.nsss.compose File Format

NORTHSTARSHOW SYSTEMS

.nsss.compose File Format

The Northstar show file format

Container

A .nsss.compose file is a standard ZIP archive. The extension is conventional, not magic — renaming to .zip allows any unzip tool to inspect the contents.

Top-Level Layout

MyShow.nsss.compose
├── project.json
├── media.json
├── README.txt
├── show/
│   ├── cues.json
│   ├── sequences.json
│   ├── schedules.json
│   └── overrides.json
├── polaris/
│   └── <node-id>/
│       ├── config.json
│       └── firmware.nsss.ino
├── media/
│   ├── audio/
│   ├── video/
│   └── other/
└── firmware/
    ├── polaris-gpio.bin
    ├── polaris-video.bin
    ├── polaris-audio.bin
    ├── polaris-bridge.bin
    └── manifest.json

project.json

{
  "metadata": {
    "composeVersion": "1.0.0",
    "fileVersion": "1.1.0",
    "createdAt": "ISO-8601 timestamp",
    "updatedAt": "ISO-8601 timestamp",
    "projectName": "string"
  },
  "venue": { "name": "string", "address": "optional string" },
  "network": {
    "ssid": "string",
    "password": "string",
    "helmIp": "string",
    "helmPort": 3000,
    "udpPort": 8888
  },
  "zones": [
    { "id": "uuid", "name": "string", "color": "#RRGGBB" }
  ]
}

show/cues.json

[{
  "id": "uuid",
  "number": "string ID like 1.0",
  "name": "string",
  "hat": {
    "kind": "event-manual | event-input | event-input-combo | event-schedule | event-cue-complete | event-cuemaster",
    /* ...hat-specific parameters... */
  },
  "script": [ /* array of stack and control blocks */ ],
  "nextCueId": "uuid or null"
}]

firmware/manifest.json

{
  "polaris-gpio": {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "size": 102400,
    "md5": "abc123...",
    "builtAt": "ISO-8601 timestamp",
    "fqbn": "arduino:renesas_uno:unor4wifi",
    "placeholder": false
  },
  /* ...one entry per variant... */
}

Versioning

The metadata.fileVersion field tracks the schema version. HelmOS and Compose support reading 1.0 and 1.1. Future format changes will bump this field; backward-compat readers will continue to load older files.

Related Documents

• NSSS-DOC-0091HelmOS HTTP API Reference

Revision History