Files
ChuckandClaude Opus 5.5 c3a7a110c4 fix(display): on-demand loads a disabled plugin live instead of failing (#678)
* fix(web): on-demand no longer restarts a running display service

POST /display/on-demand/start treated start_service (default true, sent by
"Preview on display", the on-demand dialog and the MQTT bridge) as
"restart": with the service running it ran systemctl stop, slept 1.5s and
started it again. Every request cold-started the display process -- every
plugin reloaded, panel blank -- to deliver a request the running process
already reads from the cache mailbox every ON_DEMAND_POLL_INTERVAL (0.25s),
including mid-dwell, mid-screen and mid-Vegas. The restart bought nothing:
startup only restores a session the display saved itself
(display_on_demand_config), so the new request arrived through the same
mailbox either way.

start_service now means "start it if it is not running". The stop route
coerces stop_service to a boolean so "false" no longer stops the service.
test_api_v3_on_demand_restart.py pinned the old restart path; it now pins
the replacement. Docs updated.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(display): on-demand loads a disabled plugin live instead of failing

The display process only loads enabled plugins, so an on-demand request for
a disabled one -- "Preview on display" offers it on every config page, with a
note that the plugin will be enabled for the preview -- failed with
invalid-mode. Nothing enabled it short of a restart, and the on-demand route
no longer restarts the service.

_activate_on_demand now loads an installed-but-not-running plugin through
the live-enable path (load_plugin + _register_loaded_plugin), with a new
load_plugin(force_enabled=True) so the instance runs enabled while
config.json keeps saying disabled. The plugin is tracked in
_on_demand_loaded_plugins, and the main loop unloads it through
_unregister_plugin once on-demand moves off it (stop, expiry, another
request, or a failed request that ends the session) -- right after its own
poll, where no display() is on the stack. A failed load publishes status
error with load-failed. A plugin enabled during the session stays loaded.

A session restored after a restart uses the same tracking instead of
setting enabled in the config dict config_manager caches, so its plugin is
unloaded when the session ends rather than staying loaded until the next
restart. Ending a session no longer resumes the rotation onto a plugin that
is about to be unloaded, which a restored session did.

Also: a stop sent while on-demand is inactive clears a failed request's
error, instead of /display/on-demand/status reporting status: error until
the state aged out.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-29 17:59:12 -04:00
..

LEDMatrix Documentation

This directory contains guides, references, and architectural notes for the LEDMatrix project. If you are setting up a Pi for the first time, start with the project root README — it covers hardware, OS imaging, and the one-shot installer. The pages here go deeper.

I'm a new user

  1. GETTING_STARTED.md — first-time setup walkthrough
  2. WEB_INTERFACE_GUIDE.md — using the web UI
  3. PLUGIN_STORE_GUIDE.md — installing and managing plugins
  4. WIFI_NETWORK_SETUP.md — WiFi and AP-mode setup
  5. TROUBLESHOOTING.md — common issues and fixes (PERMISSIONS.md for "Permission denied")
  6. SSH_UNAVAILABLE_AFTER_INSTALL.md — recovering SSH after install
  7. CONFIG_DEBUGGING.md — diagnosing config problems
  8. LOW_MEMORY_BOARDS.md — Pi Zero 2 W / 3B+ / 1GB Pi 4 memory limits

I want to write a plugin

Start here:

  1. PLUGIN_DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md — end-to-end workflow
  2. PLUGIN_QUICK_REFERENCE.md — cheat sheet
  3. PLUGIN_API_REFERENCE.md — display, cache, and plugin-manager APIs
  4. PLUGIN_ERROR_HANDLING.md — error-handling patterns
  5. DEV_PREVIEW.md — preview plugins on your dev machine without a Pi
  6. EMULATOR_SETUP_GUIDE.md — running the matrix emulator

Going deeper:

Configuring plugins

Advanced features

Reference

Contributing to LEDMatrix itself

Audits

Contributing to the docs

  • Markdown only, professional tone, minimal emoji.
  • Prefer adding to an existing page over creating a new one. If you add a new page, link it from this index in the section it belongs to.
  • If a page becomes obsolete, delete it (it stays in the repository history) and fix the links to it; test/test_doc_links.py fails on broken relative links.
  • Keep examples runnable — paths, commands, and config keys here should match what's actually in the repo.