InfoSlides — put content on a TV or screen

Add a slide made of words: an announcement, a notice, a welcome, "lunch moved to 1pm". This is the quickest way to put words on a screen. Give a heading, optionally some text and a call to action, and a background, either a colour, a picture already in the media library or a picture URL. A separate picture can sit beside the text, and the workspace's logo and accent colour can be added. The slide is drawn at the screen's size from fixed layouts, so the words appear exactly as written; they are not checked for accuracy. Text that is too long for the layout is refused with the field named and the number of characters that fit, rather than cut off. The layouts are fixed: for a table, columns or a look they do not have, make the slide as an image and use add_media_slide. The slide is added at once; undo_change takes it out.

Add a slide that keeps itself up to date instead of showing a fixed picture — today's soup, the current queue number, live sales figures, tomorrow's weather. Needs a template first (see create_template or list_templates). With a push template the result includes sourceId, the push source to send data to with push_data, and with createPushKey=true a pushKey for the user's system (shown once); the slide stays hidden until the first data arrives. Otherwise push values with update_source. For a fetched source such as weather or an RSS feed, create the source first (create_source) and pass its id as sourceId with a template of the same type: the slide is bound to it in this one call.

Put a picture or a video on the screen — a photo of the specials board, a poster, a promo clip, a logo. Takes either a publicly reachable URL (downloaded server-side) or the id of a file already in the media library (see upload_media); provide exactly one. The picture is shown exactly as it is and nothing checks what it says. It is also the way to add a slide the fixed layouts of add_designed_slide cannot make: design the slide as an image and add it here. If the picture's shape does not match the screen's, the call still succeeds but returns an AspectMismatch warning — fix it rather than letting content be stretched or cropped on a display the public can see.

Play a slideshow on a screen during a time window every day, e.g. the breakfast menu from 06:00 to 11:00, on top of the screen's default content. Times are HH:mm in the workspace time zone: name it when you confirm. For a one-off stretch ("for two hours", "until 17:00") use create_takeover instead. Higher priority wins where windows overlap. Warnings (aspect mismatch, HTML unsupported on this screen) come back with the result: pass them on.

Add a weather alert timeline to a slideshow: 8 live data slides, one per 6 hours over the next 48 hours, each showing the weather alerts for its step and hiding itself when there are none. Needs a Weather alert source (list_sources, adapter WeatherAlert) and a plan with live data slides. Returns the 8 slides and an undo token that removes them all.

Tell a screen what to play. Connects slideshows to a registered display, in the order given, as a continuous loop. The call succeeds even when the content's shape does not match the screen's, but returns an AspectMismatch warning — act on it, because it means the content will be stretched or cropped on a display people can see. Follow with get_stream_link to get the URL to open on the TV.

Check whether a slideshow follows the confirmed brand guide: colours outside the palette, text that is hard to read, a missing logo, banned phrases and fonts that are not the guide's, slide by slide. Advisory only, nothing is blocked. Covers designed and dynamic slides, not slides inside an uploaded presentation. If hasConfirmedGuide is false there is nothing to check against.

Check what will go wrong before a slideshow goes on a screen: no slides to show, a failed render, a live data slide with no source or a source that is off or failing, and a media file that failed to prepare. ready is false when any finding is an error; each finding has a message to read out and a fix. Advisory only. It does not look at text size, expired content or the screen's shape.

Copy an existing deck so it can be customised without touching the original — or, with fromGallery=true, start from a ready-made professional design instead of a blank screen. Cloning from the gallery is the fastest way to get something presentable on a TV; call list_gallery first to see what is available.

Copy a layout, usually a built-in one from list_templates, into the workspace as '<title> (Copy)', so it can be changed with update_template. Needs a plan with live data slides; the error carries an upgrade link otherwise.

Issue a credential so another system or person can work with this workspace. Type 'admin' grants full access — use it sparingly. Type 'dataProvider' creates a locked-down push-only key tied to named slides that can do nothing except feed those slides new values via update_source: the right choice when a till system, CRM, or script needs to keep one number on the screen current, because a leaked key cannot read or change anything else. The full key is shown once and never again — tell the user to store it somewhere safe.

Create a broadcast channel: one stream that plays a slideshow on any number of screens or in a browser, with no pairing. Optionally give the slideshow it plays. Its watch link comes from get_stream_link. Needs a plan with broadcast channels and counts against the screen limit; the error carries an upgrade link otherwise.

Register the physical screen the content will play on — the TV in reception, the menu board above the counter, the noticeboard in the corridor, the display in the waiting room, the monitor in the shop window (Icelandic: upplýsingaskjár, skjár). Do this once per screen. Free accounts allow exactly 1 active screen; a DeviceLimitReached error comes with an upgrade link. Resolution defaults to 1920x1080 for a normal wall-mounted TV — use 1080x1920 for a screen turned on its end, which is common for menu boards and window displays.

Create a folder in the media library, where the workspace keeps its photos and videos, such as 'Menus', at the top level or inside another folder.

