QLAB Buddy

QLAB Buddy BETA

Current firmware: v… · built checking… · release history

A wireless touchscreen that shows your show live — cue name, timer, and connection status on a bright 3.5″ display. Put it anywhere: the tech table, the wings, your hand. Works with QLab 5 on a Mac, or Go Button on an iPhone with no Mac at all. Pair wireless Card Fountain props and fire them straight from your cues.

Try it

Interactive simulation of the real firmware UI — 480 × 320 px. Click the tabs, tap cues, test device buttons.

Reading the status dot

Bottom-left of every view. The dot’s color is the connection state and the label beside it names the active path. A small gold center pip appears when the internet is also reachable. Every state the buddy can show:

Blue — connected to a show

• QLAB + gold pip — QLab connected, internet reachable. Healthy showtime state.
• QLAB — QLab connected, no internet. Cues still work fine.
• Go Button + gold pip — Go Button connected, internet reachable.
• Go Button — Go Button connected, no internet. The show still runs fine.

Gold — on a network, no show yet

• WiFi — on WiFi with internet, but no QLab or Go Button found yet.
• LAN — USB-C to a Mac with internet, no QLab or Go Button yet.
• Hotspot — the buddy’s own hotspot is on and a device has joined it.
• Pairing — Pair Devices is running and a prop has joined the hotspot.

White — on a network, not ready yet

• WiFi — on WiFi but no internet yet, and no QLab or Go Button.
• LAN — USB-C cable plugged in, still getting an address or no internet yet.
• Hotspot — hotspot on, nothing connected to it yet.
• Pairing — Pair Devices running, waiting for a prop to join.

Red — no network

• No WiFi — no network path at all. Plug in USB-C or enter WiFi credentials.

Hardware

Get Started

Four steps from unboxed hardware to a working buddy.

1. Buy the hardware The Waveshare ESP32-S3 Touch LCD 3.5” — links above in The Buddy. Nothing else to buy.
2. Flash the firmware In Chrome (or Edge / Opera) on a desktop: hold BOOT, plug in USB-C, release BOOT, then click Connect and Install in the install button above. Takes about 60 seconds. Web Serial isn’t available in Firefox or Safari.
3. Enter your WiFi credentials On the buddy, tap Devices (top center tab) → SETTINGS → WiFi row. Type your network SSID and password. The buddy will connect immediately — no reboot needed. The status dot turns gold when it has a network path.
4. Choose your mode

   • QLab 5 — plug into your Mac via USB-C or join the same WiFi network. The buddy finds QLab automatically within a few seconds. Status dot turns blue labeled QLAB. See Using with QLab 5 for the full setup.
   • Go Button — make sure your iPhone/iPad is on the same WiFi network and Go Button’s UDP Reply Port is set to 53001. The buddy discovers the show automatically. Status dot turns blue labeled Go Button. See Using with Go Button for the full setup.

The buddy broadcasts itself as qlabbuddy.local and listens on UDP port 53001. All three network paths (USB-C, WiFi, hotspot) are live simultaneously and fail over automatically.

Using with QLab 5

OSC setup in QLab

Two settings in every workspace. Do this once per show file and it sticks in the .qlab5 file.

1. Enable OSC input on port 53000 Workspace Settings → Network → OSC Controls (or OSC Receiver).
   Tick Enable Network OSC. Set the listen / input port to 53000.
2. Allow control Workspace Settings → Network → OSC Access.
   Check Allow OSC connections. In the No Passcode row, tick Control. Save.

   To run in view-only mode (buddy shows cues but GO/PANIC/STOP do nothing), tick View only and leave Control unchecked. You can flip back any time.

Three ways to connect

• USB-C — sub-millisecond latency, completely RF-immune. Best choice for showtime. The buddy presents as a USB-NCM Ethernet device at 192.168.7.1 — your Mac’s WiFi stays the default route, so QLab and internet work normally alongside it.
• WiFi — join the same network as your QLab Mac. Discovery is automatic, typically connects within 2–3 seconds.
• Hotspot — the buddy hosts its own AP if you have no router. Used for prop pairing too. Credentials below.

All three are active simultaneously. Failover is automatic — the buddy always routes through whatever path has QLab on it.

Cue-note timer directives

Drop directives into a cue’s Notes field — the buddy reads them and strips them from the visible text, so the operator never sees them on the QLab screen. Both : and . work as separators.

