Most people know the little deck with the glowing keys as a way to launch shortcuts. Bitfocus Companion takes that same hardware and gives it a second, far more serious life, one where a single press can recall a preset, switch a camera, or fire a whole cue list without you ever looking up.
The word that comes up most in user forums is surprise. People expect a weekend of fiddling, then they realize the whole install takes minutes and the rest is play. Whether you are on Windows, macOS, or Linux, there is a package waiting for you.
The download is free and stays that way. The project is open source and built by a community that cares about live events, houses of worship, schools, and broadcast rooms alike. Grab the installer from the official site, run it, and move on.
You do not strictly need a physical deck to play. There is a built in emulator and a touch friendly web surface, which means you can experiment with the whole system from a tablet before committing to new gear.
Once the server is running, everything becomes webpage. That is the loose and friendly part of the whole tool: your entire configuration, every surface, and every connection lives behind a login that runs in any modern browser on the network.
Point a browser at the machine running the software and the Bitfocus login screen opens right up. On the same computer it is usually localhost, while a phone on the same wifi can reach it through the network IP. Adjustments become possible from wherever you are standing.
Buttons, connections, triggers, and preferences all live in that one web app. Change a label from a phone backstage and the keys update instantly. There is no sync folder to babysit, no imports to forget.
The sidebar organizes your surfaces and devices while the main panel holds the editor. It is clean enough to learn in an afternoon and deep enough that newcomers keep finding new corners months later after the first Bitfocus login.
Nobody ships support for every device on the planet in a single package. Instead, the muscle comes from add ons. Each expands the software to talk to a new family of gear, from video mixers and recorders to lighting boards and playback systems.
ATEM switchers, vMix, OBS, GrandMA, Resolume, dozens of PTZ camera lines and plenty more all speak through these pieces. Once a bitbox Companion module is installed, the actions and variables for that device simply appear in the editor, ready to map.
In the web interface there is a searchable library of installed and available modules. Click one, add a connection, drop in the host address, and the connection goes through. The extensive bit companion modules library is what turns a single deck into a control room.
A handful of the things people ask most when they start, answered the short way for the fast reader.
No, a Stream Deck is useful but not required. The emulator and web surface cover most learning, so you can map actions and test every one of your buttons before any money is spent.
Almost certainly yes. Installers are published for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and the interface runs in any modern browser. Older built in mobile browsers can be iffy, so keep Chrome or a recent Safari handy.
The web interface is available from any device that can see the running computer. For the simplest local setup, keep the interface on 127.0.0.1 and port 8000, then open that from another machine using the machine network IP.
Search the library first, and if it is still missing, grab an offline bundle and import it. The store grows all the time, and the community is quick about adding new gear.
Yes. Multiple decks can be connected together, and there is also a satellite feature for running additional surfaces over the network, with each able to show a different page of controls.