HelmOS Server Guide

NORTHSTARSHOW SYSTEMS

HelmOS Server Guide

Overview of the HelmOS venue runtime

Role

HelmOS is the central runtime that orchestrates a Northstar venue. It runs headless on a venue-local Intel NUC and is responsible for:

• Receiving deployed .nsss.compose archives
• Tracking Polaris node registrations, heartbeats, and firmware versions
• Dispatching cues based on incoming events
• Serving the Cuemaster operator dashboard
• Pushing firmware updates to Polaris nodes via ArduinoOTA
• Enforcing the license gate and the Maintenance Mode interlock

Install Layout

C:\Program Files\Northstar\HelmOS\
├── HELM_OS.exe              The runtime binary (Node.js, pkg-bundled)
├── web/
│   ├── index.html           Cuemaster operator dashboard
│   └── admin.html           Server admin page
├── data/
│   ├── license.dat          Activated license token
│   ├── active.txt           Path to currently-loaded project file
│   ├── projects/            Every deployed .nsss.compose archive
│   ├── firmware/            Extracted .bin files + manifest.json
│   └── log/                 Daily-rotated log files
└── arduino-cli/             Bundled toolchain (optional server-side compile)

Auto-Start

INSTALL_HELM_OS.exe registers a Scheduled Task named "Northstar HelmOS" that runs HELM_OS.exe at every system boot under the SYSTEM account with highest privileges. Control with:

schtasks /query /tn "Northstar HelmOS"
schtasks /run   /tn "Northstar HelmOS"
schtasks /end   /tn "Northstar HelmOS"

Listening Sockets

Environment Variables

Related Documents

• NSSS-DOC-0031HelmOS Installation
• NSSS-DOC-0071HelmOS HTTP API Reference

Revision History