Using with Go Button NEW in 0.9.0

Go Button is an iPhone and iPad app by Figure 53, the makers of QLab. It’s a standalone cue-advance controller — load a show file, press GO. The buddy connects to Go Button over WiFi and mirrors the show in real time. No Mac needed at all. You can also trigger paired Card Fountain props from a Go Button show — see Device Triggering from Go Button.

Setup

1. Put both on the same network The buddy and the iPhone / iPad running Go Button must share one network — the buddy uses UDP broadcast for discovery, so it won’t cross subnets or VLANs. Two ways to do that:

   • Shared WiFi — join both to the same router (same SSID). Best when you have a venue or house network.
   • Buddy hotspot — no router? Turn the buddy’s hotspot on at Settings → Hotspot (press and hold the row to enable), then join the iPhone to it. Great for a self-contained rig. The iPhone won’t have internet on the hotspot — that’s fine, Go Button and the buddy only need to reach each other.
     Buddy hotspot credentials

     NetworkQLAB Buddy Passwordqlabbuddy
2. Set UDP Reply Port to 53001 Open Go Button on your device. Tap Settings → Connections. Set UDP Reply Port to 53001. Do this once — it persists across sessions.
3. Match the OSC passcode If OSC Access in Go Button has a passcode set, open the buddy’s Settings → OSC Access → Go Button passcode and enter the same numeric code. If no passcode is set in Go Button, leave the buddy’s field blank.
4. Passcode auto-shares with paired props NEW in 0.9.5 If your Go Button workspace has an OSC passcode, the buddy shares it with every paired Card Fountain automatically — no per-prop setup or re-pairing needed. Set or change the Go Button passcode once on the buddy and each prop receives it in the background, so cue triggering keeps working even when OSC is passcode-locked. If a prop was offline or missed a push, it re-syncs on its own the next time it reconnects.
5. Open a show in Go Button Load your show file and start the session. The buddy will detect the broadcast within a few seconds.
6. Pick the show on the buddy Tap the workspace name in the buddy’s status bar (or go to Settings → Workspace) to open the picker. Go Button shows appear alongside any QLab workspaces. Tap yours. The status dot turns solid blue labeled Go Button.

What you see in Go Button mode

• Top-bar timer — show elapsed time in HH:MM:SS format, counting up from 00:00 when the show is running. Resets to 00:00 when the show resets. The timer detects motion — it pauses automatically when Go Button stops advancing cues.
• Stage view — current cue name and cue number, updated each time Go Button advances.
• Chevron nav — left and right screen-edge arrows appear when a show is live. Hold either edge to step one cue back or forward in Go Button. Chevrons are hidden and navigation is disabled when the buddy is in VIEW mode (Settings → OSC Access → VIEW / CTRL).
• Status bar — the Go Button show name appears in the center. Status dot is solid blue, labeled Go Button.

Show timer

Go Button handles timing differently from QLab — there are no cue notes, so there are no #timer/ directives. Instead, the buddy mirrors Go Button’s own show timer directly. How it displays depends on how your Go Button show is configured:

• No show duration set — Go Button counts up. The buddy shows elapsed time in green, counting up from 00:00:00.
• Show duration set — Go Button counts down. The buddy shows time remaining in amber while time is left. When the show runs over, it flips to red and shows how far over you are.

You set the show duration in Go Button’s show settings — the buddy reads it automatically and adjusts its display accordingly. You don’t configure anything on the buddy.

The timer resets to 00:00:00 when the show resets in Go Button. The buddy detects motion from Go Button’s elapsed time — fire the first cue to kick it off.

For per-cue countdowns, count-up stopwatches, pause, and resume — use QLab with #timer/ directives. See Cue-note timer directives.

Tips

• If the timer shows 00:00:00 and doesn’t move, fire a cue in Go Button first — it takes one poll cycle (~0.5 s) to detect motion.
• If your show appears in the picker but the timer is always blank: double-check the UDP Reply Port setting (53001) — that’s almost always the cause.
• Workspace picker flickering during search is normal — the buddy broadcasts every 500 ms while scanning. It settles within 1–2 s once Go Button replies.

Workspace Lock

The buddy auto-selects the first workspace it finds on the network — whether that’s a QLab workspace or a Go Button show. In a more complex rig you can lock it to exactly the right one.

