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ChuckandClaude Opus 5.5
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* perf(timing): say which render-thread work a late frame followed The soak already says how often a moving frame reached the panel late, but not what the render thread was doing just before it. Vegas does two kinds of work there between frames -- building its strip (compose, extend) and, with live elements, patching changed pixels into it -- and deciding whether either is affordable needs their own numbers. - FrameTimingRecorder.note_op(kind, nbytes) tags the next presented frame. Totals gain op_frames, late_op_frames, op_freezes and op_bytes per kind; aggregate() still takes frames without ops. The file schema is unchanged. - Vegas tags compose and every strip extension (with the bytes it copied). - frame_soak prints an "after work" table: frames, late %, freezes and MB moved per kind, only when something tagged its work. - render_bench gains --strip-screens (Vegas-sized strips), --patch-bytes / --patch-every / --patch-where (in-place column writes, as a live element update does) and --extend-every-screens / --extend-width (append + trim on a fixed cadence that holds the strip's width). No runtime behaviour changes: this is the measurement gate for live Vegas elements. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * docs(changelog): note the frame-op attribution and bench modes Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * perf(scroll): build the strip's PIL image only when something reads it Every Vegas strip extension rebuilt ScrollHelper.cached_image from cached_array in full, twice (append, then trim), on the render thread: Image.fromarray is 1.7ms for an 8,000px strip and 3.8ms for 20,000px on a Pi 4 (measured on ledpi), about two thirds of an extension's render-thread cost. Nothing on the frame path reads the image's pixels; every frame is cut from the array. cached_image is now a property. append_content and drop_scrolled_prefix defer it; the first read builds it from the array it started with and keeps it only if the strip has not changed meanwhile, so a sync push racing an extension cannot leave a stale image cached. Assigning cached_image stores exactly what was assigned, as before. has_strip() says whether there is a strip without building its image; the helper's frame path, Vegas and the adapter's scroll-cache invalidation use it. The strip is also no longer held in memory twice. In Vegas the image is now built only by a multi-display sync push. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * feat(vegas): live elements -- a plugin API for content that changes while it scrolls Vegas bakes each plugin's pictures into one strip, so a card already on its way across the panel keeps what it showed when it was drawn. This adds the API and bookkeeping for content that can be updated in place; the worker that redraws and swaps it follows separately. No shipped plugin implements the hook yet, so nothing changes for users. Plugin API (core 3.8.0), all no-ops by default: - BasePlugin.get_vegas_elements() -> [VegasElement(key, image, version, live, refresh_hz)]: named, fixed-width pieces of Vegas content. - BasePlugin.redraw_vegas_element(key, width, height, at): a lock-free redraw for content that changes with time. - BasePlugin.notify_vegas_data_changed(): data that lands outside update(). - src/plugin_system/vegas_elements.py (VegasElement, re-exported from base_plugin). Core: - PluginAdapter asks a plugin that implements the hook for elements on the background fetch only (under its lock, on its own canvas); every other path keeps get_vegas_content(). Live elements are pinned (padded with content_padding, never trimmed), tagged with their key, digest and data epoch in Image.info so the existing cache and group plumbing carry them unchanged, and untagged if a width budget crops them. - RenderPipeline records where each live element lands (ElementRecord), in absolute strip columns a trim does not move; the block-start arithmetic is shared with the STATIC markers. - PluginManager update listeners (add/remove_update_listener, notify_data_changed): told the moment update() completes, not at the next ~4s Vegas poll. The coordinator uses one to move each plugin's data epoch on. - vegas_scroll.live_refresh (kill switch), live_max_hz, live_min_interval, live_lead_screens; per-plugin core-owned vegas_live. Live elements are off under multi-display sync, in swap mode and with offscreen_prefetch off. - scripts/check_plugin.py checks the element contract (src/plugin_system/testing/vegas.py); test/fixtures/plugins/vegas-live-stub is a working example. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * feat(vegas): live elements update in place while they scroll One background worker (src/vegas_mode/live_worker.py) redraws a plugin's live elements when its data epoch moves on (update listener) or on their refresh_hz, nearest the screen first, and hands changed pixels lock-free to the render thread, which copies them into the strip between frames (RenderPipeline.apply_live_patches, ScrollHelper.patch_columns): at most four patches or two screens of bytes a frame, no drawing or locks there. The worker takes over group prefetch once a live element is placed, runs inside the render gate, and is supervised. Update tick 1s while live elements exist. Web UI switch for live_refresh. OFFSCREEN_RENDERING.md describes what was built and why SegmentStrip was not needed. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- 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.