Devices

Devices represent the physical screens that display your digital signage content. The Devices page lets you register new devices, view their status, and configure what they show.

Registering a Device

Castmill uses a pincode pairing system to connect physical devices to your organization:

1. On the physical device — Open the Castmill player application. It displays a 10-character pincode on screen.
2. In the dashboard — Navigate to Devices and click Register
3. Enter a name for the device and the pincode shown on the device's screen
4. Click Register

The device is now associated with your organization and will begin receiving content.

tip

You can also open a browser-based player at your Castmill server's root URL (e.g., http://localhost:4000) for testing purposes. It displays a pincode just like a physical device.

Device List

The device list shows all registered devices with:

• Name — The device's display name
• Status — Online/offline indicator
• Tags — Any assigned tags
• Timestamps — Registration date and last update

A quota indicator at the top shows how many devices you have registered versus your plan limit.

Device Detail View

Clicking a device opens a detail view with eight tabs:

Details Tab

View and edit the device's basic information:

• Name and Description
• Location — Where the device is physically installed
• Metadata — Additional device information (IP address, last online, etc.)

Channels Tab

Assign one or more channels to the device. Each channel brings its own weekly schedule of playlists. When multiple channels are assigned, the device plays content from all of them according to their schedules.

Preview Tab

A live preview showing what the device is currently displaying. This uses the actual player engine to render the scheduled content in real time.

Cache Tab

View and manage the device's content cache. Devices cache media files locally for offline playback. This tab shows:

• Cached files and their status
• Cache size usage
• Options to clear or refresh the cache

Maintenance Tab

Perform maintenance operations on the device:

• Restart the player application
• Update the player software
• Other administrative actions

Events Tab

A log of device events — connection changes, errors, content updates, and other notable occurrences. Useful for troubleshooting device issues.

Telemetry Tab

Hardware and software metrics from the device:

• CPU and memory usage
• Storage capacity
• Network connectivity
• Player version and platform information

Schedule Tab

View the device's on/off schedule — when the device should be active or in standby. This is separate from the content schedule and controls the device's power state.

Device Status

Devices report their connection status in real time:

• Online — The device is connected and receiving updates
• Offline — The device has not communicated recently

The last known connection time is displayed in the device details.

Log Levels

Each device has a configurable log level that controls the verbosity of event reporting:

Level	Description
trace	Most verbose — all internal operations
debug	Detailed debugging information
info	General operational events
warning	Potential issues that don't prevent operation
error	Failures that affect content display
critical	Severe failures requiring attention