Command Line

Everything in the TisVlay app is also available from a terminal with the tisvlay command, which is handy for scripts, SSH sessions, and automation tools. You never need it for ordinary use.

tisvlay is a pure client of the TisVlay service: every command below is a one-shot request to the service’s control socket. Most commands that act on a TV take its UUID as the first argument; get it from tisvlay list. The global options (socket paths, --json) are listed under tisvlay below.

Which command does what the app does

In the app	On the command line
TVs page: list and state	`tisvlay list`
+ (add a TV)	`tisvlay discover`, then `tisvlay pair`
Power on / off	`tisvlay power <id> on\|off`
Screen switch	`tisvlay screen <id> on\|off`
Backlight, Volume, Mute	`tisvlay backlight`, `tisvlay volume`, `tisvlay mute`
Current input / Primary input	`tisvlay input`, `tisvlay primary-input`
Managed switch	`tisvlay managed <id> on\|off`
PROFILES dropdowns	`tisvlay system-profile`, `tisvlay user-profile`
Profiles page	`tisvlay profile system …`, `tisvlay profile user …`
CONFIG (edit a TV)	`tisvlay config`
Re-pair / Remove TV	`tisvlay repair`, `tisvlay remove`
Sidebar Reload	`tisvlay reload`
Enable TV control banner	`tisvlay enable-access`
Sidebar status dots, About	`tisvlay status`

Seeing what’s going on

tisvlay list shows every TV and its current state (connection, power, input, …).
tisvlay status checks that the service is up and reports its release.
tisvlay watch streams every state change (history first, then live). It’s the go-to for scripting and for watching automation happen.

Reading and changing a TV

Every per-TV setting and state works the same way: give a value to change it, leave the value out to read it.

tisvlay volume <id> 30        # set the volume
tisvlay volume <id>           # print it: 30
tisvlay mute <id> --toggle    # flip mute, printing what was sent: on

A read prints what you’d type to set it (on/off, a number, an input or profile id), so its output can be fed straight back in. With --json it prints the bare JSON value.
On/off settings accept on/off (or true/false, yes/no, 1/0) and take --toggle.
Settings that can be unset (the primary input, the assigned profiles) take --clear. A TV with no assigned profile reads as the default profile’s id; an unset primary input prints nothing.
Commands that change something print nothing when they succeed. A failure exits non-zero with the reason on stderr.
A reader that stops early, as in tisvlay watch | head, ends the command quietly with status 0.
power reads on only when the TV is connected and awake, so a TV switched off with its remote reads off, and power --toggle wakes it. A TV whose screen alone is off reads on, and power on leaves it so; screen on lights it.
Values the TV reports, such as volume or the current input, come from its last report. If the TV is disconnected the command still prints the value, with a warning on stderr that it may be stale; if the TV hasn’t reported it since the service started, the command fails.
Two --toggles in quick succession can both see the old value, so a hotkey can miss a very fast double press.
In a script, quote a read you pass on to another command: an empty result would otherwise turn the second command into a read.

Scripting

Read commands take --json for machine-readable output, and tisvlay watch streams every change without polling, so a script can react to state instead of polling for it. The app and the tray use the same interface, so anything they show is scriptable.

Tab completion

Tab completion ships for bash, zsh, and fish (installed by the packages; see Installation). It’s live: <TAB> completes not just commands and flags but TV UUIDs, profile UUIDs, and vendor ids, queried from the running service and annotated with their names, so you never type a UUID by hand.

Command reference

The full command tree below is generated from the tisvlay source, so it always matches --help.

Command Overview:

tisvlay↴
tisvlay enable-access↴
tisvlay status↴
tisvlay reload↴
tisvlay list↴
tisvlay watch↴
tisvlay discover↴
tisvlay pair↴
tisvlay repair↴
tisvlay reconnect↴
tisvlay remove↴
tisvlay vendor↴
tisvlay power↴
tisvlay screen↴
tisvlay mute↴
tisvlay managed↴
tisvlay volume↴
tisvlay backlight↴
tisvlay input↴
tisvlay primary-input↴
tisvlay name↴
tisvlay config↴
tisvlay system-profile↴
tisvlay user-profile↴
tisvlay profile↴
tisvlay profile system↴
tisvlay profile system list↴
tisvlay profile system create↴
tisvlay profile system update↴
tisvlay profile system duplicate↴
tisvlay profile system delete↴
tisvlay profile system defaults↴
tisvlay profile user↴
tisvlay profile user list↴
tisvlay profile user create↴
tisvlay profile user update↴
tisvlay profile user duplicate↴
tisvlay profile user delete↴
tisvlay profile user defaults↴
tisvlay stream↴
tisvlay stream start↴
tisvlay stream stop↴
tisvlay stream status↴
tisvlay service↴
tisvlay service daemon↴
tisvlay service session↴
tisvlay service tray↴
tisvlay service greeter↴