Workspace picker

Go to Settings → Workspace to open the picker. Every workspace the buddy has discovered on the current network appears as a row. Short-tap a workspace to select it as the active workspace — the buddy stays on that selection through WiFi drops, reboots, and restarts.

To hard-lock onto a specific host device, hold a workspace row for 2.5 seconds. The row fills as you hold. When it completes, the buddy locks to that workspace and that device IP — it won’t wander to another host on the network even if something else responds first. The locked row turns blue and pins to the top of the list with a LOCKED badge. Hold the same row again to unlock.

If the locked host goes offline, a grey ghost row stays at the top so you can see and unlock it without losing the lock inadvertently. The buddy waits quietly for that host to reappear and ignores everything else on the network.

The picker stays open after a tap or lock so you can review the state. Tap the ‹ Back pill (top-right) to return to Settings.

No workspaces showing? Tap Enter IP Manually at the bottom of the picker to type the host’s IP directly (e.g. 192.168.1.42). Useful when mDNS is blocked or the device hasn’t announced yet.

OSC Access

Tap Settings → OSC Access to open the OSC Access page. This is where all OSC permission and passcode settings live.

• Mode (VIEW / CTRL) — CTRL (default) lets the buddy send GO, PANIC, STOP, and cue-navigation commands. Switch to VIEW to make the buddy read-only: it monitors the show live but all control buttons and chevron navigation are silenced. Useful at the tech table or for a second monitor display you don’t want to accidentally trigger.
• QLab passcode — if your QLab workspace has an OSC passcode set under Workspace Settings → Network → OSC Access, enter the same numeric code here. The buddy sends it automatically on every connect. Leave blank if no passcode is set.
• Go Button passcode — if your Go Button show has an OSC passcode set, enter the matching numeric code here. This is the only place you enter it: the buddy shares it with every paired Card Fountain automatically (see Passcode auto-sync to props below). Leave blank if no passcode is set.

Tap a passcode row to open the numeric pad. Tap x to the right of a set passcode to clear it.

Passcode auto-sync to props NEW in 0.9.5

When OSC is passcode-locked, a Card Fountain only fires from a matching passcode — so a prop on a shared network won’t fire from an unauthorized sender. You never type that passcode into the prop. Enter the Go Button passcode once on the buddy (Settings → OSC Access → Go Button passcode) and the buddy pushes it to every paired prop for you.

• Set once, shared everywhere — the buddy sends the stored Go Button passcode to each paired Card Fountain in the background. Newly discovered props, props that reconnect, and props pairing via SYNC all receive it — no per-prop entry and no re-pairing.
• Changes re-push automatically — whenever you change the passcode on the buddy — from the numeric pad or by tapping x to clear it — the new value is pushed to every paired prop right away. Clearing it propagates too, so props stop expecting a passcode and keep firing.
• Self-healing on reconnect — if a prop was offline when you changed the passcode, or a push was missed, it re-syncs silently the next time it reports in. Each prop advertises a fingerprint of its stored passcode; when the buddy sees a mismatch it re-pushes the current code on its own. Cue triggering just keeps working — no manual action needed.

RF Relay BETA

Current firmware: v… · built checking… · board: LilyGo T-Embed CC1101

A networked sub-GHz capture and replay node. Point a 315, 433, 868, or 915 MHz fixed-code remote at it, learn the code via OSC or the onboard encoder, then replay it from QLab or Go Button on every subsequent show. Once provisioned the RF Relay fires independently — the buddy is only needed for initial WiFi SYNC and monitoring.

Designed for battery-powered remotes that control props or practical effects that can’t be wired: wireless LED controllers, RF dimmers, ceiling fans, and any fixed-code PT2262/EV1527 remote.

Pairing with the buddy

1. Start pairing mode. On the buddy, tap Devices → Pair Devices. This turns on the hotspot and begins scanning.
2. Power on the RF Relay. It scans for the “QLAB Buddy” hotspot on every boot and joins automatically.
3. Tap SYNC on the buddy when the device appears. Pushes your main WiFi credentials and a static IP.

Factory re-pair: hold the encoder button while powering on, keep it held for 3 s after the boot sequence. Wipes NVS credentials and reboots into SYNC mode.

