All visual tokens live in :root at the top of css/style.css. Adjust backgrounds, accent color, typography, and layout variables there — the rest of the stylesheet references those custom properties. See the comment block above :root for a quick reference.

Contributing

Pull requests and issues are welcome. Please keep the extension fully local-first (no licensing gates, analytics endpoints, or required network calls).

License

MIT License — free to use, modify, and share with the 411 community and beyond.