Run the box on show day

The box is one program on one machine serving everything: the app, the files, the history and the voice server. This page is the operator's day, in order.

Before doors

1. Power. Put the box machine on a UPS or at least on mains, not battery. On a Mac, Crewbox keeps the machine awake while it runs, lid shut included; on Windows and Linux, turn sleep off yourself. The readiness list's Power row says what it can see.
2. Network. Plug the box into the crew network, by cable if you can. If it has more than one adapter, check Admin → This box → Networks → Crew network points at the crew side.
3. Start it and read Admin → This box. Every row that isn't Working carries its own fix. The rows that bite on the day:
   • Crew network: the address phones will use.
   • Push-to-talk voice: on, off, or listen-only in browsers.
   • Phones stay on this Wi-Fi: whether iPhones will stay on a network with no internet (see Troubleshooting).
   • Clock and timezone: the running order and the show log trust it.
   • Disk space: photos and files are stored on the box.
4. Put the QR poster up: Open the QR poster page in the menu bar or tray, or /connect in any browser. Print it, or leave it on a screen at the crew entrance.
5. Import the paperwork: the patch CSV (guide), the lighting MVR (guide). The acts and times land on the running order for everyone.
6. Check the networks: open Network and, with the venue's agreement, run the deep probe once. Download HTML report is the thing to hand venue IT (guide).

The menu bar or tray

On a Mac the box lives in the menu bar; on Windows, in the system tray. Its menu is the box's front panel:

If the box has stopped, the item reads Crewbox — not running. On a Mac it reads Crewbox — starting… while the box starts, and offers Start Crewbox after a stop. The full list is in Setup, connect and the box.

From a terminal

crewbox --status   # is it running, the join address(es), the event PIN
crewbox --stop     # stop it cleanly; works over SSH and with no screen

A second copy refuses to start while one is running, so it can't take the port from, or damage, the live box. Stop the old one first.

During the show

• Crew who can't get in: Join the crew by QR has the fixes. A forgotten PIN is Reset PIN beside their name in Admin → Crew.
• The event PIN leaked: change it in Admin → This box. New joins need the new one; people already in are unaffected. Update the poster.
• Tally lights and desk buttons: a Stream Deck or any HTTP client can raise the on-air bar and post to channels (Drive the box from a desk).
• An update is offered: leave it until the show's down. Downloading is harmless; installing takes comms off air for about twenty seconds, and the panel tells you exactly who's affected before it does.
• Something odd happened: log it in the show log while it's fresh; the When buttons back-date it.
• The box crashed and came back: the admin panel asks whether to send the crash report. Nothing is sent unless you say so.

Phones that lose the box keep working from what they have and queue what's sent. When the box comes back they catch up by themselves.

Packing down

1. Export: Admin → Export → Download chat logs saves every user, channel and message as one JSON file. Download the network audit's HTML report and the show log's Show report too, if you need them for the file.
2. Stop the box: Stop Crewbox and quit, or crewbox --stop.
3. Back up ~/.crewbox/data: copy the whole folder somewhere safe while the box is stopped. It holds the database, every uploaded file and the licence. The readiness list's Backup row shows when a backup was last recorded.

The next event can start from a fresh data folder (move the old one aside), or carry on in the same one.

Serving the Android app

Drop the crewbox-<version>.apk into the data folder. The box serves it at /crewbox.apk and the /connect poster offers it, with no internet needed. The readiness list's Android app download row confirms it's being served.