Hardware

Two hardware options — both run the same firmware. The Plus adds an external SMA antenna for better range and a built-in microphone (unused by current firmware). All pins and features are otherwise identical.

Display UI

Rotate to scroll · short press to confirm/fire · long press to open setup or go back.

OSC reference

Port 8000. Send Network cues from QLab (Custom Message) or Go Button cue-name tags directly to the board’s static IP. Passcode-gated when a passcode is set on the device.

Workflow: before the show, fire /rf/learn/N/MHZ (or use the onboard LEARN option), hold the remote button until captured. During the show, fire /rf/N or /rf/N/TIME from your cue stack exactly like any other prop trigger.

Universal Controller BETA

Current firmware: v… · built checking… · boards: NULLLAB Maker-ESP32  ·  DFRobot Romeo Mini ESP32-C3

A wireless OSC prop controller for live shows. Pair it with the buddy, give it a static IP, and drive motors and servos directly from QLab cues or Go Button. Two board options: the NULLLAB Maker-ESP32 gives you four DC motor channels and four servo channels; the Romeo Mini ESP32-C3 is a smaller form factor with two motor channels and four servo channels.

Build anything that moves: turntables, lifts, reveals, automated set pieces, puppet rigs. If it takes a motor or a servo, the Universal Controller drives it from your cue stack.

Pairing with the buddy

1. Start pairing mode On the buddy, tap Devices → Pair Devices. This turns on the hotspot and begins scanning.
2. Power on the Universal Controller. It scans for the “QLAB Buddy” hotspot on every boot and joins automatically. The buddy’s hotspot just needs to be active — there is no fixed time window.
3. Tap SYNC on the buddy when the device appears. Pushes your main WiFi credentials + static IP assignment.

Factory re-pair: hold BOOT (GPIO 0) while powering on, keep it held for 3 s after power-up. The button is read during boot — holding it after the boot sequence completes has no effect. Wipes NVS and reboots into SYNC mode.

Hardware

LED status

Idle

• Blue — QLab show file open and ready.
• Green — WiFi connected, no QLab file open.

Boot

• White pulse ×3 — Boot animation, board is starting up.
• Yellow — Connecting to WiFi.
• Magenta blink — On buddy hotspot, waiting for SYNC or receiving credentials.

Pairing

• 3× green flash — Credentials saved, board rebooting onto your WiFi.

Active

• White breathing — Motor running.
• 3× white flash — /identify received, confirms which board you’re targeting.

Error

• Red blink — WiFi dropped, waiting to reconnect.
• Yellow — Actively reconnecting to WiFi.

Blue / green updates instantly when the buddy broadcasts a QLab open / close event. Romeo Mini has no onboard LED — all LED states above apply to the NULLLAB board only.

OSC reference

Port 8000. Send Network cues from QLab (Custom Message) or Go Button cue-name tags directly to the board’s IP.

Motors (M1–M4)

Replace m1 with m2, m3, or m4 for other channels. M3 and M4 are NULLLAB Maker-ESP32 only — the Romeo Mini has two motor channels (M1–M2).

Servos (S1–S4)

Replace s1 with s2, s3, or s4 for other channels. Angles are 0–180°. All servos boot at 90° (center).

Duration formats

Aliases: /start, /reverse, and /test (without a channel prefix) target M1 — so any existing QLab patch that already uses those commands works without changes.

OSC passcode: if your Go Button workspace has an OSC passcode, the buddy pushes it to the Universal Controller automatically after pairing — no per-device setup needed.

Card Fountain — Handheld ALPHA

Current firmware: v… · built checking…

Pocket-sized Card Fountain. Fires on the same OSC interface as the Dekolta. Pairs over the buddy’s hotspot, gets a static IP, and takes /start from QLab network cues or Go Button cue tags.

Pairing with the buddy

1. Start pairing mode On the buddy, tap Devices → Pair Devices. This turns on the hotspot and begins scanning.
2. Power on the Handheld within ~5 seconds. It scans for the “QLAB Buddy” hotspot on every boot and joins automatically.
3. Tap SYNC on the buddy when the Handheld appears in the list. This pushes your main WiFi credentials to the prop, gives it a static IP, and completes the pairing.

Factory re-pair: power on, wait for 3 boot pulses, then hold BOOT for 3 s. Wipes NVS and reboots into SYNC mode.

