---
title: Paths
description: Paths in reels and presets are relative to their file, from home with ~, or from the git root with //.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/reels/paths
---

# Paths
A path in a reel (an `Output`, an app to `Launch`, a background, an `Import`) is one of:

| Write                          | From                                           |
|--------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| `demo.mp4`, `../docs/demo.mp4` | The folder the file it's written in is in.     |
| `~/Movies/demo.mp4`            | Your home folder.                              |
| `/tmp/demo.mp4`                | The root of the disk.                          |
| `//docs/media/demo.mp4`        | The root of the git repository the reel is in. |

`//` lets a reel or a preset name a file in the repository without counting `../`, and keeps working when the reel
moves. Outside a git repository it is an error.
A relative path that leads out of the repository still works, with a warning:
```
warning: line 3: ../../outside.mp4 leads outside the git root /Users/me/Projects/app, so it works only where that sits next to the repository
```

It works on your Mac, but not on one where the repository sits somewhere else. Absolute paths and `~` don't warn:
they say plainly where they lead.
In a preset, paths are relative to the preset, not to the reel that imports it.