Display widgets
DeckBridge can show widgets on keys outside the Elgato app's grid. Mirabox 293S has three display-only side keys. AJAZZ AKP05E adds four touch strip zones. Stream Deck + pairing also exposes two side keys.
Widgets update without an open browser. Choose a clock, date, text, weather, command output, a JavaScript plugin, or text pushed by another tool through the Push API.
Assign a widget
- Open the Web UI and select a dock.
- Find Side keys or Touch strip. Choose a widget from its dropdown.
- Enter any requested value. Changes apply immediately and survive reconnects.
Side keys show live previews. Touch strip previews also work as tabs: select a zone, then edit its widget below.
Built-in widgets
| Widget | What it shows | Input |
|---|---|---|
| Empty | Blank display | None |
| Clock (24h) | Current time | None |
| Date | Weekday and date | None |
| Custom text | Your text | Type text; \n starts a new line |
| Weather (°C) | Current temperature | Coordinates such as 50.08,14.43 |
| Command output | Shell command output | Enter a command |
| Plugin (JS) | Custom value | Choose a plugin file |
| Push API (external) | Text sent by another tool | Enter a channel name; see Push API |
Weather
Weather uses Open-Meteo without an API key. The value updates about every ten minutes.
Command output
Command output displays text from a shell command. Use ⚙ to set its interval, timeout, or Run now.
Command timing and limits
- Run every (s): 1–3600 seconds; 10 by default.
- Timeout (s): 1–60 seconds; 5 by default.
- Run now: refreshes output immediately.
Text size
Use A− and A+ to resize text. A restores default size. Fit picks the largest size that fits. A clipped badge warns when text runs out of space.
More text controls
- ▦ previews every available size.
- Wrap breaks long text by words or characters. It applies to custom text, command output, and plugins.
- Text can use up to four lines. Oversized lines end with
…when wrapping is off.
Text style
Select Aa beside size controls. Choose font, colours, alignment, padding, bold, outline, or line spacing. Reset style restores defaults.
Font and style details
Regular uses a monospace font. Narrow fits more characters on each line. Slim is thin and condensed with smooth edges, and looks best at larger sizes. Line gap adds space between lines, or pulls them closer when negative (down to -8 px, so lines may overlap). Tight lines packs lines to the height of the glyphs instead of the full line height, which also combines with Line gap. Choose preset colours or a custom colour. Ellipsis on cut text adds … to lines that do not fit. All fonts cover ASCII and Latin-1 characters.
Touch strip modes
AKP05E's Touch strip menu chooses who paints its four zones:
| Mode | Result |
|---|---|
| Elgato app only | Elgato paints the strip. This is the default. |
| DeckBridge overrides (ignore) | Widgets paint assigned zones. App strip images are ignored. |
| DeckBridge overrides (repaint) | App images appear first. Widgets return after app activity stops. |
Select a zone preview to edit its widget. Side key widgets stay active in every mode.
Repaint timing and empty zones
Repaint after (s) controls when widgets return after Elgato feedback. The default is 5 seconds. Each zone keeps its own widget. Unassigned zones show Blank in ignore mode and App controls in repaint mode.
Knobs
AKP05E knobs normally reach the Elgato app. In a DeckBridge override mode, turn off Connect knobs to Elgato app to assign press, left-turn, and right-turn commands. A press without a command refreshes its zone.
Knob command behavior
Commands run once per action. Fast turns queue at most one follow-up run. Elgato app only mode always forwards knobs to the app.
Press commands
AKP05E's right-column side keys can react to presses. Choose Refresh, Command, or Both under On press. Displayed widget and press action are independent. Mirabox 293S side keys have no switches.
Press command behavior
Commands run once per press. Another press during a run queues at most one follow-up. An empty command does nothing.
Tap to refresh
Refresh widgets from a side key press, touch strip tap, or knob press. Knob refresh works when Elgato forwarding is off and no press command is set.
Refresh behavior and feedback
Command output runs immediately. Plugins poll immediately. Weather refetches at most once per minute. Clock, date, and text repaint. Refreshes during a command or plugin run queue one follow-up.
Taps on widget zones refresh them. Other taps, holds, and swipes reach the Elgato app.
Layouts that follow the Elgato page
Give a profile, page, or folder in the Elgato app its own side-key and touch strip layout. DeckBridge sees every key image the app sends, so it can tell which page is on screen.
- Show the page in the Elgato app. Under Follow Elgato pages, choose Save current page…, name it, and save.
- Keys that change on their own (a clock, an animated GIF, a counter) are ticked ignore by default. Expand Ignored keys to adjust them. Blank keys are ignored too.
- Expand Saved pages and choose Edit layout on the saved page. It starts as a copy of the default layout. Pick which layout the editor changes with the Editing layout dropdown above the side keys.
When the app shows a saved page, its layout appears on the deck. Any other page shows the default layout, the one you edit under Default layout. Each saved page's ⋯ (Page options) button holds renaming, matching strictness, ignored keys, re-capture, and deletion.
Matching, strictness, and limits
A page matches when enough of its keys show the same images as when you saved it. Strictness sets how many: Strict 100%, Normal 80%, Loose 60%. Keep at least one key that is different on each page, or two pages cannot be told apart. The key grid marks keys that differ from a saved page right now.
A page that has its own layout never falls back to the default per key: a key it does not configure shows nothing on that page. Later edits to the default layout do not reach pages that already have their own.
Only side keys and touch strip zone widgets, including their press commands, follow the page. The touch strip mode and knob commands stay per device. In Repaint mode, a zone with no widget on a page shows the app's strip. In Ignore mode it stays blank.
The layout switches about 0.2 seconds after the page finishes changing. While the Elgato app is gone or showing blank keys, the current layout stays. Pages are saved per device, so each deck of a multi-deck setup follows its own page.
DeckBridge compares exact images. An Elgato app update or a new key theme can change them, so a saved page stops matching until you open its ⋯ (Page options) button and press Re-capture. A page saved for another deck layout is marked Recorded for another layout.
Security
Command widgets and press actions run shell commands on your host. The Web UI has no authentication. Use these features only on a trusted personal network.
Going further
For custom APIs or computed values, write a plugin widget.