OSC passcode: there’s nothing to set on the Handheld. If your Go Button workspace has an OSC passcode, the buddy shares it with each paired prop automatically — and re-syncs it whenever you change it. No per-prop setup or re-pairing is needed.

Hardware

Card Fountain — Dekolta ALPHA

Current firmware: v… · built checking…

Stage Card Fountain. Pairs over the buddy’s hotspot; QLab drives it over OSC. Cosine ramp for smooth motor acceleration. Static IP survives reboots and router restarts.

Pairing with the buddy

1. Start pairing mode On the buddy, tap Devices → Pair Devices.
2. Power on the Dekolta. It joins the “QLAB Buddy” hotspot automatically on first boot or after a factory reset.
3. Tap SYNC on the buddy row. Pushes WiFi credentials + static IP assignment.

OSC passcode is automatic: if your Go Button workspace has an OSC passcode, the buddy shares it with the Dekolta on its own — no per-prop setup or re-pairing. Change it once on the buddy under Settings → OSC Access → Go Button passcode and every paired prop re-syncs automatically, so cue triggering keeps working when OSC is passcode-locked.

Hardware

Device Triggering from QLab

Both Card Fountain models use the same OSC interface. Set each one up as a Network Patch in QLab and fire it with Network cues.

1. Pair the prop to the buddy first Before you can trigger a prop from QLab, it needs to be paired to the buddy. Follow the pairing steps in the Handheld or Dekolta section. Once paired, the prop gets a static IP from the buddy and appears in the Devices view.
2. Find the prop’s IP on the buddy Go to the Devices view. The IP appears under each paired prop’s name (e.g. 192.168.1.62). This address is permanent across reboots, router restarts, and DHCP churn — QLab patches stay valid forever.
3. Add a Network Patch in QLab Workspace Settings → Network → OSC Controls → + (add).
   Name: anything you want (e.g. Handheld Fountain).
   Network Patch: tap + Add Network Patch if needed. Type: UDP, Host: <prop IP>, Port: 8000.
4. Add a Network cue Toolbar → + → Network. Set the destination to your prop patch. In the Custom Message field, type the OSC address + arguments separated by spaces.

OSC commands

In QLab’s Network cue Custom Message field, type the OSC address directly. Velocity is 0–100; duration uses the s suffix for seconds.

Reliability tip for live shows: QLab sends one UDP packet per cue by default. On a busy venue WiFi a single dropped packet is a missed fire. Duplicate the Network cue twice with a 20 ms pre-wait on each copy — three packets per fire, and the prop is idempotent on repeated /start so extras are harmless.

Device Triggering from Go Button NEW in 0.9.5

How it works: Go Button can’t send OSC out to a device on its own, so the buddy does it for you. Put a short trigger tag in a cue’s name. The buddy watches Go Button’s live cue display — the moment the playhead leaves the tagged cue and advances to the next one, the buddy fires the matching prop. In practice this happens right as GO is pressed, since pressing GO is what advances the playhead. The buddy is the bridge between Go Button and the prop — it must be powered on and connected to the show (it only needs USB power, not a computer). The tag uses the prop’s IP address directly, so it always targets the right device regardless of device type or how many props are on the network.

1. Pair the prop to the buddy first Go Button can’t talk to props directly — the buddy handles that. Follow the pairing steps in the Handheld or Dekolta section. Once paired, the prop’s static IP appears in the buddy’s Devices view.
2. Add the tag to a Go Button cue name In Go Button, rename the cue so its name contains the trigger tag. The tag can sit anywhere — the cue name can still read naturally:
   Big Reveal  #192.168.86.62/80%/3s
3. Press GO When GO is pressed, Go Button advances the playhead to the next cue. The buddy sees the displayed cue name leave the tagged cue and immediately fires the prop — never when you merely open, reopen, or scrub to the cue. Pressing GO on the same tagged cue again re-triggers the prop, so a repeated reveal works every time.

Tag syntax

Format is #<IP>/<command>. Multiple tags in one cue name fire all their props independently.

The pieces

• IP address — the prop’s static IP from the buddy’s Devices view. Works with any device type (Handheld, Dekolta, or future props) and with multiple props of the same type — each has a unique IP.
• Velocity — 0 to 100. The % sign is optional (75 and 75% are identical).
• Duration — 3s (seconds), 500ms, a plain number of milliseconds (3000), or decimal seconds (2.5s).

