Show Companion

What it's for — Companion turns every iPad, phone, and spare laptop backstage into a live window on your show, with nothing to install. CueSync runs a small web server on the show machine; devices scan a QR code and get a live crew board with virtual cue lights, a DJ confidence monitor, or a system-health wall — over your venue WiFi, entirely offline from the internet. It is read-only by construction: no page served over the wire can fire a cue, move transport, or change your show. Ever.

The three surfaces

Surfaces your edition doesn't include simply don't exist on the wire (they return not-found, and the join QR lands devices on the best surface you do have).

Getting devices on

1. Open Settings → Companion and switch on Enable companion server.
2. Under Network, pick the WiFi your devices are actually on — the list marks the sensible choice · recommended and flags any interface carrying PRO DJ LINK or your outputs with ⚠ avoid. Serve Companion on backstage/house WiFi, never the show-control VLAN.
3. Point the device camera at the QR code in the Join card. Done.

Every join link carries an access code — the server never runs open. By default a fresh code is generated each start; if crew pin the page to their home screen (recommended for show iPads), set a fixed access code so their saved link survives restarts.

The Join card also gives you:

• A link + QR per surface — hand the DJ the /live link, the FOH tech /monitor, each with its own Copy button and expandable QR.
• Station links — a link per department (LX, Followspot, SFX…) that opens the crew board already filtered to that station's cues. The followspot iPad sees only followspot cues.
• A connected-device roster — who is watching, from which address, on which surface, since when. If the followspot iPad is missing from the list, you know before places.

The crew board

Each station gets a card: current cue, next cue with a live "GO in 0:12" countdown, and a virtual cue light. The light follows the show engine (STANDBY as a cue arms, a green GO flash as it fires) — and the Stage Manager can call STANDBY/GO by hand for any station from their own device. A call is a human signal between people; the operator still presses GO on the console.

• ＋ Leave a note sends a note on the current cue to the operator's review queue — it lands in Settings → Companion as "Pending notes from the team", and only the operator applies it to the show.
• ⬇ Download sheet saves that station's cue sheet (print to PDF from the phone).
• ⛶ Board switches to a glanceable full-screen mode for a green-room monitor or director's PC (also reachable with ?view=board in the URL).

Broadcast — one banner on every device

The Broadcast card in Settings → Companion pushes a banner to every connected device at once — HOLD — stand by, Places, please, or anything you type. It appears instantly on all three surfaces (even while the show is stopped), stays up until you press Clear, and is strictly one-way: devices can read it, never send one.

The live view and system monitor

Live view is a booth confidence monitor: deck cards with artwork, live BPM and a locally-ticking beat indicator, master/on-air badges, the current phrase, energy trend, upcoming AutoPilot moments, and a mirror of your CuePads' run-state. Confidence mode blows the numbers up to across-the-booth size.

System monitor is the FOH health wall: every output connection with its circuit-breaker state, queue depth, and latency; what's live right now; PRO DJ LINK devices on the network; timecode source and freewheel state; and the notification history. A breaker trip shows up the moment it happens.

If something looks wrong

• "Access code required" — the device opened the bare URL. Re-scan the QR (the code rides in the link), or append ?code=….
• "SIGNAL STALE" banner — the device hasn't received data for 20 seconds. It reconnects itself; if the banner sticks, check the show machine and the WiFi. A healthy but idle system never shows this — the server heartbeats precisely so silence always means trouble.
• QR shows but devices can't reach it — you're serving on the wrong interface. Pick the network the devices are on under Network (the panel warns you when you're on loopback, which only works on the show machine itself).
• iPad goes dark mid-show — Companion holds a screen wake-lock, but if the iPad is manually locked, iOS pauses the page. For a dedicated cue-light iPad, use Guided Access.
• Port already in use — another app (or a stale CueSync) holds the port. Change it under Network → Port; the panel tells you when the server couldn't start and why.

A monitoring computer on the same network can also auto-discover the server via Bonjour/mDNS (_cuesync-companion._tcp) — the access code is never broadcast, only the address.

Scale and safety

The server caps at 24 simultaneous live-stream devices to protect the show machine, sheds request floods per device, and runs in its own fault-isolated service — a Companion hiccup cannot touch cue execution. All of it lives and dies with the Enable toggle: switch it off and every device is dropped instantly.