LEDMatrix/CLAUDE.md

LEDMatrix

Project Structure

• src/plugin_system/ — Plugin loader, manager, store manager, base plugin class
• web_interface/ — Flask web UI (blueprints, templates, static JS)
• config/config.json — User plugin configuration (persists across plugin reinstalls)
• plugin-repos/ — Default plugin install directory used by the Plugin Store, set by plugin_system.plugins_directory in config.json (default per config/config.template.json). Not gitignored.
• plugins/ — Legacy/dev plugin location. Gitignored (plugins/*). Used by scripts/dev/dev_plugin_setup.sh for symlinks. The plugin loader does NOT fall back to it — PluginManager.discover_plugins() (src/plugin_system/plugin_manager.py) scans only the configured directory. Fallbacks exist in two narrower places: store operations (StoreManager._find_plugin_path() in store_manager.py) and schema lookup (SchemaManager.get_schema_path() in schema_manager.py, which probes plugins/ before plugin-repos/).

Plugin System

• Plugins inherit from BasePlugin in src/plugin_system/base_plugin.py
• Required abstract methods: update(), display(force_clear=False)
• Each plugin needs: manifest.json, config_schema.json, manager.py, requirements.txt
• Plugin instantiation args: plugin_id, config, display_manager, cache_manager, plugin_manager
• Config schemas use JSON Schema Draft-7
• Display dimensions: always read dynamically from self.display_manager.width/height — not display_manager.matrix.width/height, because matrix is None when hardware init fails (the properties fall back to the canvas size)
• Secrets: namespaced by plugin id in config/config_secrets.json, declared via "x-secret": true in the plugin's config schema, and deep-merged into the plugin's config dict at load time — plugins read them with plain config.get(...), never a separate accessor

Dev Workflow

• Link a plugin for development: ./scripts/dev/dev_plugin_setup.sh link-github <name> (or link <name> <path>); symlinks land in plugins/ — set plugin_system.plugins_directory to plugins so discovery picks them up
• Browser preview without the display loop: python3 scripts/dev_server.py → http://localhost:5001
• Full display in emulator mode: python3 run.py -e (or EMULATOR=true python3 run.py)
• Validate one plugin headlessly: python3 scripts/check_plugin.py --plugin <id>

Plugin Store Architecture

• Official plugins live in the ledmatrix-plugins monorepo (not individual repos)
• Plugin repo naming convention: ledmatrix-<plugin-id> (e.g., ledmatrix-football-scoreboard)
• plugins.json registry at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ChuckBuilds/ledmatrix-plugins/main/plugins.json
• Store manager (src/plugin_system/store_manager.py) handles install/update/uninstall
• Monorepo plugins are installed via ZIP extraction (no .git directory)
• Update detection for monorepo plugins uses version comparison (manifest version vs registry latest_version)
• Plugin configs stored in config/config.json, NOT in plugin directories — safe across reinstalls
• Third-party plugins can use their own repo URL with empty plugin_path

Skin System (visual overlays for sports scoreboards) — NOT SUPPORTED YET

• Skins do not render with the current scoreboard plugins: the only hook is SportsCore._render_game() in src/base_classes/sports/core.py, and no current scoreboard plugin (monorepo or third-party registry) builds on src.base_classes
• So core doesn't offer them: no Visual Skin dropdown (get_plugin_schema skips inject_skin_selector), the store hides/refuses "type": "skin" entries, GET /api/v3/skins reports "supported": false. Switch: SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED in src/skin_system/__init__.py
• Stored skin / skin_options config values must keep loading and saving (base schema allows them; form saves deep-merge over the stored section)
• Skins live in skins/<skin-id>/ (skin.json + skin.py), NOT in plugin dirs — plugin reinstall deletes plugin dirs
• Core: src/skin_system/ (ScoreboardSkin, SkinContext, runtime); keep it and its tests
• Skins render onto ctx.canvas only; fallback to built-in renderer on False/exception (3 strikes disables for session)
• View-model guaranteed keys are frozen (see test/test_skin_system.py::TestViewModelContract) — renaming keys in _extract_game_details_common or sport extractors breaks published skins
• Validate skins headlessly: python scripts/validate_skin.py --skin <id>; docs: docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md, docs/CREATING_SKINS.md
• Skins are NOT monorepo plugins: no manifest bump / update_registry.py needed

Common Pitfalls

• paho-mqtt 2.x needs callback_api_version=mqtt.CallbackAPIVersion.VERSION1 for v1 compat
• BasePlugin uses get_logger() from src.logging_config, not standard logging.getLogger()
• DisplayManager has no draw_image() — paste onto the PIL image directly: self.display_manager.image.paste(img, (x, y)) then update_display() (use a mask for transparency: image.paste(rgba, (x, y), rgba))
• When modifying a plugin in the monorepo, you MUST bump version in its manifest.json and run python update_registry.py — otherwise users won't receive the update