Don’t tag the last cue

Magic API

The Magic API page turns the Buddy into a live data monitor. Point it at up to three HTTP endpoints — a wiki, a bridge relay, or a lyric/word service — and the Buddy polls them every 10 seconds and shows the results on screen. No QLab required, no cues involved: it’s always-on ambient data for the stage.

Setting URLs

Each section is configured with its own URL. URLs are stored on the Buddy and survive reboots.

1. Open the API page on the Buddy and navigate to the section you want to configure (WIKITEST, BRIDGE, or ELIPS).
2. Double-tap the section header (e.g. tap “WIKITEST” twice quickly). The on-screen keyboard appears.
3. Type or paste your endpoint URL and confirm. Both http:// and https:// are supported. URLs can be up to 128 characters. Certificate errors on HTTPS are bypassed — self-signed certs work fine.
4. The Buddy polls immediately and then every 10 seconds while the API tab is open. Tap the blue SYNC button in the header to force a manual refresh at any time — it flashes green to confirm the request was sent.

To clear a URL, double-tap the header and submit an empty value.

Endpoint types

The three slots each speak a slightly different protocol, designed to match common data services used in theatrical production.

WIKITEST — plain text

The simplest format. The Buddy makes a GET request and displays the raw response body as the Value field. No JSON parsing — whatever the server returns is shown verbatim.

Use this for any lightweight endpoint that returns a single string: a custom show-state server, a script cue counter, a simple webhook that writes a word to a text endpoint, etc.

BRIDGE — JSON value relay

Designed for wkt.pw-compatible bridge services and any JSON endpoint that wraps a value in a standard envelope. The Buddy reads the value or rawValue field from the JSON response body and shows it as Value.

Either field name is accepted — if both are present, value takes priority. Any other keys in the response are ignored.

ELIPS — artist / song / word

A richer format for live lyric feeds, prompter services, or any endpoint that streams the current word or line being spoken/sung on stage. The Buddy reads three fields and shows them as separate labeled rows.

For the Word field the Buddy tries each key in order until it finds one that exists in the response — so the same endpoint works whether it calls the current word word, lyric, selected, or title. Fields that are absent or empty are left blank on screen.

Status & errors

Each section independently shows its connection state. Values appear white when data is live, red on an error, and grey when no URL has been set yet. If the Buddy has no internet at all, the entire page displays “No Internet” in red.

Troubleshooting

Flashing issues

• “Browser not supported” — switch to Chrome, Edge, or Opera on desktop. Web Serial doesn’t work in Firefox or Safari.
• Port doesn’t appear in the list — try a different cable (many are charge-only). Quit any app holding the port (Arduino IDE, screen, etc.). On Mac, check ls /dev/cu.usbmodem*.
• Flash fails partway — unplug, hold BOOT, plug back in, release BOOT, retry.
• Flashed successfully but buddy doesn’t show anything — power-cycle the board. On first boot after a clean flash, the buddy goes straight to the Devices view and waits for WiFi credentials.

QLab not connecting (dot stays white or gold)

1. Confirm the buddy and QLab Mac are on the same network, or connected via USB-C.
2. Workspace Settings → Network → OSC Controls: enable Network OSC input, port 53000. Save.
3. Tap GO on the buddy — status dot should turn blue within seconds.
4. If you’re on a different subnet or the venue has AP isolation, try Settings → QLab IP to enter the Mac’s IP directly.

Stage view blank with dot blue (QLab 4)

The buddy needs QLab 5’s push-update OSC API. QLab 4 doesn’t have it. Upgrade free at qlab.app — QLab 5 imports .qlab4 files via File → Import.

Buddy connects but GO / PANIC / STOP do nothing

First check the buddy’s own mode: Settings → OSC Access → VIEW / CTRL. If it’s set to VIEW, all control buttons and chevron nav are intentionally silenced — tap CTRL to restore full control.

If the toggle is already on CTRL, check QLab’s OSC permissions: Workspace Settings → Network → OSC Access → No Passcode row → tick Control. Save. Also make sure no QLab passcode is set, or enter the matching code under Settings → OSC Access → QLab passcode.

