SHOW CENTRAL — USER MANUAL Version 0.3.9 ========================== WHAT SHOW CENTRAL DOES Show Central prepares and closes a show Mac. It can: • Start a supported desktop Mac when electrical power is connected. • Schedule repeating startup/wake and safe shutdown times. • Prepare persistent no-sleep and no-screensaver show settings. • Launch applications and files in a timed sequence. • Receive OSC, MIDI or keyboard triggers for remote shutdown. • Ask applications to save before quitting, or quit without saving. • Use a prepared name and folder when an untitled Ableton Live Set needs Save As. • Save and load portable Show Central configurations. INSTALLATION 1. Drag Show Central.app onto the Applications folder icon in this disk image. 2. Open Applications, then open Show Central. 3. This test build is ad-hoc signed rather than notarized. If macOS blocks it, Control-click Show Central, choose Open, and confirm. If macOS offers “Open Anyway,” use System Settings > Privacy & Security. 4. Complete the Setup & Permissions assistant. Only install a copy received directly from CLR. For detailed, searchable, offline instructions, choose Help > Show Central Help from the menu bar while Show Central is open. The help window also has a topic index and a troubleshooting guide. QUICK START 1. Open POWER & SCHEDULE and configure the machine-level behavior you need. 2. Open LAUNCH SEQUENCE and add the applications or files for the show. 3. Open SHUTDOWN & TRIGGERS and choose the shutdown behavior. 4. Enable and test OSC, MIDI or Keyboard while shutdown triggers are disarmed. 5. Arm shutdown triggers only when the system is genuinely ready to shut down. SHOW STATUS LIGHT The status light in the top bar is always visible: • CHECKING (grey): the first system observations are still arriving. • SHOW READY (green): no known required or configured check is failing. • CHECK SYSTEM (red): one or more items need attention. When the light is red, the number beside it is the active issue count. A red dot and outline mark the affected tab, and a red outline marks the affected card or launch cue. Press the red status to open the first affected tab. Optional features that are switched off do not create a fault. Launch at login and automatic login are exceptions because unattended operation depends on both. The status covers only checks Show Central can verify; always complete a real show-day test. POWER & SCHEDULE START MAC WHEN POWER IS CONNECTED On supported Macs, “Enable automatic power-on” asks macOS to start the Mac when power is connected without pressing its power button. Administrator approval is required. The app automatically reports whether the Mac supports this feature. The feature requires macOS 26.5 or later and supported recent Mac mini, Mac Studio or iMac hardware. “Restart after a power failure” on older hardware is not the same as starting after a clean shutdown. AUTOMATIC LOGIN AFTER POWER-ON Show Central reports whether macOS will log in to a user account automatically. If it is off, press “Choose login account…” to open macOS Users & Groups, select the show account under “Automatically log in as,” and enter that account’s password in macOS Settings. Show Central never asks for or stores the password. Enable “Launch Show Central at login” at the top of Power & Schedule while signed in to the chosen account. FileVault disables automatic login: someone must unlock the Mac after power-on. Automatic login also allows anyone with physical access to enter the selected account after a restart. Consider a dedicated standard show account rather than an administrator account, and test a real restart before relying on it. SHOW COMPUTER SETUP This panel checks system sleep, display sleep, disk sleep, Power Nap, Low Power Mode and the current user's screen saver. Apply Show Settings displays the full change, asks for administrator approval, applies every supported setting for all power sources, and reads the settings back. It does not change hibernation or silently enable remote access. Screen Sharing & Remote Access opens macOS Sharing settings. Choose Screen Sharing, Remote Management or Remote Login there and review who is allowed to connect before enabling it. AUTOMATIC WEEKLY SCHEDULE Startup/wake and shutdown each have an independent switch, day selection and time. Choose the required days and time, then press Apply Schedule. Changes do not take effect until Apply Schedule is pressed and administrator approval is completed. A warning identifies unapplied changes. macOS performs the scheduled startup or wake. Show Central performs scheduled shutdown so it can use the selected countdown and save behavior. Scheduled shutdown does not depend on OSC, MIDI or Keyboard being armed. For scheduled shutdown, Show Central must be running and a user must be logged in. Enable “Launch Show Central at login” and test the complete login process. The automatic-login panel warns if the Mac will stop at the login screen or if FileVault prevents unattended login. “Test scheduled shutdown” is a real shutdown test. It closes applications and shuts down the Mac after