ShowSign Signage

Fire ShowSign announcement cues to groups of screens from Companion — take-your-seats prompts, "starting now" flashes, or a looping brand clip on every sign in a room.

Setup

1. In the ShowSign portal, open your Event → Announcements and create at least one screen group (the signs a cue targets) and one cue (text or media).
2. Under Automation keys, generate a key for this event and copy it. It is only shown once.
3. In Companion, add the ShowSign Signage connection and set:
   • ShowSign API base URL — usually https://portal.showsign.io/api
   • Automation key — the key you copied (starts with ssk_; stored as a secret)

The connection turns OK and shows your event name once the key is valid. If the key is revoked or mistyped, the connection shows Invalid or revoked automation key. If ShowSign can't be reached, the status says why — for example host name not found (check the URL), connection refused, or a TLS certificate problem (the venue network may be intercepting it).

Presets

The Presets tab has a section for each screen group: one button per cue (fires it on that group) and a Clear button. A preset lights yellow while its group is showing its cue and red for a few seconds if ShowSign refused the press. Presets update by themselves when you add groups or cues in the portal.

Actions

• Fire cue on group — pick a group and a cue; optionally auto-clear after N seconds.
• Clear group — remove the current announcement from a group's signs.

The group and cue dropdowns populate automatically from your event and refresh every few seconds, so cues you add in the portal appear here without reconfiguring.

Using expressions: the Group and Cue options can be switched to an expression. The expression must return the group's or cue's name exactly as shown in ShowSign (any case), for example General Announcements — or its ShowSign id. If nothing matches, the press fails and the reason shows in the log and in $(showsign:last_action_error).

Feedbacks

• Group is showing cue — lights a button (ShowSign yellow by default) while the chosen group is currently showing the chosen cue, so your surface reflects what's live on the walls.
• Last action failed — lights a button (red by default) for 10 seconds after a Fire or Clear press that ShowSign refused or couldn't receive (a deleted cue, a revoked key, no network). Choose a group to light it only for presses on that group; each group keeps its own 10 seconds, so a press on another group doesn't clear it. A press made before Companion has reached ShowSign at all reports ShowSign not reached yet with the connection's reason.

Variables

Replace showsign below with your connection's label.

• $(showsign:event_name) — the connected event.
• $(showsign:group_<id>_cue) — the live cue label for each group (blank when clear). Browse the connection's variables list in Companion to find each group's exact variable name.
• $(showsign:last_action_error) — why the last Fire or Clear press failed (blank after a successful press).

A typical "take your seats" flow

Three buttons on your surface, all targeting a General Announcements group (the presets give you these ready-made):

1. 5 minutes → Fire cue "Program begins in 5 minutes"
2. About to begin → Fire cue "Please take your seats"
3. Starting now → Fire cue "Starting now" (or a media cue), auto-clear after 60s

Add the Group is showing cue feedback to each so the live cue is lit on your surface.