Companion — Presentation Commander Client user guide

This is a Bitfocus Companion connection module for the Presentation Commander Client — the app that runs on the presentation laptop. It drives slides, sections, Program Out, the laser pointer and PowerPoint media playback from a Stream Deck, across every source type the Client supports: PDF, Keynote, PowerPoint, Google Slides and Canva.

This is not the module for the Master Server. Its sibling, companion-module-presentationcommander-server, controls the separate Master Server over its own HTTP automation API — routing, scenes, blackout, stage notes. This one is for the presentation laptop’s Client Node. Most rigs want both, as two connections.

This module was built with AI assistance and reviewed by a human. Review it before relying on it in production.

Setting it up

1. Install the module. It is not in the official store, so Companion has to be pointed at it:

git clone https://github.com/stoatworks-labs/companion-module-presentation-commander-client
cd companion-module-presentation-commander-client
npm install

In Companion, go to Settings → Developer modules path and point it at the parent directory containing this repo’s folder — not at the folder itself. Restart Companion, or use “Rescan for developer modules” if your version has it. “Presentation Commander Client” then appears as an installable connection.

2. Turn OSC on in the app. In the Client, click Start OSC in the titlebar. It is remembered across restarts once you have started it once.

3. Add the connection, and set three fields:

Field	Default	What it is
App host	`127.0.0.1`	The machine running the Client Node. The default assumes Companion is on the same machine.
App listen port	`35551`	Where the Client listens. Matches its own default.
Local feedback port	`35550`	Where this module listens for the Client’s replies. Matches its own default.

If Companion and the Client are on different machines — which on a real rig they usually are, since the Client lives on the presentation laptop — change App host to the laptop’s real IP, and set the Client’s own OSC Feedback host to the Companion machine’s IP rather than 127.0.0.1. Miss that second half and every button will work while every variable stays empty.

Actions

Slides

Action	What it does
Next slide / Previous slide	Step through the deck
Go to slide number	Jump to an absolute slide
Go to first slide / Go to last slide	Ends of the deck

Sections

Action	What it does
Go to first slide of section	Jump to a named section
Go to first slide of next section	Skip forward a section
Go to first slide of previous section	Skip back a section

The named-section action offers a live dropdown of whatever the Client last reported, plus a variables-aware custom value for dynamic use.

Program Out

Action	What it does
Start Program Out from first slide	Open the output at the top of the deck
Start Program Out from current slide	Open it where you already are
Close Program Out	Shut the output
Toggle black screen / Toggle white screen	Cover the output
Toggle laser pointer overlay	Show/hide the pointer
Set current slide as desktop wallpaper	For a holding image behind the output

Auto-advance

Action	What it does
Pause auto-advance / Resume auto-advance	Hold and release a timed run

Media — PowerPoint on Windows only

Action	What it does
Media: play	Start embedded media
Media: pause	Pause it
Media: toggle play/pause	One-button transport
Media: stop	Stop it

These four work only for PowerPoint on Windows, and only when the presenter has a live PowerPoint slideshow running independently of the app. On any other source, or on macOS, they do nothing.

Protocol control

Action	What it does
Enable / Disable OSC actions	Turn remote control off from the surface
Enable / Disable OSC feedback	Turn the Client’s replies off
Request feedback refresh	Ask the Client to re-send everything
Set watched folder	Point the Client at a different folder
Request watched-folder file list	Refresh the file dropdown
Open file from watched folder	Load a deck by name

Feedbacks

Two:

Slideshow state — edit / running / running-with-auto-advance-paused.
OSC file access enabled.

Three things you might expect and won’t find, each for the same reason — the protocol does not carry the data, so a feedback would have to invent it:

No laser-pointer-on or auto-advance-enabled feedback. Only the combined edit/running/paused state is broadcast.
No media playing/paused/stopped feedback. The Client’s media control only ever sends a duration, because PowerPoint’s COM object model has no way to report playback state.
No sourceKind variable. The Client tracks internally whether the current deck is PDF, Keynote, PowerPoint, Slides or Canva — to decide which features apply — but never sends it.

Variables

Variable	Contents
`presentationName`	Presentation / file name
`filePath`	Full path to the open file
`slideCount`	Total slide count
`slideCountVisible`	Total slide count, excluding hidden slides
`state`	Presentation state (edit / running / paused)
`currentSlide`	Current slide number
`slidesRemaining`	Slides left in the deck
`notes`	Current slide’s notes
`sectionIndex`	Current section index
`sectionName`	Current section name
`sectionSlidesRemaining`	Slides remaining in the current section
`previousSectionName`	Previous section name — “Start of deck” if this is the first
`previousSectionFirstSlide`	First slide of the previous section
`nextSectionName`	Next section name — “End of deck” if this is the last
`nextSectionFirstSlide`	First slide of the next section
`mediaDuration`	Media duration in seconds
`mediaDurationFormatted`	The same, as mm:ss
`fileAccessEnabled`	Whether OSC file-open access is enabled
`activeFolder`	Watched folder, relative to the home directory
`activeFolderFullPath`	Watched folder, full path
`activeFolderFileCount`	Number of files in the watched folder
`activeFolderFileNames`	JSON array of file names in the watched folder

notes is the one worth building a surface around: a large text button showing $(<connection-label>:notes) turns any Stream Deck into a confidence monitor. The prefix is whatever you named the connection in Companion.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause
Module doesn’t appear in Companion	The developer modules path points at the repo folder rather than its parent.
Buttons work, all variables empty	Feedback isn’t getting back. The Client’s Feedback host must be the Companion machine’s IP, not `127.0.0.1`.
Nothing happens at all	OSC isn’t started in the Client, or App host / App listen port is wrong.
Media buttons do nothing	Not PowerPoint, not Windows, or no independently-running PowerPoint slideshow.
Section dropdown is empty or stale	The list is whatever the Client last reported. Fire Request feedback refresh.
File-open action does nothing	File access is disabled in the Client; check the `fileAccessEnabled` variable.
I want routing / scenes / blackout	Wrong module — that is the Server one.