Stage screens

Prest Server is built into Prest and starts with it. Phones, tablets, and other computers on the band’s network open it in a browser. They show the song playing, with its lyrics and chords, score, charts, form, and mixer, and they control the transport. Nothing has to be installed on the screens, and no internet connection is needed: only the local network between the Prest computer and the screens.

The screens show the project in front in Prest, and what they ask for is done on that project. A song chosen on a screen opens its project in Prest, in a tab of its own, or brings that tab in front if it is already open.

Connect a screen

Connect the Prest computer and the screen to the same band-owned router or hotspot.
Open Prest.
- If the system asks whether Prest may accept incoming connections, allow it on private networks only.
- On macOS 15 and later, allow Prest to find devices on the local network when macOS asks. Without that permission, the name prest.local is not announced. You can change it later in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Local Network.
On the screen, open http://prest.local/ in a browser. If the name does not open, use the Prest computer’s IP address instead, for example http://192.168.1.20/.

Expected result: the screen shows Prest Server’s Editor, with Editor, Performance, and Setup at the top. Until the show library is chosen, a short first-run guide, Welcome to Prest, opens over it: it walks through the screen’s look and the show library folder, and Skip closes it. The dot in the top bar shows the link to Prest (point at it, or read it in Setup): Runtime Active or Runtime Standby when linked, Runtime Waiting when the screen is connected but the link to Prest is down, and Runtime Offline when the screen is not connected.

Prest itself does not show its address. Find the computer’s IP address in its network settings. Once a screen is connected, Setup → Network & Redundancy → Connect From Other Devices shows the .local address and the address that screen used. On the Prest computer itself, http://localhost/ opens the same page.

The screens need Safari or Safari on iOS 15.4, Chrome or Edge 99, Firefox 98, or later.

What happens when the link drops

A page already open stays up while Prest cannot be reached: the dot shows Waiting or Offline, the transport buttons and the form are turned off, and the page reconnects by itself when Prest is back. Loading or reloading a page needs Prest: there is no offline copy of the page on the screen, so a screen that joins or reloads waits until Prest can be reached.

Choose the show library

Prest Server lists the songs of one folder of Prest projects (.prest), directly in it or in its subfolders: the show library. Set it once; Prest Server remembers it.

On a screen, open Setup. Under Data → Project Source, choose Browse Folder, find the folder that holds your .prest projects, and choose Use This Folder. You can also type the folder’s path.
Open Editor and choose + Add All Projects. The number beside it is how many projects are not in the library yet.

Expected result: the Songs column lists a song for each project. To read them, Prest opens each project in a tab of its own; close the tabs you do not need afterwards. A project is one song, unless it has song markers, markers named S\ and the song’s name, such as a REAPER project made for Prest Server: then each song runs from its marker to the next.

Until a folder is chosen, Editor and Performance say No show library folder is set, so songs cannot load. Set the show library folder in Setup., with Open Setup.

Editor: setlists and songs

Editor is where you build setlists. On a computer or a large tablet it shows three panes: Setlists, Active Set (the setlist being edited), and Songs. On a smaller tablet the songs are in a drawer (Song Library); on a phone, one pane at a time, with Back and Library.

New, in Setlists, makes a setlist (Setlist Name, Date). Rename it in the field at the top of the Active Set pane.
Drag songs from Songs into the setlist, or choose Select, tick songs, and Add. Drag a song’s number to reorder, or choose Reorder and use the arrows, then Done.
New, in Songs, makes a song by hand: its project, Song Name, Length (seconds), Tempo (BPM), Key, and Notes. (No project file) makes a placeholder that opens nothing.
Search the songs by name, project, or notes.
Tap a song to open it in Prest and go to Performance. While a song plays, the one you tap is queued to play next instead.
Deleting a setlist keeps its songs. Deleting a song removes it from the library and from every setlist.

Attachments

Charts, parts, and lead sheets can be shown on a screen in place of the lyrics. Edit a song (the pencil on its card) and, under Attachments, choose Add files…: PDF, PNG, JPEG, or WebP. They are kept beside the project, in a folder named after it: Song A.prest keeps them in Song A Attachments. Each file is shown by its name, such as “Bass”, and a screen showing “Bass” shows the next song’s “Bass” too. More in the Editor guide.

