ProdDash/README.md

ProdDash

A modular production dashboard for Waters Church. Any browser on the building network opens one page and composes its own dashboard out of modules — independent tiles that each show one aspect of a live service. Ships with the live ProdCom transcript, the ProPresenter Now / Next display, and a booth clock; new modules drop into modules/ without touching the shell (see docs/MODULE-GUIDE.md).

How it works

server.js (zero dependencies, just Node.js) does four things:

1. Serves the dashboard shell (public/) and the admin page (/admin).
2. Discovers modules in modules/ and serves each one's client at /modules/<id>/.
3. Mounts each enabled module's server routes under /api/modules/<id>/ — that's where module servers proxy ProdCom, poll ProPresenter, and stream live updates over SSE, so browsers never talk to production gear directly (no CORS, and API keys never leave the server).
4. Stores server-wide module config and named layouts under config/.

Each browser arranges its own tiles (add, drag, resize, remove, per-tile settings); the layout autosaves to that browser's localStorage. Named layouts can also be saved to the server and loaded from any other browser. Every module survives its upstream disappearing: tiles show a red status dot and a clear degraded state, then recover on their own.

Run it

Requires Node.js 18 or newer.

node server.js

Or double-click Start ProdDash.command (macOS) / start.bat (Windows).

Then open the URL it prints — http://localhost:24500 on this machine, or the http://<this-machine's-IP>:24500 address from any other device on the network.

Configure

Server-wide module settings (ProdCom URL, ProPresenter host, API keys, enable/disable) live in the admin page — open Admin from the dashboard's top bar, or go to /admin. Saving re-initialises the module immediately; open tiles reconnect on their own.

Shell settings live in config/proddash.json:

Key	Meaning
port	Port ProdDash serves on (default 24500)
adminPasscode	If set, the admin page asks for this shared passcode. Leave "" for none — it's a plain-HTTP LAN tool.

Environment variables PORT and PRODDASH_PASSCODE override the file. config/modules.json (module config) and config/layouts/ (named layouts) are written by the app itself.

Using the dashboard

• ＋ — add any enabled module; multiple tiles of the same module are fine (e.g. two transcripts filtered to different channels).
• Drag a tile by its title bar to move it; drag the corner handle to resize; ✕ removes it. Tiles sit flush — when two share an edge, hover the seam and a small grab pill appears; drag it to trade width between the two tiles (macOS split-view style).
• A tile's actions (menus, text size, clear…) live in its title bar; the small notch on the bar's bottom edge hides/shows the whole bar for a clean wall-display look.
• The gear on a tile holds per-tile settings (filters, text size, display options) — these belong to this browser's layout, not the server.
• The grid icon — save the current arrangement to the server under a name, load a named layout (it becomes a local copy — browsers are never linked), or reset this browser's dashboard.
• Every tile has a status dot: green = live, amber = connecting, red = upstream unreachable (hover it for details). Tiles reconnect automatically.

Included modules

• ProdCom — live transcript stream with in-place updates of in-progress speech, channel colors, per-tile channel visibility toggles and group presets, timestamps, text size and jump-to-latest in the title bar. Admin config: ProdCom server (host : port), API key.

• ProPresenter — what's live and what's next, with slide progress, driven by the shared propresenter-core client (ProPresenter 7/20). Admin config: ProPresenter endpoint (host : port), password.

• Timers — live ProPresenter timers (countdown, countdown-to-time, elapsed) and LTC timecode as auto-sized cards. The ＋ picker lists every discovered timer (and the LTC card) as its own tile, or add "All timers" and pick a selection via the tile's "Timers ▾" menu; overruns are unmistakably red. Read-only — no start/stop controls. Admin config: ProPresenter endpoint (host : port), API password, the LTC listener switch + audio device + channel, LTC reader token, stage display password.

  LTC lives behind the admin LTC listener switch — off means no LTC tile in the picker at all. On, the sources, best first (ProPresenter's HTTP API has no timecode route):

  1. Built-in listener — the module captures the admin-selected audio input device/channel on the ProdDash machine (native ltc-capture helper, compiled on first use) and decodes the SMPTE frames in-process: running/stopped/no-signal, timecode, frame rate (incl. 29.97 drop-frame). macOS note: the ProdDash server needs microphone permission — launch it from a logged-in session (Start ProdDash.command) and approve the one-time prompt; a server started over SSH or by bare launchd silently captures zeros.
  2. Remote reader — when a different machine hears the LTC, run tools/ltc-reader.js there; it decodes the same way from a PCM pipe (ltc-capture, ffmpeg, or sox; --channels 18 --ch 5 picks one input of a multichannel interface — never downmix LTC into program audio) and POSTs to the module's /ltc route. --selftest checks the decoder; --demo feeds synthetic LTC end-to-end with no audio hardware.
  3. A stage-display layout field labeled "LTC", read over ProPresenter's stage websocket — value and freshness only, no frame rate.

• Clock — a big booth clock; also the smallest possible module and the reference for module authors.

To develop modules against mocks instead of real gear: node tools/prodcom-mock.js (ProdCom on 127.0.0.1:24480), node band-lineup-display/tmp/pp-mock.js 1599 (ProPresenter slides on 127.0.0.1:1599) and node tools/pp-timers-mock.js 1600 (ProPresenter timers + timecode on 127.0.0.1:1600). See the testing section of the module guide.

Install as a desktop web app

Open the page in a browser first, then:

• macOS — Safari: File → Add to Dock…
• macOS/Windows — Chrome: click the install icon in the address bar, or ⋮ menu → Cast, save and share → Install page as app…
• Windows — Edge: ⋯ menu → Apps → Install this site as an app

Note: Chrome only offers the one-click PWA install on http://localhost (a "secure context"). When opening from another machine over plain HTTP, use Edge's "Install this site as an app" or Chrome's ⋮ → Cast, save and share → "Create shortcut…" (check "Open as window") — same result: a dock/taskbar app in its own window.

Repository layout

ProdDash/
├── server.js                  shell server: static files, module discovery/mounting,
│                              admin + layouts APIs
├── public/                    dashboard shell client (index.html, shell.js, style.css)
│   └── admin/                 admin page client
├── modules/                   installed modules, one folder each
│   ├── clock/
│   ├── prodcom-transcript/
│   └── propresenter-now-next/ (carries its own copy of propresenter-core)
├── config/                    proddash.json + state written by the app
├── docs/MODULE-GUIDE.md       how to build and install a module
├── tools/prodcom-mock.js      mock ProdCom API for development
├── prodcom-listener/          reference fork — read-only, not served
└── band-lineup-display/       reference fork — read-only, not served

The two reference folders are snapshots of the apps ProdDash grew out of; they are not wired into anything (but band-lineup-display/tmp/pp-mock.js is handy for testing).