diff --git a/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/App.java b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/App.java
index 9a36d98..ad1b0bb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/App.java
+++ b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/App.java
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 package tech.bitgoblin;
 
 import tech.bitgoblin.config.Config;
-import tech.bitgoblin.video.Transcoder;
+import tech.bitgoblin.transcoder.RunTranscoderTask;
+import tech.bitgoblin.transcoder.Transcoder;
+
+import java.util.Timer;
 
 /**
  * The Bit Goblin video transcoder service.
@@ -16,7 +19,8 @@ public class App {
     Config c = new Config(configFile);
     // create new Transcoder object and start the service
     Transcoder t = new Transcoder(c);
-    t.transcode();
+    Timer timer = new Timer();
+    timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new RunTranscoderTask(t), 2500, 120 * 1000);
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/config/Config.java b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/config/Config.java
index 03060f0..a134670 100644
--- a/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/config/Config.java
+++ b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/config/Config.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.Objects;
+
 import org.tomlj.Toml;
 import org.tomlj.TomlParseResult;
 import tech.bitgoblin.io.IOUtils;
@@ -28,6 +30,10 @@ public class Config {
     return this.result.getString(key);
   }
 
+  public int getInt(String key) {
+    return Objects.requireNonNull(this.result.getDouble(key)).intValue();
+  }
+
   public boolean contains(String key) {
     return this.result.contains(key);
   }
diff --git a/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/transcoder/RunTranscoderTask.java b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/transcoder/RunTranscoderTask.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..618c6be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/transcoder/RunTranscoderTask.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package tech.bitgoblin.transcoder;
+
+import java.util.TimerTask;
+
+public class RunTranscoderTask extends TimerTask {
+
+  private Transcoder transcoder;
+
+  public RunTranscoderTask(Transcoder t) {
+    this.transcoder = t;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void run() {
+    // archive the files
+    transcoder.archive();
+    // run the transcoder
+    transcoder.transcode();
+    // clean up ingest
+    transcoder.cleanup();
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/video/Transcoder.java b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/transcoder/Transcoder.java
similarity index 68%
rename from src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/video/Transcoder.java
rename to src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/transcoder/Transcoder.java
index a536717..340f417 100644
--- a/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/video/Transcoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/tech/bitgoblin/transcoder/Transcoder.java
@@ -1,16 +1,14 @@
-package tech.bitgoblin.video;
+package tech.bitgoblin.transcoder;
 
-import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
-import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.InterruptedException;
 import java.lang.Process;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
-import java.util.function.Consumer;
-import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;
+import java.util.Timer;
 
 import tech.bitgoblin.config.Config;
 import tech.bitgoblin.io.IOUtils;
@@ -31,6 +29,12 @@ public class Transcoder {
     this.initDirectory();
   }
 
+  // create a periodic timer task and start it
+  public void start() {
+    Timer timer = new Timer();
+    timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new RunTranscoderTask(this), 10000, this.config.getInt("transcoder.interval") * 60 * 1000);
+  }
+
   // transcode files in the working directory
   public void transcode() {
     // search for files
@@ -38,6 +42,11 @@ public class Transcoder {
     File repo = new File(Paths.get(this.repo_dir, "ingest").toString());
     File[] sourceFiles = repo.listFiles();
 
+    if (sourceFiles.length == 0) {
+      System.out.println("There is nothing to transcode in " + this.repo_dir + "/ingest.");
+      return;
+    }
+
     // transcode
     System.out.println("Transcoding files in " + this.repo_dir + "/ingest...");
     for (File f : sourceFiles) {
@@ -74,6 +83,34 @@ public class Transcoder {
     System.out.println();
   }
 
+  // copies sources files to the archive directory
+  public void archive() {
+    File repo = new File(Paths.get(this.repo_dir, "ingest").toString());
+    File[] sourceFiles = repo.listFiles();
+
+    for (File f : sourceFiles) {
+      Path filePath = Path.of(f.toString());
+      String filename = filePath.getFileName().toString();
+      String archivePath = Paths.get(this.repo_dir, "archive", filename).toString();
+
+      try {
+        Files.copy(filePath, Paths.get(archivePath), StandardCopyOption.COPY_ATTRIBUTES, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        throw new RuntimeException(e);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  // clean up the ingest directory once we're done
+  public void cleanup() {
+    File repo = new File(Paths.get(this.repo_dir, "ingest").toString());
+    File[] sourceFiles = repo.listFiles();
+
+    for (File f : sourceFiles) {
+      f.delete();
+    }
+  }
+
   // ensures the transcoder's working directory is available
   private void initDirectory() {
     // create transcoder directory