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>
This commit is contained in:
2026-05-21 17:00:58 -04:00
parent 153febe078
commit f939441e31
+51 -5
View File
@@ -22,11 +22,15 @@ Working:
- iroh QUIC bi-stream tunnel, direct-UDP and relay paths both verified
- Interactive Host/View menu with clipboard auto-copy and mpv/VLC picker
- Headless mode for scripts (`pixelpass <ticket>`)
- Multi-viewer fanout (default 2, configurable via `--max-viewers`;
shared gst pipeline, one broadcast channel per host)
- First-run upstream bandwidth pre-flight, persisted to
`~/.config/pixelpass/config.toml` and used to auto-size the default
viewer cap
Not yet working:
- X11 capture (stubbed, returns an error)
- Per-app audio routing (`--app <name>` is a flag stub)
- Multi-viewer (single viewer per host by design right now)
- `--repair` (PipeWire orphan cleanup) is a stub
## Quick start
@@ -39,7 +43,14 @@ pixelpass
On the host machine: pick "Host", share a monitor via the portal dialog,
the ticket lands on your clipboard. Send it to your viewer however you
like (chat, email, paste in a note).
like (chat, email, paste in a note). The same ticket works for multiple
viewers up to your `--max-viewers` cap.
The very first host launch offers a one-time upstream bandwidth test
(~5 s, ~5 MB to Cloudflare's open speed-test endpoint) so it can pick
a sensible default for the viewer cap. You can skip it and a
conservative default (2 viewers) is used; re-run it later with
`pixelpass --reconfigure`.
On the viewer machine: run `pixelpass`, pick "View", paste the ticket,
pick mpv or VLC. The player launches detached and the stream starts.
@@ -154,6 +165,42 @@ relay path otherwise. Both have been verified end-to-end.
- **VAAPI H.264 over x264**: ~5% of one CPU core instead of ~50% on
the host's hardware.
## Configuration
`pixelpass` keeps a small TOML config at `~/.config/pixelpass/config.toml`
(or the XDG equivalent). Right now it only stores the result of the
bandwidth pre-flight:
```toml
[bandwidth]
status = "measured" # measured | skipped | failed | unmeasured
upstream_mbps = 8.78 # safe estimate (raw * 0.8)
measured_at = "2026-05-21T20:41:16Z"
```
- `pixelpass --reconfigure` re-runs the test (e.g. after an ISP change).
- Deleting the file resets pixelpass to first-run state.
- Skip is sticky — once you skip the test, pixelpass won't ask again
unless you reconfigure.
## Multi-viewer
One gst capture pipeline fans out to N concurrent viewers via a
`tokio::sync::broadcast` channel. The same ticket is reusable: as long
as a viewer is connected, capture stays alive; when the last one
leaves, the pipeline tears down and the portal stops streaming. A new
viewer connecting after that re-triggers the portal dialog.
Capacity is bounded by upstream bandwidth (each viewer is its own
encrypted egress). The default cap comes from the bandwidth pre-flight
result; `--max-viewers <N>` overrides it. When the cap is hit,
additional connections are politely refused with a "host is full"
message and the host keeps running.
For more viewers, drop the per-viewer bitrate: e.g. `pixelpass
--bitrate 2500 --max-viewers 4` fits four 2.5 Mbps streams in roughly
12 Mbps of upstream.
## Known limitations and gotchas
- **VLC needs `vlc-plugin-dvb` and `vlc-plugin-ffmpeg`** on Arch-family
@@ -164,9 +211,8 @@ relay path otherwise. Both have been verified end-to-end.
- **Audio echo** if the host plays the stream through speakers and
captures system audio — expected, the mic / monitor picks up the
playback. Headphones bypass it.
- **Single viewer per host** by design right now. Restarting the player
against the same URL fails with "connection refused"; restart the
viewer too.
- **Late joiners see ~2 s of garbage** before the next keyframe lets
their decoder lock. Expected behavior, not a bug.
- **VAAPI driver must be package-tracked**, not an orphaned `.so` on
disk. mpv's `--hwdec=auto` silently falls back to software decode
otherwise, which then chokes on a low-power viewer.