Migrating from Artisan to First Crack — A Practical Guide

If you have been using Artisan for any length of time, you have a profile library worth keeping. Years of logged roasts, temperature curves, event markers, development times — that history is useful data, and starting over from scratch is not the deal you have to make to get cloud sync, analytics, and a cupping workflow.

First Crack imports Artisan .alog files directly. This guide walks through the full migration: what imports, what doesn't, how to bring in your bean inventory, and how to get First Crack's analytics working from day one.

What Transfers from Artisan

When you import an Artisan .alog file into First Crack, the following data comes with it:

—Bean temperature curve — the full data point series, not a summary
—Environmental temperature curve — if logged
—Rate of rise (RoR) — recalculated from the imported curve
—Event markers — charge, dry end, first crack, second crack, and drop events with their timestamps and temperatures
—Roast phases — drying, Maillard, and development phase durations derived from your event markers
—Development time ratio (DTR) — calculated automatically from first crack to drop
—Drop temperature — the bean temp at the drop event
—Roast duration — total time from charge to drop
—Roast title / notes — if present in the Artisan file

What doesn't transfer:

Artisan stores some data in formats that don't have a direct equivalent, and some fields are Artisan-specific:

—Artisan alarm configurations and automation settings (these are session tools, not roast records)
—Custom background profiles used as reference curves during roasting
—Artisan's internal roaster configuration settings

The roast curve and event data — which is the part worth preserving — transfers in full.

Step 1: Export Your Artisan Profiles

Artisan saves profiles as .alog files automatically after each roast, in a folder you configured when you set up Artisan. The default location on macOS is typically ~/Documents/Artisan/.

To find your profiles: in Artisan, go to File → Open and note the directory it opens to. That folder contains all your .alog files.

You do not need to do anything special to export — the .alog files are already in the format First Crack imports. If you want to bring in multiple roasts at once, just have the folder accessible.

Step 2: Import Into First Crack

In the First Crack web app:

—Go to Roasts in the sidebar
—Click Import in the top right
—Select your .alog file or files — you can select multiple files at once to bulk import
—First Crack processes each file, creates a roast profile, and displays a preview of the imported data before saving

The import runs in your browser. No file is sent to a server for processing — the .alog is parsed locally and only the extracted roast data is saved to your account.

After import, each roast appears in your roast list with its full curve, phase data, and analytics visible immediately.

Step 3: Link Beans to Your Imported Roasts

Artisan doesn't have a bean inventory system, so imported roasts arrive in First Crack without a bean link. This is the main manual step in migration.

First Crack's analytics — freshness tracking, yield tracking, cost per roast, and cross-roast bean performance — all depend on roasts being linked to a bean in your inventory. It's worth setting this up properly rather than skipping it.

To add beans and link them:

—Go to Beans and create an entry for each green coffee you've been working with
—Fill in what you know: origin, process, variety, and current stock quantity if you still have it
—Go back to Roasts, open an imported roast, and click Edit
—In the edit modal, select the bean from the dropdown
—First Crack will update the roast's analytics to reflect the bean link

For a large library, start with the beans you're currently active on and link those roasts first. Older historical roasts can be linked later or left unlinked — the curves and event data are preserved either way.

Step 4: Review Your Curve Data

After import, open a few roasts and verify the curves look right. In most cases they will — .alog is a well-structured format and the import is reliable. A few things worth checking:

Temperature unit: If Artisan was logging in Fahrenheit and First Crack's display is set to Celsius (or vice versa), go to Settings → Temperature Unit and make sure it matches how you logged. First Crack stores temperatures as Celsius internally and converts for display.

Event timing: If your first crack marker looks off — either very early or missing — check whether Artisan was recording event times as elapsed seconds or wall-clock timestamps. Most .alog files use elapsed time, which imports correctly.

Phase durations: First Crack derives drying, Maillard, and development phase durations from the dry end and first crack event markers. If a roast is missing one of those markers in the original Artisan file, the phase duration for that segment won't appear. This is expected — the data wasn't in the source file.

Step 5: Set Up Analytics

Once you have roasts imported and beans linked, First Crack's analytics layer starts working automatically. The analytics dashboard shows:

—Rate of rise curves for each roast
—DTR trends across your roast history — useful for seeing whether your development ratios have been consistent
—Drop temperature trends — how your drop temp has shifted over time for a given bean
—Weight loss — calculated from green weight and roasted weight, if you fill those in on your imported roasts
—Bean performance — which beans you've roasted most, and how their cupping scores compare (once you add cupping sessions)

The more roasts you link to beans, and the more complete the green weight / roasted weight data is on each roast, the more useful the analytics become. You can fill in weights retroactively on imported roasts at any time through the edit modal.

What First Crack Adds Going Forward

Once your library is in, the difference between Artisan-only and First Crack becomes clear during the next active roast session.

After each roast, First Crack gives you:

—The full analytics page with the curve, phases, DTR, drop temp, and RoR displayed automatically
—A color measurement step using the Agtron photo method — grind a sample, upload a photo with a gray card, and get an objective roast color score recorded to the profile
—A cupping session interface if you want to score the roast formally
—The option to share a public link to the roast profile, or compare it side-by-side with any previous roast

For ongoing bean management:

First Crack deducts from your bean inventory automatically when you log a roast with a green weight. Low-stock alerts appear when a bean's remaining quantity drops below your threshold. Freshness tracking shows which beans in your inventory are approaching or past their typical use window.

None of this requires hardware. If you continue to use Artisan for live logging, you can import the .alog after each session and use First Crack for everything that follows.

Running Artisan and First Crack Together

You don't have to choose between them. Many roasters continue using Artisan for the session — it has hardware support and automation features that remain excellent — and use First Crack for the full workflow around it.

The practical pattern: roast in Artisan, save the .alog, import it into First Crack, fill in roasted weight, and proceed with color measurement, cupping, and analytics in the web app. The two tools have different jobs and do them well independently.

When the First Crack native macOS app becomes available, it will handle the live session side natively, with roasts syncing to the web platform automatically. The import workflow is a bridge in the meantime.