`tisvlay`

TisVlay TV control

Usage: tisvlay [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

A TV setting or state reads when its value is left out and sets when it’s given: tisvlay volume <TV> prints the volume, tisvlay volume <TV> 30 sets it. On/off settings take --toggle, and settings that can be unset take --clear. Commands that change something print nothing on success.

Subcommands:

enable-access — Grant the current user TV control by adding it to the daemon’s socket group (one-click, authenticated via polkit). Log out and back in afterward for it to take effect
status — Probe the daemon’s liveliness token and report its release; fails when the daemon is absent or runs a release this CLI can’t talk to
reload — Apply hand edits of the state files: the daemon’s, the session’s and the tray’s (what the GUI’s Reload button does)
list — List TVs with their current state (hydrates from publisher caches)
watch — Stream every data key: history first, then live samples
discover — Scan for TVs: a bounded window, or with --watch until ctrl-c
pair — Pair a new TV, streaming the pairing progress (ctrl-c cancels)
repair — Re-run the pairing handshake for an existing TV
reconnect — Ask a downed TV to reconnect
remove — Remove a TV (deletes all its keys)
vendor — List the vendor backends, or show one’s capabilities and pairing fields
power — Power a TV on or off, or print whether it’s on (connected and awake)
screen — Blank or wake a TV’s screen, or print whether it shows a picture
mute — Mute or unmute a TV, or print whether it’s muted
managed — Set whether a TV’s profiles act (on the TV, and on this PC for its events), or print it
volume — Set a TV’s volume, or print it
backlight — Set a TV’s backlight level, or print it
input — Switch a TV’s input, or print the current one
primary-input — Set a TV’s primary input (the one automation restores and compares against), or print it
name — Rename a TV, or print its name
config — Patch a TV’s config, or print it (vendor secrets redacted)
system-profile — Assign a TV’s system profile, or print the assigned one
user-profile — Assign a TV’s user profile (via –user-socket), or print the assigned one
profile — The profile catalogs: system profiles hold what TVs do on power events, user profiles what they do on lock, idle and streams
stream — Arm or query a stream source (session-service side, via –user-socket). start/stop are the Sunshine global_prep_cmd integration (do = start, undo = stop)
service — Run one of TisVlay’s services in the foreground. Their systemd units start them; run one by hand to debug it or try its flags

Options:

--socket <SOCKET> — Daemon socket (default: $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/tisvlay/zenoh.sock, falling back to the packaged /run/tisvlay/zenoh.sock)
--user-socket <USER_SOCKET> — Session-service user socket for the profile user, user-profile and stream verbs (default: $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/tisvlay/session.sock)
--site <SITE> — Site chunk used in all key expressions; leave it unless you run more than one daemon

Default value: main
--json — Machine-readable JSON output on read verbs

`tisvlay enable-access`

Grant the current user TV control by adding it to the daemon’s socket group (one-click, authenticated via polkit). Log out and back in afterward for it to take effect

Usage: tisvlay enable-access

`tisvlay status`

Probe the daemon’s liveliness token and report its release; fails when the daemon is absent or runs a release this CLI can’t talk to

Usage: tisvlay status

`tisvlay reload`

Apply hand edits of the state files: the daemon’s, the session’s and the tray’s (what the GUI’s Reload button does)

Usage: tisvlay reload

`tisvlay list`

List TVs with their current state (hydrates from publisher caches)

Usage: tisvlay list

`tisvlay watch`

Stream every data key: history first, then live samples

Usage: tisvlay watch

`tisvlay discover`

Scan for TVs: a bounded window, or with --watch until ctrl-c

Usage: tisvlay discover [OPTIONS]

Options:

--vendor <VENDOR>
--timeout <TIMEOUT> — How long to scan, e.g. 3s or 500ms (default: the daemon’s window; it scans for at most its own cap)
--watch — Keep scanning, streaming findings until ctrl-c

`tisvlay pair`

Pair a new TV, streaming the pairing progress (ctrl-c cancels)

Usage: tisvlay pair [OPTIONS] --params <PARAMS> <NAME>

Keyboard shortcuts

TisVlay