Kitsu

Kitsu#

2026-08-06

8 min read

The Kitsu plugin connects Prism to Kitsu, a project management tool focused on VFX and animation projects.

The plugin is available on Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Overview#

Using this plugin artists can publish media from Prism to Kitsu, view their assigned tasks and update task statuses in Prism.

The Kitsu plugin comes with the following features:

Entity Management - View assets, shots, sequences, episodes, and tasks created with Kitsu directly in Prism.
Entity Creation - Create assets, shots, sequences, episodes, and tasks in Prism (when enabled in project settings).
Publishing - Publish media versions (renders, playblasts) and product versions to Kitsu.
Status Management - View and set statuses for tasks, product versions, and media versions.
Collaboration - Create and view notes and replies on tasks, product versions, and media versions.
Assigned Tasks - View tasks assigned to the current user in the Project Browser.
Playlists - View and create Kitsu playlists, access playlist content in Prism.
Connected Entities - View asset-shot connections from Kitsu.
Thumbnails - Display thumbnails for Kitsu assets and shots in Prism.
Web Integration - Open the Kitsu page of any entity in a web browser directly from Prism.
Settings Sync - Sync departments, task statuses, fps, and resolution from Kitsu to Prism.
Memory Caching - Cache API requests for improved performance

Setup#

To use this plugin the following prerequisites are required:

an active Kitsu site (either a payed site, a self hosted site or a local instance)
the ProjectManagement Prism plugin needs to be installed and loaded.
the Kitsu Prism plugin needs to be installed and loaded.

1. Activation

To activate the Kitsu plugin for the active Prism project open the settings:

Prism Settings > Project > Project Management > Manager > Kitsu

2. Setup Kitsu

Next press the Setup... button:

3. Kitsu URL

Enter the Kitsu URL:

4. Kitsu Credentials

Login with the Kitsu account credentials:

5. Project Selection

After a successfull login, all existing Kitsu projects will be shown.

Select a project to connect to Prism and click Next:

6. Setup Completion

The confirmation window shows the setup is complete:

Project Settings#

The "Project Management" tab in the Prism Project Settings contains the following Kitsu-specific settings:

Setup... - Opens a setup window to guide you through the process of connecting your Kitsu project to your Prism project.
Url - The URL of your Kitsu instance.
Projectname - The name of the Kitsu project to connect to.
Status of published versions - The default status for published versions (default: wfa).
Show Task Status - Display the status icon and name for tasks in Prism (default: enabled).
Enable Product Publishes - Allow publishing product versions to Kitsu (default: enabled).
Enable Media Publishes - Allow publishing media versions to Kitsu (default: enabled).
Allow publishes from non-existent tasks - Allow publishing even when no matching Kitsu task is found (default: enabled).
Allow local tasks - Enable creation of local tasks in Prism, which don't exist in Kitsu (default: disabled).
Use short task names - Use shorter task names instead of full names (default: disabled).
Allow asset creation - Enable creation of assets in Prism (default: disabled).
Allow shot creation - Enable creation of shots in Prism (default: disabled).
Allow task creation - Enable creation of tasks in Prism (default: disabled).
Include full filepath in Kitsu comments - Attach the full local filepath when publishing to Kitsu (default: enabled).
Use Kitsu usernames - Use Kitsu usernames instead of local usernames (default: enabled).
Sync playlists - Synchronize playlists between Prism and Kitsu (default: disabled).
Auto Sync Departments - Automatically sync departments from Kitsu to Prism (default: disabled).
Auto Sync Asset-Shot connections - Automatically sync connections between assets and shots (default: disabled).
Sync Kitsu settings - Query existing departments in Kitsu and create matching departments in the Prism project. Also syncs the "Is Feedback Request" status, fps and resolution.
Create Asset-/Shot-Folders - Create folders in your project directory for all Kitsu assets, shots, and tasks.

Assets, Shots and Tasks#

In the "Scenefiles" tab of the Prism Project Browser, all assets, shots, departments, and tasks that exist in Kitsu can be viewed. The thumbnails, descriptions (for assets), and frameranges (for shots) are also synced from Kitsu.

Assets and shots have to be created in Kitsu by default and cannot be created inside Prism if the Kitsu plugin is active.

Departments and tasks have to be created in Kitsu as well by default.

To hide any assets, shots, tasks, product versions or media versions from Kitsu in Prism, create a boolean custom attribute named "noPrism" in Kitsu on any entity and set it to "True".

Right-click any asset, shot or task to open it's page in Kitsu via the web browser.

Tasks have a status icon before the name and a tooltip with the status name. This status can be changed from the right-click menu or in Kitsu.

Access Kitsu task notes from the "Show Notes..." option in the right-click menu of a task. This opens a window where Kitsu notes and replies can be viewed and created.

To view the Kitsu tasks assigned to the current Prism user, open the "Tasks" tab in the Prism Project Browser. This displays a list of all assigned tasks, including their status and start/end dates. The tasks can be filtered by status using the checkboxes at the bottom of the page.

On the right side, notes for the currently selected task can be viewed and created.

Double-click a task to directly jump to the scenefiles of that task.

Product versions#

Product versions can be published from the "Products" tab in the Prism Project Browser to Kitsu. The product file itself will not be uploaded. Instead Prism will create a comment on the task entity in Kitsu with the local filepath attached to it. After a product version is published to Kitsu, the status for the product versions can be set and notes can be viewed/created from the right-click menu of the version in Prism.

If a product version is published to Kitsu, it will be created on the task, which matches the product name in Prism. If no matching task is found in Kitsu Prism will ask you to select a Kitsu task from a list, to which one the version will be published. In the Prism Project Settings this option can be disabled ("Allow publishes from non-existent tasks").

Media versions#

Media versions like renders and playblasts can be published from the "Media" tab in the Prism Project Browser to Kitsu using the right-click menu on the media thumbnail or on the version item.
Prism will create a comment entity in Kitsu with the local filepath attached to it. Optionally you can also add a description and let Prism upload a proxy version of your media, which can be reviewed inside of Kitsu.
After a media version is published to Kitsu, the status for the media versions can be set and notes can be viewed/created from the rightclick menu of the version.

If a media version is getting published to Kitsu, it will be created on the task, which matches the identifier name in Prism. If no matching task is found in Kitsu Prism will ask you to select a Kitsu task from a list, to which one the version will be published. In the Prism Project Settings this option can be disabled ("Allow publishes from non-existent tasks").

Memory Caching#

Prism queries assets, shots, tasks, and more directly from Kitsu when required.
Sending a lot of requests to Kitsu can become very slow, which is why Prism caches requests in memory to avoid the same requests in the future.
For example: If a shot gets selected in the "Scenefiles" tab of the Project Browser, Prism requests the task list from Kitsu and caches it. If the same shot is selected again later on, Prism will use the cached tasklist instead of sending a new requests to Kitsu.

In some cases it is needed to clear the memory cache, for example if someone is creating a new task in Kitsu, but the list of tasks for that shot is already cached in a memory in Prism. Without clearing the cache, the new task won't be visible inside Prism.

To clear the cache, press the refresh icon in the Project Browser, restart Prism or use the "Clear Cache" option in the "Kitsu" menu in the Prism Project Browser.

Environment Variables#

The Kitsu plugin can be controlled using the following environment variables:

Name	Description
PRISM_KITSU_URL	Sets the Kitsu URL, which Prism connects to. This overrides the URL in the project settings. (e.g. https://company.cg-wire.com)
PRISM_KITSU_EMAIL	The email to use for the login. (e.g. john@company.com)
PRISM_KITSU_PASSWORD	The api key to use for the login. (e.g. key123)