Running the box

The box is one program on one machine — a laptop is fine — serving everything: the app, the files, the history, the voice server. This page takes you from download to crew scanning the QR; nothing here needs internet at the venue.

Install and run

macOS — download the .dmg from the front page, open, drag to Applications, launch. Signed and notarised, so it opens without warnings — including with no internet. It keeps the Mac awake while running, lid shut included.
Windows — download the .exe, double-click. SmartScreen will warn about an unsigned app: More info → Run anyway. That means Windows hasn't seen the file before, not that something is wrong.
Linux, or macOS by one line:

curl -fsSL https://crewbox.letissier.ie/install.sh | sh

Downloads the right binary, clears the macOS quarantine flag, starts it.

First run: four questions

The box opens a browser on /setup:

Event name — what crew see when they join. Changeable any time.
Wi-Fi network — the network crew join to reach the box, shown as join guidance. Leave blank if you don't know yet.
Event PIN — pre-filled with a freshly minted one; keep or change.
Admin password — also minted for you, shown this once.

Write the admin password down now. It is never shown again, and the setup page closes forever the moment the first person joins. If it's lost, the supported way back in is setting the ADMIN_PASSWORD environment variable and restarting the box.

A Networks section appears when the machine has more than one network adapter — pick which side the crew are on, and whether to listen to a lighting network (why you'd want to). Everything else on the setup page is editable later in the admin panel; the network choices apply on the next start.

The noticeboard: /connect

Saving setup lands on /connect: the join QR (with the PIN already in it), the join URL as a tappable link, the PIN in print, and — once you've put the Android app on the box — a download link for it. Leave it on a spare screen, or print poster versions. Crew scan, pick a name, done.

The box's own terminal prints the same thing, QR included, for headless machines.

Day to day

crewbox --status   # is it running, on what address, with which PIN
crewbox --stop     # stop it — works over SSH, works headless

macOS: a menu-bar item beside the clock — the event, the join link, copy-the-PIN, and Stop Crewbox and quit. No Dock icon; it's a server.
Windows: the same menu in the system tray.
Linux: Ctrl-C in its terminal, or crewbox --stop.

A second copy of the box refuses to start while one is running — it can't steal the port or hurt the live one. Stop the old one first (--stop), including when upgrading: running programs can't be overwritten.

Serving the Android app

Drop the crewbox-*.apk file into the box's data directory (~/.crewbox/ data) and it's served at /crewbox.apk — the /connect page starts offering it automatically. The URL never changes, so printed posters stay valid across versions.

Data, backup, updates

Everything lives in ~/.crewbox/data — one directory to back up, one to restore. deploy/backup.sh does it properly (a WAL-safe database snapshot, the uploads and the certificate); Admin → This box then shows a Backup row saying how long ago that last ran, so a regime that quietly stopped is visible rather than discovered. Updating the box is: stop it, replace the binary (or app), start it. Crew phones notice the new version and offer a Reload pill; nothing they had queued is lost.