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Make Denframe yours

Step-by-step guides, in the order a household needs them: install, put a dashboard on a screen, then add your calendar, photos, home and data. Each guide ends with a check you can see.

Get started

  1. Guide 1

    Install Denframe on macOS

    Install the signed desktop beta on your Mac, open it, and let your screens reach it.9 steps
  2. Guide 2

    Install Denframe on Windows

    Install the unsigned desktop pilot on a Windows PC, open it, and let your screens reach it.9 steps
  3. Guide 3Experimental

    Install Denframe in Home Assistant

    Run Denframe as a Home Assistant app (add-on), managed from Home Assistant’s sidebar.5 steps
  4. Guide 4

    Create your first dashboard

    Say what the screen is for, start from a layout, and check the preview before any screen is involved.6 steps
  5. Guide 5

    Set up access and invite your household

    Choose how Denframe is protected, then give each phone, tablet, guest and wall display its own sign-in from the Access page. Every one of them can be signed out on its own, and none of them ever gets the owner password.9 steps
  6. Guide 6

    Update, back up and move Denframe

    Hear about a new build, keep a backup you can restore, update safely and move Denframe to another computer without losing your household.7 steps
  7. Guide 7

    Report a problem

    Send support a redacted report of what went wrong, after checking exactly what it holds, so a fix doesn't start with guesswork.4 steps

Put it on a screen

  1. Guide 8Experimental

    Show a dashboard on a Chromecast, Google TV or Nest Hub

    Cast a saved dashboard to a Google Cast screen on your home network, from Home or by dragging it onto the screen.5 steps
  2. Guide 9

    Show Denframe in a TV’s web browser

    Pair a TV or tablet browser as a Denframe display: the full dashboard with live updates, on a screen without Google Cast.6 steps
  3. Guide 10Experimental

    Set up an Android wall panel

    Turn your own Android tablet or touch display into a dedicated Denframe wall panel with the experimental panel app.7 steps
  4. Guide 11

    Rotate dashboards with playlists and schedules

    Put several dashboards in a playlist that rotates on a screen, then let schedules choose which playlist plays at each time of day. Context rules can switch, dim or pause screens on their own.7 steps
  5. Guide 12

    Keep a screen looking right

    Calibrate each screen for the room it is in, set quiet hours, check its health and keep wall displays on current software.7 steps
  6. Guide 13

    Choose what a screen may show

    Keep private events off a screen in a shared room, give children's screens bigger pictures, and show calendars as times only when guests come or hide the screen at night.6 steps
  7. Guide 14

    Remove, re-pair or replace a screen

    Find a screen, sign one out, pair a wall display again, or swap a broken panel for a new one without rebuilding your dashboards.6 steps
  8. Guide 15Experimental

    Let Denframe know what a Samsung TV is showing

    Tell Denframe, through Home Assistant, which input or app on a Samsung TV is Denframe, so it knows when the TV shows something else and can pause that screen's dashboard until you return.5 steps
  9. Guide 16

    Play a video, photo or stream on a screen

    Send a video, picture, sound or stream to a Cast screen from its page, keep one-tap presets for speakers, and play local files on a TV that is a UPnP media renderer.7 steps

Design a dashboard

  1. Guide 17

    Add and arrange blocks on the grid

    Open a dashboard in the editor, add blocks, give each one its source, and move and resize them on the grid. Every change saves as you make it, and you can undo it.8 steps
  2. Chooser: undefined. Rendered by Denframe with sample data.
    Guide 18

    Choose a look, colours and background

    Dress a dashboard: pick a look, adjust its colours, its spacing and surfaces, and put a picture or a gradient behind it.6 steps
  3. Guide 19

    Preview a dashboard on your screens

    See a dashboard as each of your screens will draw it, check it reads well from where people stand, and try it on a real screen.6 steps
  4. Guide 20

    Organize your dashboards and screens

    Find, sort, rename and delete dashboards in Studio, set what each dashboard is for, and change what each screen shows from Home.6 steps

Everyday content

  1. Guide 21

    Put the family calendar on the wall

    Bring Google, Microsoft or ICS calendars together on one wall, labelled by the people in your household, with private events kept off the screens that shouldn’t show them.8 steps
  2. Guide 22

    Show tasks, chores and routines

    Put the family’s to-do lists on the wall from Microsoft To Do, Google Tasks or Home Assistant, or keep them in Denframe, with routines and stars for the children.8 steps
  3. Guide 23

    Keep a shopping list

    Keep groceries and household supplies in the family task list, tick them off as they are bought, and show the next few on the kitchen wall.6 steps
  4. Guide 24

    Leave a family note

    Post a short note on the wall for the household, for one person or for one screen, and let it disappear on its own.6 steps
  5. Guide 25

