Documentation

Everything you need to set up, run and get the most out of DMX Smart Link, in the order most people need it. Start at the top if you are new. Jump to a section if you are not.

1. Quick start (first afternoon)

1. Get the free 14-day trial and download the software for your Mac or Windows PC. No credit card.
2. Open the dashboard in your browser, sign in with your Govee account if you own Govee lights, and they appear automatically.
3. Patch any wired stage lights from the library of 12,000+ fixture profiles (search by brand and model).
4. Set your lights the way you want them, press Save Scene, and give it a name your team will recognize: "Sunday Service", "Party", "All Off".
5. Press the scene button. That is the whole job from now on.

Prefer to skip the computer? The DMX Smart Link HUB arrives with all of this configured. Plug in power and network, and open the dashboard.

Installing on a Raspberry Pi or Ubuntu yourself

If you are building your own hub rather than buying one, the whole install is a single command. Log in to the Pi and run:

cd ~ && curl -fsSL https://github.com/WhiteCrowSecurity/DMXSmartLink/releases/latest/download/setup.sh -o setup.sh && sudo bash setup.sh

That is it. The script works out which build your machine needs and downloads it itself, so there is nothing to unpack and no release page to choose from. Give it 15–30 minutes, most of it unattended, then open https://<your-pi-address>:5000 in a browser.

Run it from the home folder — the cd ~ matters, because the script works out which user to install for from the folder it is sitting in. Full steps, including the Windows and macOS installers, are in the install guide.

2. Video tutorials

• Church stage lighting on a budget: full walkthrough with Govee (16 min)
• Control DMX and Govee lights from your phone
• The AI light show: Govee and DMX par lights on one show
• Stream Deck and YoloDeck: every scene becomes a key
• YoloDeck at the church booth: the HUB pulls in the scenes over USB, one key each (update, September 2026)
• Your Govee lights running as real DMX fixtures
• Running LightKey and DMX Smart Link at the same time
• All videos on the channel

3. Control surfaces: phone, browser, Stream Deck

• Any browser on the same network opens the dashboard. Big scene buttons, faders, color wheel and effects.
• iPhone app for the HUB: DMXSmartLink Hub on the App Store.
• Elgato Stream Deck and YoloLiv YoloDeck: plug into the HUB, or into a Mac or PC running the Stream Deck app. Every scene becomes a key (Elgato Original, MK.2, Mini, XL, Neo, Plus; YoloLiv YoloDeck; Mirabox StreamDock 293 V3). QLab, TouchOSC and Companion can recall scenes over OSC on UDP port 8000. Stream Deck and YoloDeck setup guide.
• AI light show: describe the vibe, or let beat detection follow live music from a USB sound card, and the software runs the show across DMX fixtures and Govee lights together.

Touch kiosk

Plug a screen into the HUB and it boots straight into the dashboard, full screen and touch friendly. Settings → KIOSK_ENABLED turns it off.

4. Working with your console: Art-Net, sACN and DMX

• Art-Net and sACN in and out. Point LightKey, QLC+, Madrix, grandMA or any console at DMX Smart Link and it patches your Govee and smart lights onto the same universe as your wired fixtures.
• DMX out over ENTTEC DMX USB Pro, Open DMX and FTDI interfaces. The HUB kits include the interface you pick: Output Kit, Pro Output Kit, Pro Dual I/O Kit (DMX in from your console and DMX out at the same time).
• Multiple universes are supported. Several USB interfaces can run at once.

5. HUB owners: dashboard, updates, troubleshooting

• Updates: Management Dashboard ΓåÆ Updates ΓåÆ Check now ΓåÆ Install. Stream Deck support needs version 2026.09.02 or newer.
• Cannot reach the hub by name? Use its IP address instead. The "Fix Hostname Not Found" walkthrough is on the channel.
• Govee lights lag or drop: they talk over Wi-Fi. Put the hub on Ethernet and keep the lights on a solid 2.4 GHz network.
• Trial email did not arrive? Check spam, then ask on Discord and we will send the key by hand.

Network, offline use, Govee and Matter

• Ethernet or Wi-Fi: Settings ΓåÆ Network switches between the cable and Wi-Fi: scan, pick a network, connect. The hub shows every address it answers on. On the road, tether the HUB to your phone's hotspot from Settings ΓåÆ Network: if the venue's Govee lights are on the venue Wi-Fi, join that network and the HUB runs them locally; if they are signed into a Govee account, the HUB reaches them through the Govee cloud from the hotspot.
• No internet at the venue? Fine. A valid licence is all the hub needs. It checks in with the licence server every two days when it is online and keeps running without internet until the licence itself expires.
• Govee lights, local and fast: turn on LAN Control for a light in the Govee app, then on the Devices page press "Move Govee lights to Home Assistant". Groups switch to the local copy (a colour change lands in under 0.3 s) and fall back to the cloud copy on their own if Home Assistant stops answering. The first update with Home Assistant downloads about 2.5 GB and needs about 5 GB free on the hub.
• Matter devices: enter the pairing code (and your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for a brand-new device) on the Devices page.
• Already run Home Assistant? Set HA_HOST to its address, paste a long-lived token, and the hub imports its lights. Windows and macOS hubs use Home Assistant and Matter this way.

6. For developers

The hub exposes a control API and OSC input (scene recall by id, name or index, active-scene query, Stream Deck status). Downloads and release notes live on GitHub. Ask on Discord for the current API reference.

Get help from a person

Email support@dmxsmartlink.com or join the Discord. We answer setups every week, and we add fixtures and hardware based on what owners actually run.