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Local Players with remote Studio

Use this setup when your Players are at the same site as Tilecast Server and should keep reaching it if the Internet goes down, but staff also need to open Studio from outside.

Players already keep playing downloaded content when the server is unreachable. This setup goes further: local Players keep receiving changes, commands, and status updates over your local network during an Internet outage.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”

Tilecast Server has one public URL, TILECAST_PUBLIC_URL. There is no setting for a second address. It still works because of how the server and Players behave today:

  • The server accepts Player requests on any address that reaches it. It doesn’t check the address against TILECAST_PUBLIC_URL.
  • A Player uses the address you typed into it. Before it sends its credential, the Player checks the server’s installation identity, not its address.

So you set the public URL to the HTTPS hostname that staff use, and you type the server’s local address into each local Player.

Tilecast has no dedicated feature or automated test for this setup. Try it with one display before you roll it out.

Set it up

Section titled “Set it up”
  1. Choose a stable local address for the server and open the port to your local network. See Set up Tilecast on a local network.
  2. Create the tunnel and start Tilecast with the tunnel profile. See Set up Tilecast with Cloudflare Tunnel. Set TILECAST_PUBLIC_URL to the HTTPS hostname and TILECAST_COOKIE_SECURE=true.
  3. Leave LAN discovery off. This is the default (TILECAST_MDNS_ENABLED=false).
  4. On each local Player, enter the server’s local address with its scheme, for example http://192.0.2.10:8080. Pair it as usual.
  5. Staff open Studio at the HTTPS hostname.

What to expect

Section titled “What to expect”
Area Behavior
Local Players Connect over your local network. An Internet outage doesn’t cut them off from the server.
Studio Open it at the HTTPS hostname, from inside or outside the site. The sign-in cookie is marked secure, so browsers don’t keep it from a plain-HTTP address. Studio itself needs the Internet; only the Players are protected.
LAN discovery If you enable mDNS, the server advertises TILECAST_PUBLIC_URL, which is the tunnel hostname. A Player that picks it from the list uses that hostname. Keep discovery off and type the local address.
Linux installer The install script writes TILECAST_PUBLIC_URL into the Player, whichever address you download it from. See the next section.
Pairing approval link The QR code on a Player opens the approval page on TILECAST_PUBLIC_URL. A person who scans it needs Internet access. Anyone can instead enter the code in Screens > Fleet > Pair screen.
Remote Players Players at other sites use the HTTPS hostname, as described in the Cloudflare Tunnel guide.

Point a Linux Player at the local address

Section titled “Point a Linux Player at the local address”

The installer sets the Player’s server address to the public URL. To use the local address instead, override it in the Player’s user service on the kiosk account.

On the Linux Player, as the kiosk user
systemctl --user edit tilecast-player

In the editor, add these lines with your server’s local address, then save.

[Service]
Environment=TILECAST_SERVER_URL=http://192.0.2.10:8080

Restart the Player.

Restart the Player
systemctl --user restart tilecast-player

Use Install Tilecast Player on Linux for the rest of the install.

If you change the public URL later

Section titled “If you change the public URL later”

Changing TILECAST_PUBLIC_URL changes which address the server advertises, what the installer writes, and the domain that passkeys are bound to. Passkeys created for the old domain stop working and must be enrolled again. Players that you entered a local address on keep working, because they don’t use the public URL.

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