Dectrl

Dectrl is a control surface for the hardware you build. Connect your iPad to a Dectrl Translator, a Raspberry Pi 4/5 or RP2350 board speaking the Dectrl Control Protocol, and the dashboard builds itself from what your device says it can do. All network based connection. No app to write. No wire format to invent. No cloud in the path. HOW IT WORKS Your machine already speaks something: a GPIO pin, an I2C sensor, a motor controller expecting one particular frame, a vendor's undocumented serial blob. A Translator wires into that hardware and describes it once, as functions you can call and variables you can read. Dectrl reads the description and renders the controls. Connect over Ethernet, over Ethernet USB-C, or join the Translator's own hotspot. Dectrl finds it over Bonjour, pairs with an HMAC handshake, and you are driving real hardware seconds later. NO HARDWARE YET? START IN DEMO MODE Open the Dectrl Device module and choose Try Demo Mode to drive four simulated rigs: a DMX lighting board, an audio interface, a video switcher and a Raspberry Pi GPIO header. Real dashboards, nothing plugged in. Every module has a free demo. WHAT YOU GET • Automatic dashboards. Toggles, momentary buttons, sliders and text fields laid out on an 8 x 6 grid, generated from the device's own description. • One app across your desk. The same modules, dashboards and paired devices on your Mac and your iPad. • Control from several clients at once. Macs and iPads can drive one device and stay in agreement. • Local by default. Dectrl talks straight to your hardware over your own network. No account, no server, no telemetry, no analytics. • Diagnostics. Every call, response and failure logged, filtered by module, exportable as a text bundle when something needs explaining. • Device Manager. Every board you have paired, in one list, across every module. FOR PEOPLE WHO SHIP DEVICES Hardware developers use Dectrl to bring a board up before any app exists. It is the fastest way to get a real control surface in front of hardware that does not have one yet. When the product ships, the protocol comes with it. Your own branded app speaks DCP to your own device, exactly as this app did on the bench, and you never write a device communication layer at all. DCP is documented, and anyone can implement it. The specification and the conformance list are published in full at dectrl.com/protocol. Dectrl Translators and DCP devices are free to use, forever, with no account and no subscription. The app has one optional purchase, the Perpetual License, which adds: • Cloud IoT platforms. Connect Particle.io and Arduino Cloud accounts to control devices on those clouds alongside your local ones. • Operator Mode. Lock a dashboard as a kiosk for a machine that runs unattended, with Touch ID or password to leave. • iCloud Backup. Move your device list and dashboard layouts between your Mac and your iPad. Buy it once. Not a subscription. REQUIREMENTS • macOS 26.2 or later • A Dectrl Translator, or any device implementing DCP, reachable on your local network. Demo Mode needs no hardware at all. Particle and Arduino are trademarks of their respective owners. Dectrl is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by either company. The Particle.io and Arduino Cloud modules connect to those services using your own account with them. Documentation: dectrl.com/docs Protocol specification: dectrl.com/protocol Support: [email protected]