Streamdeckd

A NodeJS Elgato Streamdeck controller daemon with d-bus support

Installation

As this uses the Elgato Stream Deck Library, you will need to follow
the installation process for that, which includes taking steps to allow node to access the streamdeck via udev. these steps include:

• create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/50-elgato.rules with the following config

SUBSYSTEM=="input", GROUP="input", MODE="0666"  
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0fd9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0060", MODE:="666", GROUP="plugdev"  
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0fd9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0063", MODE:="666", GROUP="plugdev"  
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0fd9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="006c", MODE:="666", GROUP="plugdev"  
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0fd9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="006d", MODE:="666", GROUP="plugdev"  

• run sudo udevadm control --reload-rules to reload the udev rules

Then xdotool will be required to simulate keypresses, to install this run:

Arch

sudo pacman -S xdotool

Debian based

sudo apt install xdotool

Then to install this package run:

sudo npm install -g streamdeckd

Usage

run streamdeckd to start the daemon and add to your desktop environments startup apps to start on login

Configuration

There are two ways to configure streamdeckd

Graphical Configuration

You can use the graphical streamdeckd configuration tool found here.

Manual configuration

The configuration file streamdeckd uses is a JSON file found at ~/.streamdeck-config.json

An example config would be something like:

{
  "handlers": {},
  "pages": [
    [
      {
        "switch_page": 1,
        "icon": "~/icon.png"
      }
    ]
  ]
}

The outer array is the list of pages, the inner array is the list of button on that page, with the buttons going in a right to left order.

The actions you can have on a button are:

• command: runs a native shell command, something like notify-send "Hello World"
• keybind: simulates the indicated keybind via xdtotool
• url: opens a url in your default browser via xdg
• brightness: set the brightness of the streamdeck as a percentage
• write: Write out a provided string via xdotool
• switch_page: change the active page on the streamdeck

Handlers

The config for custom handlers can be written as:

{
  "Gif": {
    "script_path": "./gif-handler",
    "types": ["key", "icon"],
    "iconFields": {
      "text": {
        "type": "text"
      },
      "icon": {
        "type": "file",
	    "accept": ".gif"
      }
    },
    "keyFields": {
      "command": {
        "type": "text"
      }
    }
  }
}

The fields are as listed below:

• script_path: The path of the handler script
• types: The types of actions it is available for, key is for on keypress, icon is for controlling the image shown on the key's screen
• icon/keyFields: The fields to show on the editor for if it is being used for key/icon
  • type: The type of field to be shown, currently limited to file and text
  • accept: Only applicable to file inputs, a comma separated list of file extensions to accept

D-Bus

There is a D-Bus interface built into the daemon, the service name and interface for D-Bus are com.thejonsey.streamdeck and com/thejonsey/streamdeck respectively, and is made up of the following methods/signals

Methods

• GetConfig - returns the current running config
• SetConfig - sets the config, without saving to disk, takes in Stringified json, returns an error if anything breaks
• ReloadConfig - reloads the config from disk
• GetDeckInfo - Returns information about the active streamdeck in the format of

{
  "icon_size": 72,
  "rows": 3,
  "cols": 5,
  "page": 0
}

• SetPage - Set the page on the streamdeck to the number passed to it, returns an error if anything breaks
• CommitConfig - Commits the currently active config to disk, returns an error if anything breaks

Signals

• Page - sends the number of the page switched to on the StreamDeck

Writing custom handlers

To write a custom handler, you create a js file where the module.exports includes (where applicable):

A class under module.exports.icon to handle the icon shown on the streamdeck, the fields passed to the constructor are:

• The current page number
• The index of the button on the page
• Methods to generate an image buffer and set the icon on the screen

A function under module.exports.key to handle the event of a key being pressed, the fields passed to the function are:

• The current page number
• The index of the button on the page
• The object of the key, as defined in the config, it may have additional fields as defined by the icon handler