confirmation. LAUNCH SHOW CENTRAL AT STARTUP This registers Show Central as a macOS Login Item. macOS may require approval in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions. LAUNCH SEQUENCE Press Add app or file and select an application, project or document. Set the delay before each item launches. Cues automatically appear from shortest delay to longest delay; cues with identical delays retain their existing order. Disabled and empty cues are ignored. Press Run sequence to begin and Stop to cancel. Canceling does not close applications already launched. A missing file or failed open request stops the sequence. Each delay begins after the previous item’s open request completes. Show Central cannot know when a complex application or project has completely finished loading, so allow generous delays and test the sequence under show conditions. SHUTDOWN & TRIGGERS SHUTDOWN BEHAVIOR • Save existing files, then quit: asks scriptable applications to save and quit. • Quit without saving: asks applications to quit without saving changes. When saving is selected, choose what Show Central should do if Save As is required: Stop shutdown, or Use a prepared Save As rule. Prepared rules are currently supported only for Ableton Live. A rule contains a destination folder and filename template. Available variables are: {configuration} {date} {time} {computer} {number} Show Central previews the next filename and never overwrites an existing .als file. “Test Rule” performs a real Save Live Set As and makes that copy the current Live Set. First test with a disposable session. Prepared rules require Accessibility permission and currently recognize English-language Ableton “Untitled” windows. If the expected save panel or file cannot be verified, shutdown stops. Under SHUTDOWN TRIGGERS, switch "Delay before closing apps" on or off. When on, set the delay from 5 to 120 seconds. The delay starts when a trigger is received; no app is asked to close until it ends. During the countdown, send the OSC or keyboard trigger again, or release and press the MIDI control again, to cancel shutdown. Repeats in the first 0.8 seconds are ignored to prevent bounce. After the countdown, remote triggers cannot cancel the quit process; use Cancel in Show Central if it is still open. When the countdown is off, shutdown begins immediately without remote-cancel time. Optional controller-light feedback works only while the countdown is on. Set an OSC controller host and port and/or a MIDI output destination, channel, message type and light note or CC number. OSC sends /showcentral/shutdown/flash with integer 1 and 0. MIDI sends 127 and 0 using the chosen output mapping and separate light number. Choose a light number different from the shutdown trigger to avoid a feedback loop. The light changes state every half-second and is turned off when the countdown ends or is canceled. Test this with the actual controller. If an application displays a dialogue, ignores the quit request or remains open for 30 seconds, shutdown stops instead of force-quitting it. Test every show application using disposable files before relying on unattended shutdown. ARM / DISARM Arming applies only to immediate shutdown from OSC, MIDI, Keyboard or Trigger now. Leave triggers disarmed while configuring and testing connections. Incoming triggers are reported in Activity but cannot shut down the computer while disarmed. Scheduled shutdown has its own enable switch and remains independent. OSC Enable OSC and select UDP port 8000 unless the controller requires another port. Send this exact OSC address: /showcentral/shutdown The message must contain the displayed token as its only string argument. Use OSC only on an isolated, trusted show network; the UDP message is not encrypted. MIDI Enable MIDI and choose a source, channel, message type and note or CC number. MIDI Learn listens for the next nonzero Note On or Control Change message and fills all mapping fields automatically. KEYBOARD The default shortcut is Control–Option–Command–S. Keystroke Learn can replace it with another combination containing Control, Option, Shift or Command. CONFIGURATIONS Save As creates a portable .showcentralconfig file. Load restores a configuration. Show Central also restores the most recent session automatically. Configurations contain launch cues, OSC and MIDI mappings, keyboard shortcut, shutdown save policy, prepared Ableton Save As rules, countdown and controller-light feedback. Machine-specific power, weekly schedule and Login Item settings are deliberately excluded. Loading a configuration leaves shutdown triggers disarmed and all trigger inputs off. PERMISSIONS AUTOMATION Required to ask applications to save or quit and to ask System Events to shut down macOS. macOS may request approval for each controlled application. ACCESSIBILITY Required only for prepared Ableton Save As rules. It lets Show Central recognize and fill the macOS save panel. Ordinary save/quit does not use this permission. LOCAL NETWORK Required only for OSC. Enable Show Central under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network if access