Performance: the stage view

Performance is what the band reads on stage: the song playing, its lyrics and chords, score, charts, form, and mixer, with the transport. See The Performance page.

Setup: each screen and the rig

Setup has four parts.

This Device belongs to the screen it is on, kept in its browser. Every screen chooses its own.

Lock This Device: turns off the transport and song changes on this screen, against a stray touch. It is not a password. See Lock a screen.
Appearance: the Skin (Server, Faceplate, Console, or Desktop), the Tone (System, Dark, or Light), and High contrast (System, On, or Off). The moon button in the top bar switches the tone alone.
Default View: what every song shows on this screen, unless you choose another view for a song on the Performance page. Forget Song Views drops the songs’ own choices.
Text Size: for each view on its own, from 80% to 200%.
Display Lag: how late this screen shows what it is sent, in 5 ms steps. Leave it at 0 ms unless the playhead trails the music.
Show “All Songs” in Performance and Song Timings in Performance Menu: whether Performance offers the whole library as a setlist, and shows each song’s length.

Data is kept by Prest and shared by every screen.

Project Source: the show library folder.
Export Backup: Download Backup saves the songs and setlists as a prest-backup- file ending in .rpbak. It does not hold the show library folder or any screen’s or network settings.
Import Backup: adds a backup’s songs and setlists to the library; it does not replace what is there. See Backups and data.

Network & Redundancy is how screens reach Prest. It applies after you restart Prest.

Connect From Other Devices: the addresses to open.
Rig Name: the name screens open, http://<name>.local/; empty means prest. Two rigs on one network need different names.
Announce on the Network (mDNS): whether the name is announced.
Stage Network Interface: on a computer with several networks, the stage network’s interface name (such as en0) or IP address.
Redundant Rig Hosts and Rig Pairing Key: for a rig of several computers, one standing by for the other. As the standby, Prest cannot nudge its play rate to stay in step, as REAPER can.
Server Port and Backup Port: see Port.

System has Re-run Onboarding, the third-party notices, and Wipe App Data, which deletes every song and setlist, the show library setting, and this screen’s settings. Export a backup first.

Port

Prest Server listens on port 80, the standard web port, so screens need no port in the address. If it cannot use port 80, for example because another program already uses it, Prest Server serves on the first free port from 8418 to 8422 instead. Prest then says so on its status line, in a message that starts with Prest Server: and names the address to open, such as http://prest.local:8418/. Addresses without the port do not reach it.

To choose the port yourself, set Server Port in Setup and restart Prest, or start Prest with PREST_PORT, which overrides Setup. On Linux, ports below 1024 need root, so Prest Server ends up on a backup port unless you choose another, for example:

PREST_PORT=8080 ./prest

Turn off Backup Port to have Prest Server not start at all when its port is taken. If Prest Server cannot start, or stops, Prest shows a message starting with Prest Server stopped: and the reason. A port in use usually means REAPER with the Prest Server plugin, or another web server, is running.

These variables override Setup when you start Prest with them:

Variable	Sets
`PREST_PORT`	The server port
`PREST_RIG_NAME`	The rig name, the `<name>` of `<name>.local`
`PREST_MDNS`	`on` or `off`: whether the name is announced
`PREST_MDNS_INTERFACE`	The stage network interface
`PREST_PEERS`	The rig’s other computers, comma-separated
`PREST_CLUSTER_KEY`	The rig pairing key

When a screen cannot connect

prest.local does not open. Open the computer’s IP address, as shown under Connect From Other Devices. Check that the screen is on the same network, that Announce on the Network (mDNS) is on, and on macOS 15 and later that Prest has the Local Network permission. .local names work over IPv4 only.
The address opens nothing after a port change. Add the port, for example http://prest.local:8418/.
Another band’s rig answers. Two rigs on one network share the name prest. Give yours its own Rig Name, restart Prest, and open http://<name>.local/.
A song shows Not in the library. Prest is playing a project that is not in the show library. If the project is in another folder, move it into the show library folder; then choose + Add All Projects in Editor.

Where Prest Server keeps its data

Prest Server’s settings, songs, and setlists for Prest are kept in Prest’s own folder, in Prest Server/prest.pb, apart from what Prest Server keeps for REAPER or Ableton Live. See Where Prest keeps things.

To run the stage from a computer with no screen of its own, see Headless mode.

Next: The Performance page.