Go Button show not appearing in the workspace picker

1. Confirm both the buddy and the iPhone/iPad are on the same WiFi network. Go Button discovery uses UDP broadcast — it doesn’t cross subnets or VLANs.
2. In Go Button: Settings → Connections → UDP Reply Port = 53001. This is the single most common miss. Go Button hears the buddy’s query but replies to the wrong port and the buddy sees nothing.
3. If OSC Access in Go Button has a passcode, enter the same numeric code on the buddy under Settings → OSC Access → Go Button passcode. A mismatched or missing passcode makes Go Button silently reject the buddy’s queries.
4. Confirm Go Button has a show loaded and the session is active. The buddy only discovers active shows.
5. On the buddy, tap the workspace name in the status bar to force a fresh scan.

Go Button timer stuck at 00:00:00

• Double-check UDP Reply Port = 53001 in Go Button (above).
• Fire a cue in Go Button. The timer starts after Go Button reports elapsed time advancing — takes one poll cycle (~0.5 s).
• If the show was reset, the timer resets to 00:00 automatically and resumes when the show advances.

Card Fountain not appearing in Devices

• Tap Pair Devices on the buddy to enable the hotspot, then power-cycle the prop. It scans for “QLAB Buddy” on every boot and joins within ~10 s.
• Tap the prop’s row SYNC button to push WiFi credentials and complete pairing.
• If the row shows WAIT for more than 30 s, power-cycle the prop closer to the buddy and try again.
• Paired devices vanished after a reboot? FIXED in 0.9.5 — on buddy firmware before 0.9.5, a quirk in flash storage could let a stale “deleted” list survive a power-cycle and prune a freshly-paired prop on the next boot. This is fixed: paired devices now reappear automatically on reboot, and re-pairing a device you previously deleted now sticks across reboots too. Update the buddy to 0.9.5+ if a prop keeps disappearing after power-cycling.

Card Fountain doesn’t fire from QLab

• Verify the Network Patch is set to UDP, the prop’s IP (found on the Devices view), port 8000.
• Tap TEST on the Devices row — if the prop fires, the issue is in the QLab Network cue patch, not the prop or buddy.
• Use /ping from a QLab Network cue to confirm you can reach the prop before relying on /start.

Card Fountain doesn’t fire from a Go Button cue name

• Is the tagged cue the last cue in the list? This is the most common cause. The buddy detects a GO by the playhead advancing to the next cue, so GO’ing a tagged last cue moves the playhead to nothing and the prop won’t fire. Reliable fix: keep at least one cue after the tagged cue — a 1-second blackout, a silent memo, or an “END” marker. Note: giving the tagged cue a longer duration does not help if the cue contains an internal GoTo or other action that completes the group immediately — the trailing-cue approach is the only reliable fix in that case.
• Check the tag uses the prop’s IP address (shown in the buddy’s Devices view), not a name. Format: #192.168.86.62/80%/3s. The IP is permanent after pairing.
• Confirm the verb is valid: /start, /80%/3s (implicit start), /reverse/80%/3s, /stop, or /test.
• The prop must be paired with the buddy, and the buddy must be powered on and connected to the show — it’s the bridge between Go Button and the prop (USB power is enough, no computer needed). The trigger fires the moment Go Button advances the playhead past the tagged cue, even right after a buddy reboot before the prop has reported in.
• Tap TEST on the prop’s Devices row to confirm the prop itself works — if TEST fires but the cue tag doesn’t, the issue is the tag text or the last-cue gotcha above.
• OSC passcode is handled for you. NEW in 0.9.5 If the Go Button workspace has an OSC passcode, the buddy shares it with each paired prop automatically — no per-prop setup or re-pairing needed. Change the passcode once on the buddy and every prop re-syncs on its own, even one that was offline when you changed it.

Card Fountain fires when you open the Go Button show FIXED in 0.9.5

On buddy firmware before 0.9.5, simply opening or reopening a Go Button show file could fire a tagged cue that the buddy saw as already “running.” This is fixed: a prop now fires only when the playhead actually advances past the tagged cue (i.e. when GO is pressed and Go Button moves on), never on file open, reopen, or while you scrub through cues with the on-screen arrows. Update the buddy to 0.9.5+ if a prop triggers unexpectedly on show open.

Release History

The current version’s bullets appear in the callout at the top of this page — auto-fetched from qlab-buddy.version.json. Earlier highlights below.