was previously denied. MIDI CoreMIDI input does not require Input Monitoring permission. INPUT MONITORING Required only when learning a keystroke while another application is active. LOGIN ITEMS Required for unattended scheduled shutdown and optional for other workflows. ADMINISTRATOR AUTHORIZATION Required when changing automatic power-on or applying a weekly power schedule. Show Central does not install a permanent privileged helper. BEFORE A LIVE SHOW • Confirm that the correct configuration is loaded. • Verify launch order and allow sufficient loading time. • Test OSC, MIDI and Keyboard while shutdown triggers are disarmed. • Test both save policies with disposable documents in every show application. • Verify startup, login, Login Item and weekly schedule behavior after a reboot. • Confirm that the next scheduled startup and shutdown times are correct. • Arm shutdown triggers only when the Mac is ready to shut down. COMPATIBILITY AND DISTRIBUTION This build requires macOS 13 or later and is compiled for Apple silicon (arm64). It is ad-hoc signed for testing and is not Developer ID signed or notarized. DIAGNOSTICS Diagnostics is a read-only view of available observations, not a guarantee that the show is healthy. Its persistent header separates active alerts from coverage: Checking, Setup needed, Limited coverage, Checks unavailable, or Observations stale. It refreshes every three seconds; Refresh observations reads the same sources without probing the network. Use the category list for Computer, Show applications, Control network, Audio network, Other networks, MIDI, USB, Alerts and Recent changes. Computer metrics are informational. Memory is an estimate of physical memory minus free/inactive pages. MIDI lists endpoint availability without enabling message capture. USB reads the macOS registry without opening devices. Recent changes retains up to 80 events for this session. Configure expected system opens a separate setup panel. Choose installed or running applications, or an app file; there is no need to type bundle identifiers. Enabled launch items contribute their applications, including the default application for a document. Monitor exclusions persist when the launch list is refreshed. Removed or disabled launch items stop requiring their derived app. Older expectations have unknown origin and remain manually managed. An unresolved legacy name shows Needs setup rather than a false Not running result. Assign interfaces to Control, Audio or Other, then add observed devices from the network page or enter known devices manually. Every expected device needs a name, IPv4 address, MAC address and explicit interface. Older configurations load safely but require interface selection before configured-device checking. Assignments travel in the configuration; review interface names on a different Mac. Setup edits save to the current session; Save As exports a configuration file. Two MAC identities for one IP on one interface within 60 seconds raise a critical Possible duplicate IP alert. A configured address with a different identity on its assigned interface is critical; the expected identity at a different address on that interface is a warning. Both shortened and full MAC octets are supported. One network cannot cause a configured-device conflict on another. Alerts preserve incident start times; cache observation time is not a device heartbeat. On collection failure previous network alerts remain visible. When evidence expires after successful collection, Recent changes says it is no longer detected, not proven resolved. The network inventory is the current macOS ARP cache, not a complete network scan. Observed in cache does not mean reachable; Not observed does not mean offline. Enabled describes an interface setting, not cable link health. Each ARP command is limited to 1.5 seconds and 1 MB per output stream. Diagnostics does not ping, inject packets, capture traffic, change settings or open audio devices. IPv6 conflict detection, MIDI/USB expectation rules, vendor clock/audio/redundancy monitoring and the Show Control API remain outside this build. MIDI MONITOR Open 05 MIDI MONITOR to inspect live MIDI without changing the shutdown-trigger mapping. Select the required inputs, then switch Monitoring on. Receive from software creates a temporary “Show Central — Receive” MIDI destination while monitoring is active; choose that destination in the sending application. The latest message is shown above the scrollable history. Display settings provide named or decimal notes and controllers, C3/C4 middle-C naming, category filters and text search. Select a history row to inspect its port, group, channel and raw UMP data. Clear empties the current capture and Export saves it as JSON. Show Central prepares its bundled read-only output observer automatically before CoreMIDI starts. There is no separate download or installation step, and it does not restart CoreMIDI or change MIDI routing. If the output status asks for a restart after first use, restart the Mac once. Monitoring starts off and remains independent of the MIDI shutdown trigger.