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LEDMatrix/CLAUDE.md
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ChuckandClaude Opus 5.5 3eb7a2e349 feat(perf): time every presented frame, and a soak script to judge a rig
Each scroller already logs its own stats line, but in different formats,
per source, and Vegas logs a healthy window only at DEBUG. None of it
answers the question a release has to answer on each rig: over a long
run, how often did a moving frame reach the panel late?

Every frame reaches the panel through DisplayManager.update_display, so
it is timed there once, whoever drew it: the blit (SetImage), the vsync
wait, and the interval since the previous frame. The render thread only
appends a tuple. A worker thread aggregates cumulative counters and
histograms and rewrites /dev/shm/ledmatrix_frame_stats.json every 10s
(RAM, so no SD wear).

A frame due after `hold` refreshes that lands one or more refreshes
later is "late": the panel repeated the previous frame, a visible hitch.
Gaps of 250ms+ inside a scroll are "freezes" (recomposes, handovers,
blocking calls), counted separately so one handover does not read as 40
missed refreshes. Static frames, the first frame of a scroll and gaps
between scrolls are not timed. The refresh period is estimated from the
frames themselves.

scripts/frame_soak.py runs next to the service as any user, diffs two
snapshots over a run (default 10 minutes), optionally keeps the web
preview's viewer marker fresh, and exits non-zero above 0.1% late
frames. It also reports whether the loaded rgbmatrix binding releases
the GIL. Documented under "Soaking a rig" in docs/SCROLL_PERFORMANCE.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-23 21:51:32 -04:00

4.6 KiB

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> clones the ledmatrix-plugins monorepo into ~/.ledmatrix-dev-plugins/ and links its plugins/<name> under the manifest id (add a repo URL for a plugin with its own repo; or link <name> <path>); symlinks land in plugins/ — set plugin_system.plugins_directory to plugins so discovery picks them up. Fork/location overrides: dev_plugins.json (from dev_plugins.json.example)
  • 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>
  • Soak a rig for frame timing (on the Pi, service running): python3 scripts/frame_soak.py --preview — late-frame rate across every scroller; see docs/SCROLL_PERFORMANCE.md

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

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
  • src/pi5_matrix_support.py hardcodes what the pinned rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master can drive on a Raspberry Pi 5 (Rp1PioConfigSupported() in lib/rp1/rp1_pio_backend.cc). Re-check it whenever the submodule is bumped: a stale rule blocks Pi 5 settings the new library supports, and a missing one lets the display service crash-loop. src/matrix_support.py holds the same kind of rules for every board (rows, chain length, mapping names, parallel per mapping) and needs the same re-check