Create a content source InfoSlides fetches by itself, e.g. a news RSS feed for the ticker or a weather forecast for a slide. adapterType and the config fields come from list_adapters. For weather, config needs the place location: the latitude and longitude of the town or city the forecast is for, not where the person is. locationName is the place name shown on the slide. InfoSlides does not look up place names, so use the coordinates you know for the named place, ask which one when the name could be several places, and always set locationName. Weather comes as CurrentWeather (conditions now) or WeatherForecast (a 3-day outlook in six 12-hour slots); ask which one the person wants when their words leave it open. To put it on a slideshow, add_dynamic_slide with this source's id as sourceId. For data your own system sends, use a push template instead (create_template with dataMode push, then add_dynamic_slide). Secrets in config (API keys, tokens) are write-only: they are never returned. Plans without live sources return EntitlementRequired with an upgrade link.

Create a push-only key for a push source, to give to the system that sends its data. The key can push to this one source and do nothing else. It is returned once: show it to the user or store it where the system can read it, because it cannot be shown again. The answer also has quickUpdateUrl, a phone page with large buttons and no login where a person updates the board by hand: give that link to the person when nobody has a system to send the data. Revoking the key ends the link.

Take over one or more screens for a while, e.g. a fire drill notice for 30 minutes or a launch announcement on every screen until 17:00, then return them to their schedule by themselves. Give deviceIds (one or more screens), the slideshow, and either durationMinutes or endsAt. Without an end it runs until end_takeover.

Design a screen layout that fills itself in from live data, so the display stays current without anyone editing it — today's soup and price, the current exchange rate, a live sales counter, the next departure time. Requires a paid plan. Two ways to build it: describe the look in 'prompt' and give an example of the data in 'sampleJson', or hand over finished 'html' with {{field}} placeholders plus optional 'css' (leave sampleJson out: the placeholders are the fields). That shape is what every later push must match. Set dataMode='push' when the data will come from the user's own system (a queue, meters, scores): the slide then gets a push source, stays hidden until the first data arrives, and every plan includes one such live data slide, the free plan too (code mode). Design rules and a worked example: https://infoslides.app/blog/agents-guide-to-the-infoslides-galaxy. Set dryRun=true to check it without creating anything.

Start here when someone wants content on a TV or screen but has no InfoSlides account yet — a café putting its menu on a screen, a hotel with a lobby display, a school noticeboard, a shop window. Sets up their workspace and returns the Primary Admin API Key used by every later call. This is the only tool that needs no credentials. The new account lands on the permanent free plan: 1 screen, 4 slideshows, no credit card, nothing expires. Before creating it, give the person the Terms of Service (https://infoslides.app/terms) and Privacy Policy (https://infoslides.app/privacy) links. ownerEmail must be an address you can open right now, never an invented one: your own is recommended, so you can verify it at once and then add the person with invite_team_member. Adding a screen fails with EmailNotVerified until the address is verified. Pass ownerName (the person's first name) only when you already know it or it is free to ask; never invent one. It is what emails greet them with.

Turn off a team member's access without removing them (ids from list_team); reactivate_member turns it back on. Confirm with the person first. The last active admin cannot be turned off. Workspace admins only.

Remove a screen from the workspace, as the Devices page does: it stops playing, no longer counts against the plan's screen limit and leaves list_devices. Its schedule and pairing are kept. Say which screen by name and get the person's yes first. The result carries an undo token that brings it back (which fails with DeviceLimitReached if the plan has filled up since).

Delete a file from the media library for good and free its storage. Confirm with the person first. Refused while a slide uses the file: the error lists those slides (slideId, slideshowId, slideshowTitle), so change or remove them first.

Delete an empty folder from the media library (the place photos and videos are kept). Refused while it still holds files or folders; move or delete those first. Confirm with the person first.

Remove one timed entry from a screen's schedule (ids from get_schedule). The screen falls back to its default content in that window.

Remove one slide from a slideshow for good: the Christmas slide once it is over, a wrong photo, a page nobody wants. The slides after it close up and any rule on it goes too. If the slide may come back later, hide it with update_slide instead. Confirm with the person first unless they clearly asked for it.

Delete a slideshow for good: the old lunch menu, a campaign that has ended, a test deck. Its schedules are removed and any screen playing it stops showing it at its next check-in. restore_slideshow can bring it back for a while, but not its schedules, so confirm with the person first unless they clearly asked for it. To take one slide out, use delete_slide or hide it with update_slide instead.

Delete a content source. Slides and tickers fed by it stop updating. Confirm with the person first.

Delete a layout the workspace owns, for good. Confirm with the person first. Refused while a slide uses it: the error lists those slides, so change or remove them first. Built-in layouts cannot be deleted.

End a takeover now; the screen goes back to its schedule within about a minute.

Ask InfoSlides to fetch a source (RSS, weather, calendar) right now instead of waiting for its next scheduled fetch. The fetch runs in the background: call get_source_status after a few seconds to see the new health. Limited to 10 calls a minute per workspace.

Check an AI-designed slide job: Processing, Ready (previews to show the person), Inserted, NeedsClarification (read its question out, then start a new job with the answer in the prompt) or Failed. Jobs are kept for 24 hours. Poll at most every 5 seconds.

