Install the Layer plugin in DaVinci Resolve

Last updated: October 11, 2026

Install the Layer plugin in DaVinci Resolve Studio and sign in, so you can generate shots, stills and sound onto the timeline at the playhead, and edit, reframe or upscale the frame you are looking at.

Before you start

  • DaVinci Resolve Studio on macOS or Windows. The plugin is a Workflow Integration plugin, which Blackmagic Design makes available in Resolve Studio only; the free version of Resolve does not load it. The download page lists the minimum version for the current build.
  • A Layer account. The plugin is free with every plan, including the free one; generations use your workspace's Creative Units, as they do in the browser.

Steps

  1. Go to layer.ai/integrations/davinci-resolve and download the installer for your platform: a .pkg for macOS or an .exe for Windows.

  2. Run the installer and follow the prompts. It puts the plugin where Resolve looks for Workflow Integration plugins and changes nothing else.

  3. Restart DaVinci Resolve, then open Workspace, Workflow Integrations, Layer AI. The plugin opens in a window of its own beside your timeline.

  4. The first time it opens, the plugin asks you to sign in. Click Sign in on Browser.

  5. Your browser opens Layer's sign-in page, and the plugin shows a code. Sign in with your Layer account and confirm that the code on the page matches the one in the plugin.

  6. Back in Resolve, the plugin opens with Layer's tools.

Result

Every result is imported into a bin called Layer in the media pool and placed on a new track at the playhead, so clips you have already cut are never changed. With no timeline open, the result waits in the bin. Each Resolve project gets its own Layer session, kept with the project even if you rename it.

Production tips

  • Edit what the viewer shows. The plugin reads the current frame after grading and compositing, so an edit starts from the picture you actually see. Park the playhead on the frame you want first.
  • Fill an animatic before the real shots exist. Generate stand-in shots for a cutscene or trailer, cut them in, and replace them as captured footage arrives.
  • Edits apply to the whole frame. Resolve's masks are Fusion and Color page nodes the plugin cannot read, so masked edit tools are not offered here. For a masked change, use the Photoshop panel or the web app on a still.

If something goes wrong

  • Workflow Integrations has no Layer AI, or is greyed out. You are running the free version of DaVinci Resolve. The plugin needs Resolve Studio.
  • Layer AI is still missing in Resolve Studio. Restart Resolve after installing. If it is still missing, check your version against the minimum on the download page and run the installer again.
  • The plugin cannot act on a clip. It reads the current frame and clips it placed itself. Reading any other clip would mean rendering it, so it says what it can act on instead.
  • Couldn't start sign-in. Please try again. Check your internet connection and click Sign in on Browser again. If you closed the browser page, click Reopen the sign-in page.

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