README: document multi-viewer + bandwidth pre-flight
Updates the status section to move multi-viewer out of "not yet working", adds a Configuration section pointing at the new TOML config at ~/.config/pixelpass/config.toml, and a Multi-viewer section covering the lazy-sticky lifecycle, the --max-viewers cap, the bandwidth-bitrate tradeoff, and how to fit more viewers by dropping --bitrate. Known-limitations section gains "late joiners see ~2 s of garbage" (expected behavior) and drops the now-stale "single viewer per host" line. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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@@ -22,11 +22,15 @@ Working:
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- iroh QUIC bi-stream tunnel, direct-UDP and relay paths both verified
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- Interactive Host/View menu with clipboard auto-copy and mpv/VLC picker
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- Headless mode for scripts (`pixelpass <ticket>`)
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- Multi-viewer fanout (default 2, configurable via `--max-viewers`;
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shared gst pipeline, one broadcast channel per host)
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- First-run upstream bandwidth pre-flight, persisted to
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`~/.config/pixelpass/config.toml` and used to auto-size the default
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viewer cap
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Not yet working:
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- X11 capture (stubbed, returns an error)
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- Per-app audio routing (`--app <name>` is a flag stub)
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- Multi-viewer (single viewer per host by design right now)
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- `--repair` (PipeWire orphan cleanup) is a stub
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## Quick start
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@@ -39,7 +43,14 @@ pixelpass
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On the host machine: pick "Host", share a monitor via the portal dialog,
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the ticket lands on your clipboard. Send it to your viewer however you
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like (chat, email, paste in a note).
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like (chat, email, paste in a note). The same ticket works for multiple
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viewers up to your `--max-viewers` cap.
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The very first host launch offers a one-time upstream bandwidth test
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(~5 s, ~5 MB to Cloudflare's open speed-test endpoint) so it can pick
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a sensible default for the viewer cap. You can skip it and a
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conservative default (2 viewers) is used; re-run it later with
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`pixelpass --reconfigure`.
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On the viewer machine: run `pixelpass`, pick "View", paste the ticket,
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pick mpv or VLC. The player launches detached and the stream starts.
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@@ -154,6 +165,42 @@ relay path otherwise. Both have been verified end-to-end.
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- **VAAPI H.264 over x264**: ~5% of one CPU core instead of ~50% on
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the host's hardware.
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## Configuration
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`pixelpass` keeps a small TOML config at `~/.config/pixelpass/config.toml`
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(or the XDG equivalent). Right now it only stores the result of the
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bandwidth pre-flight:
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```toml
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[bandwidth]
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status = "measured" # measured | skipped | failed | unmeasured
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upstream_mbps = 8.78 # safe estimate (raw * 0.8)
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measured_at = "2026-05-21T20:41:16Z"
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```
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- `pixelpass --reconfigure` re-runs the test (e.g. after an ISP change).
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- Deleting the file resets pixelpass to first-run state.
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- Skip is sticky — once you skip the test, pixelpass won't ask again
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unless you reconfigure.
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## Multi-viewer
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One gst capture pipeline fans out to N concurrent viewers via a
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`tokio::sync::broadcast` channel. The same ticket is reusable: as long
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as a viewer is connected, capture stays alive; when the last one
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leaves, the pipeline tears down and the portal stops streaming. A new
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viewer connecting after that re-triggers the portal dialog.
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Capacity is bounded by upstream bandwidth (each viewer is its own
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encrypted egress). The default cap comes from the bandwidth pre-flight
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result; `--max-viewers <N>` overrides it. When the cap is hit,
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additional connections are politely refused with a "host is full"
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message and the host keeps running.
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For more viewers, drop the per-viewer bitrate: e.g. `pixelpass
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--bitrate 2500 --max-viewers 4` fits four 2.5 Mbps streams in roughly
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12 Mbps of upstream.
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## Known limitations and gotchas
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- **VLC needs `vlc-plugin-dvb` and `vlc-plugin-ffmpeg`** on Arch-family
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@@ -164,9 +211,8 @@ relay path otherwise. Both have been verified end-to-end.
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- **Audio echo** if the host plays the stream through speakers and
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captures system audio — expected, the mic / monitor picks up the
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playback. Headphones bypass it.
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- **Single viewer per host** by design right now. Restarting the player
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against the same URL fails with "connection refused"; restart the
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viewer too.
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- **Late joiners see ~2 s of garbage** before the next keyframe lets
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their decoder lock. Expected behavior, not a bug.
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- **VAAPI driver must be package-tracked**, not an orphaned `.so` on
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disk. mpv's `--hwdec=auto` silently falls back to software decode
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otherwise, which then chokes on a low-power viewer.
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