Read one InfoSlides help article, blog post or release note as Markdown, with the same fields as a search result. Pass on what matters to the person in your own words and link the url.

"Who changed this?" The workspace's audit trail, newest first: time, action (e.g. SlideshowDeleted), entityType, entityId, userId and details. Filter by what it is about (entityType and entityId), who (userId), action, category (User, Tenant, Slideshow, Device, Schedule, Sources, Templates, Billing, Settings, Support, TvDevice, WebClient) and a UTC from/to. action SlideshowDeleted finds the id restore_slideshow needs. Workspace admins only.

Which plan the workspace is on and when it renews. Returns the plan with its prices, the status (free, active, cancelling, paused, past_due, cancelled or suspended), renewsAt (empty when the plan does not renew or the date could not be read), endsAt when a cancellation is already scheduled, and what is used against each limit: slideshows, devices, users and storageMb, each as used and limit. invoicesUrl points a person at their invoices. Read-only and without card data; changing the plan, pausing or cancelling is done by the person in the web app. Needs a workspace admin key.

Read the workspace's brand guide before making slides so they match the company: colours, fonts, logos, voice, picture style and layout. 'inUse' is what slides are made from, 'draft' is the working copy. If 'waitingForApproval' is true a person still has to confirm the draft on the Brand page (brandPageUrl): tell them, because slides keep using the confirmed version until then.

"Why is the lobby screen black?" Lists every cause that could explain a screen looking wrong, most likely first: offline since a time, an empty or failed slideshow, nothing scheduled, every slide hidden by its rules, expired plan, or paired elsewhere. Each cause has a sentence to read out and, where there is one, a ready-made fix request. No causes means the screen looks healthy.

"How long did the lobby screen play, and what?" Estimated minutes per day for each slideshow the screen played. Estimated from screen heartbeats, not exact: say so when you report it.

Find out whether a screen is actually on and what it is showing right now — is the TV live, when did it last check in, which content is playing. This is the tool to reach for when someone says the screen is blank, frozen, or showing the wrong thing.

The workspace's error log, newest first, as a workspace admin sees it in the web app: time, level (Warning, Error, Critical), component, message, entityType, entityId and acknowledged. Use it to explain a failed render or a source that stopped. Filter by level, component, acknowledged and a UTC from/to. Workspace admins only.

Check whether an uploaded file is ready to use: processingStatus (Ready, Queued, Processing or Failed), progressPercent while a video is being prepared, and error when it failed. Images and documents are always Ready. Poll at most every 5 seconds.

"What's on the lobby screen?" Returns the slide the screen should be showing right now as an image, worked out from its schedule, takeovers, slide rules and slide durations. It is what should be on the screen, not a camera: an offline TV may show something else, so check get_device_status too.

"When do I get emails about screens going offline?" Shows the workspace's quiet hours and, per screen, whether alerts are on, its own quiet hours and whether it follows its schedule. At most one alert per screen per day is sent.

Notices from the InfoSlides team that are still active, newest first (an empty list when there are none). Each has kind (SystemUpdate for an update or maintenance window, NewFeature for news), title, message, postedAt, startsAt (when the update begins, or null) and expiresAt. When a SystemUpdate notice is active, tell the person what is coming and when, using startsAt.

Which InfoSlides release is running: version (for example v1.10.2), build (changes with every deploy), deployedAt, and releaseNotes, the published release notes of this version as title, slug and url. Remember the version; when it has changed since you last looked, tell the person an update is live and read the release notes with get_article (type release-note). An empty releaseNotes list means the notes are not written yet, so check again later instead of guessing what changed.

See a screen's schedule: its default content and any timed entries (breakfast menu 6-11, lunch menu 11-15), in the workspace time zone. Say which time zone it is when you read the times out. Use the entry ids with delete_schedule_entry.

Check a photo or video sent with show_media_on_device: one combined percent for the video processing and the slideshow render, and status Processing, Ready or Failed. Poll at most every 5 seconds.

Read the design behind a slide made with add_designed_slide, in the same fields that tool takes (design: heading, text, cta, the background, imageMediaAssetId, branding, layout, durationSeconds), so you can change one and send the whole design back with update_slide_design. A slide that was not made that way answers NotFound.

Look inside one piece of screen content: every slide (its type, whether it is hidden, how long it is shown, a thumbnailUrl, and every rule about when it appears), the order they play in, the ticker, clock and default duration, which screens are playing it (screens, each with a playerUrl to hand to the person) and renderStatus. Use this before editing so you know what is already there, and again after an edit: the change is on the screen once renderStatus is Completed. To look at a slide, call preview_slide.

"Where did the Q1 slideshow run last week?" Estimated minutes per day on each screen that played the slideshow, with a total and an approximate loop count. Estimated from screen heartbeats, not exact, and there are no per-slide counts: say so when you report it.

List the fields a source's items have (key, label and a sample value from its latest item), to decide which template fields to fill from it. Empty until the source has fetched something: fetch_source_now asks for that.