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ChuckandClaude Opus 5.5
64c7289593
If the render loop gets stuck inside a plugin's display(), ledmatrix.service stays active and the panel stays frozen. This adds a way to detect that. - src/display_watchdog.py (standard library only) sends sd_notify over $NOTIFY_SOCKET and writes /run/ledmatrix/display-heartbeat.json. Only the render thread counts: beats from other threads are ignored. - ledmatrix.service: WatchdogSec=120, NotifyAccess=main, RuntimeDirectory=ledmatrix (0755), RestartSteps=4 and RestartMaxDelaySec=2min. It stays Type=simple. run.py widens the watchdog to 15 min for start-up, and load_plugin() does the same on the render thread. The loop arms after its first frame. - /api/v3/health adds checks.display_loop: running, stalled (no heartbeat for over 60s, which makes the status degraded) or not_reported. With web login on, a caller who is not logged in still gets only healthy/degraded, and a stall degrades that answer. - The update verifier requires a fresh heartbeat from the restarted display when the display it replaced was writing one. A frozen panel is rolled back. - Existing installs get the systemd watchdog only after install_service.sh is re-run. The heartbeat works right away. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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
- GETTING_STARTED.md — first-time setup walkthrough
- WEB_INTERFACE_GUIDE.md — using the web UI
- PLUGIN_STORE_GUIDE.md — installing and managing plugins
- WIFI_NETWORK_SETUP.md — WiFi and AP-mode setup
- TROUBLESHOOTING.md — common issues and fixes (PERMISSIONS.md for "Permission denied")
- SSH_UNAVAILABLE_AFTER_INSTALL.md — recovering SSH after install
- CONFIG_DEBUGGING.md — diagnosing config problems
- LOW_MEMORY_BOARDS.md — Pi Zero 2 W / 3B+ / 1GB Pi 4 memory limits
I want to write a plugin
Start here:
- PLUGIN_DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md — end-to-end workflow
- PLUGIN_QUICK_REFERENCE.md — cheat sheet
- PLUGIN_API_REFERENCE.md — display, cache, and plugin-manager APIs
- PLUGIN_ERROR_HANDLING.md — error-handling patterns
- DEV_PREVIEW.md — preview plugins on your dev machine without a Pi
- EMULATOR_SETUP_GUIDE.md — running the matrix emulator
Going deeper:
- ADVANCED_PLUGIN_DEVELOPMENT.md — advanced patterns
- PLUGIN_ARCHITECTURE_SPEC.md — original plugin-system design spec (historical; see its banner for what has drifted)
- PLUGIN_DEPENDENCY_GUIDE.md / PLUGIN_DEPENDENCY_TROUBLESHOOTING.md
- PLUGIN_WEB_UI_ACTIONS.md (+ example JSON)
- PLUGIN_CUSTOM_ICONS.md
- PLUGIN_REGISTRY_SETUP_GUIDE.md (+ registry template)
- STARLARK_APPS_GUIDE.md — Starlark-based mini-apps
- Widget guide — built-in
x-widgets and custom widgets - ADAPTIVE_LAYOUT.md — render legibly on any panel size (opt-in font/layout scaling)
- plugin-safety-harness.md — test a plugin across every screen and matrix size
Configuring plugins
- PLUGIN_CONFIG_QUICK_START.md — minimal config you need
- PLUGIN_CONFIGURATION_GUIDE.md — schema design
- PLUGIN_ELEMENT_STYLING.md — let users restyle, move, hide and scale individual elements (per display mode, if you have them)
- PLUGIN_CONFIGURATION_TABS.md — multi-tab UI configs
- PLUGIN_CONFIG_ARCHITECTURE.md — how the config system works
- PLUGIN_CONFIG_CORE_PROPERTIES.md — properties every plugin honors
Advanced features
- ADVANCED_FEATURES.md — Vegas scroll, on-demand display, cache management, background services, permissions
- FONT_MANAGER.md — font system
- SCROLL_PERFORMANCE.md — how scrolling is paced, and how to make a plugin's marquee smooth
- OFFSCREEN_RENDERING.md — rendering plugin content off the render thread
- PERMISSIONS.md — file ownership, sudo rules, repair scripts
- MQTT bridge — control the display from Home Assistant over MQTT
Reference
- CONFIG_REFERENCE.md — every key in config.json and config_secrets.json
- REST_API_REFERENCE.md — all web-interface HTTP endpoints
- PLUGIN_API_REFERENCE.md — Python APIs available to plugins
- src/common/README.md — shared helper modules plugins can import
- DEVELOPER_QUICK_REFERENCE.md — common dev tasks
Contributing to LEDMatrix itself
- ARCHITECTURE.md — processes, display loop, plugin system, web UI; where to start reading
- DEVELOPMENT.md — environment setup
- HOW_TO_RUN_TESTS.md — running the test suite
- MULTI_ROOT_WORKSPACE_SETUP.md — multi-repo workspace
- MIGRATION_GUIDE.md — breaking changes between releases
- SPORTS_UNIFICATION.md — how shared sports scoreboard code moves into
src/common
Audits
- audits/WEB_UI_AUDIT_2026-09.md — web UI audit (September 2026)
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.pyfails on broken relative links. - Keep examples runnable — paths, commands, and config keys here should match what's actually in the repo.