Stream Deck as a Companion Surface
The connected Stream Deck can be handed to Bitfocus Companion as a second Satellite surface alongside the physical FrenschPress keys.
Enabling
The Stream Deck as Companion surface switch lives in the Companion tab of the web interface. It is off by default — without it, Companion Mode behaves as before and the deck keeps running its local mappings.
Who owns the deck
Companion owns the whole deck as soon as two conditions hold:
- Control mode is Companion
- The Stream Deck as Companion surface switch is on
In that state local mappings, feedback, page keys, the tools key and the timecode row are all suspended. Every key becomes a Companion control — the tools key included, so there is no reserved slot left.
Since the tools key goes to Companion as well, the way back is the PUSH+GO shortcut on the physical encoder, or the web interface.
The lock mode takes precedence: LOCKED stays on the deck and no key is forwarded while it is engaged.
Registration in Companion
The deck registers as a second device on the same Satellite connection — never as a second connection.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Device ID | frenschpress-deck:<mac> |
| Product Name | FrenschPress Stream Deck |
| Brightness | supported |
Controls are k0…k14 for keys and e0…e3 for Stream Deck + encoders. The names derive from the index, so they survive a reconnect. Keys carry their grid position; encoders sit on their own row below the keys and use an input-only style preset with no image.
A deck swap causes a re-registration rather than a repaint — the layout manifest is fixed for the lifetime of a registration.
Text and colours, no bitmaps
Companion sends text and colours. Bitmaps are not supported.
TEXTCOLOR is ignored: the glyph colour is derived from the background luminance anyway, which keeps contrast reliably correct. A key with no text is sent as a plain colour command and skips the JPEG encoder entirely.
Disconnected
While Companion owns the deck but the Satellite socket is down, key 0 shows NO LINK and the rest of the deck stays black. Without it a dark deck is indistinguishable from a dead one — the only other signal is the three panel LEDs blinking red.
Brightness
Unchanged and console-wide: a BRIGHTNESS message is accepted for either device id, because the deck and the panel are never dimmed independently. Companion's request is applied but not persisted — it is a remote surface's runtime wish rather than the operator's stored preference.