shaperbox-importer

shaperbox-importer is a Python tool that enables bulk importing of preset packs (in .vstpreset or .fst formats) into Cableguys ShaperBox 3 on macOS. It avoids the tedious manual process of loading each preset individually through the plugin’s UI. The tool uses Spotify’s Pedalboard to host ShaperBox 3 as a plugin, allowing it to internally migrate legacy preset data into the current format used by ShaperBox 3. After migration, it writes the converted presets directly into ShaperBox’s local SQLite database and content-addressed .dat file store, making them appear under the 'MY PRESETS' tab upon next launch. Key features include automatic backup of the ShaperBox data folder before any write operation, refusal to run while a DAW is active (to prevent database locking), and a dry-run mode for previewing imports. It supports hundreds of presets in one go and handles both VST3 preset files and FL Studio state files by extracting and rewrapping their embedded data. The tool requires macOS, Python 3.9+, and a licensed installation of ShaperBox 3. Installation is available via pip or uv. Users are advised to close their DAW before running the tool; force mode is available but risky. If issues arise, users can restore from the auto-generated backup. Internally, the tool reverse-engineers ShaperBox’s storage format: user presets are stored in an SQLite database (presets.db) alongside .dat files organized in a content-addressed structure. Each .dat file contains a zlib-compressed JUCE ValueTree wrapped with '#zip#\0'. The tool ensures imported presets have an empty 'author' field so they appear in 'MY PRESETS'. Limitations: Windows/Linux not supported; only works with ShaperBox 3 (not other Cableguys plugins); cannot assign presets to specific packs yet; cloud sync behavior is undocumented but locally visible. Future updates may require adjusting the DB version constant if Cableguys changes the schema. The project was developed with AI assistance from Claude (Anthropic). MIT licensed.