    Plan the week’s meals

    Keep the week’s meals in a calendar the family already shares, or in Denframe’s own meal plan, and show today’s on the wall.6 steps
  6. Guide 26

    Show the weather and what to wear

    Add a location once, choose its units and outlook, and turn on plain advice about what to wear, worked out from the same forecast.7 steps
  7. Painting: Van Gogh artwork with a clock, weather and museum attribution. Rendered by Denframe with sample data.
    Guide 27

    Show your photos and museum art

    Put public-domain art or your own photos on a dashboard: upload them, send them from a phone, copy them from Google Photos or watch a folder, then frame them as a picture block or the dashboard’s background.8 steps
  8. Guide 28

    Follow headlines from publishers, websites or topics

    Show the latest stories from a news publisher, from any website with a feed, or about a topic Denframe searches for, and mix up to four in one block.7 steps
  9. Guide 29

    Watch currency rates and stock prices

    Show daily currency rates with no account at all, or U.S. stock prices with a free Finnhub key you add on the Markets page.7 steps
  10. Guide 30

    See when to leave and the next departures

    Keep a list of routes: a drive with the time to leave, or a bus or train timetable you keep yourself.6 steps
  11. Guide 31

    Keep track of deliveries

    Keep a list of the packages on their way, so the screen says what is due today and what is late.5 steps
  12. Guide 32

    Make a guest and babysitter card

    Put who to call in an emergency on the wall, and give a babysitter or visitor a phone view with the address, contacts, alarm instructions and a Wi-Fi code you choose for them.7 steps
  13. Guide 33

    Show alerts over a screen

    Let a doorbell, a leak sensor or a timer put a short alert over whatever your screens are showing, and see how Denframe decides which one to show and when it goes away.6 steps

Smart home

  1. Guide 34

    Show Home Assistant sensor values

    Put a temperature, a battery level or a door status from Home Assistant on a dashboard, using your home connection and no automation.7 steps
  2. Guide 35

    Watch and control your home

    Have your screens say when a door is open, a leak is detected or a battery is low, and turn chosen lights and switches on and off from Denframe.7 steps
  3. Guide 36

    Share Denframe with Home Assistant

    Export chosen Denframe scenes, speaker mute switches and short summaries to Home Assistant through MQTT, then use them there and in its official car apps.8 steps
  4. Guide 37Experimental

    Use Apple Home with Denframe

    Operate approved lights and switches from Denframe, and start dashboards or mute speakers from Apple Home and Siri, with Home Assistant between them.7 steps
  5. Guide 38

    Show MQTT readings on a dashboard

    Connect Denframe to a broker you already run, read one exact state topic, and show live temperature and battery readings with clear freshness and availability.8 steps

Business and custom data

  1. Guide 39

    Connect your data to Denframe

    Read sensor states and API values in Denframe, or export selected Denframe scenes, controls and summaries to Home Assistant. Setup, verification and troubleshooting guides.Read the guide
  2. Guide 40

    Connect an HTTP JSON API

    Poll an allowed HTTPS API with GET, or a fixed read-only JSON POST, and show the values it returns on a dashboard.7 steps
  3. Guide 41

    Receive updates with an inbound webhook

    Let a script or automation send selected JSON values to Denframe, instead of Denframe polling for them.7 steps
  4. Guide 42

    Send Power BI values with Power Automate

    Run a saved dataset query in your organization’s flow and deliver the result to a Denframe webhook.6 steps
  5. Guide 43

    Connect directly to Power BI

    Sign in with Microsoft and let Denframe run one fixed DAX query on a schedule.8 steps
  6. Guide 44

    Connect a reviewed MCP read operation

    Discover a compatible MCP server, approve one fixed read and map its JSON result to dashboard values.7 steps
  7. Guide 45

    Choose how custom values appear

    Turn a value from a data connection into a prominent number, a range bar or a status matrix on a Custom block.7 steps

Library and activities

  1. Guide 46

    Add looks, blocks and layouts from the library

    Find a layout, look, block, activity or background in Studio’s Library, get more from the Denframe Library or a file, and put it on a dashboard.8 steps
  2. Guide 47

    Play a learning activity on a screen

    Open an activity in the Library, listen to its cards, and play it on a screen for a round, until a time or until you stop it — or keep it on a screen every day.7 steps
  3. Guide 48

    Share a dashboard, look or block to the Library

    Save a dashboard, its look or one of its blocks as a Library item and a file you can give to someone, then submit it to the public Denframe Library for review.7 steps

Use it from your phone

  1. Guide 49

    Open Denframe on your phone

    Carry a Studio page, a stream or a batch of photos from the computer to your phone by scanning a one-time code, and see what a paired phone shows the household.6 steps

Reference

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