Yes. Bundle for Freelancer packs an asset or a shot with its dependencies — textures packed, links remapped — so it opens on a machine that has never seen your project, and Reintegrate Bundle brings the returned work back with the links remapped the other way.

Yes. Drop .py files into the pipeline_hooks folder at your project root, each exposing an MPIPE_CHECKS list. Your checks then run beside the eight built-in ones, with the same Fix button and the same per-project settings. A hook that fails to load is reported as a warning and never blocks the rest.

That is the soft lock: a small file carrying an artist name and a timestamp, written when you open a file inside a project. It exists so nobody starts working on a file someone else already has open — the second person is told "Opened by Marie, 24 min ago" rather than discovering the clash at save time. Nothing is blocked: you can still open and save, and take the lock over if it is stale. The dashboard lists every active lock in the project. Locks are removed when Blender closes normally, and deleting one by hand is harmless.