Bitfocus Companion for Presentations: Automating Show Control

Bitfocus Companion is the open-source button-control software a lot of touring and church crews already run for lighting, video and audio triggers. What is less well known is that it can drive presentation control too, slide advance, timer state and caller cuts sitting on the same panel as everything else the crew already presses buttons for.

Here is how the Cliqer module works, what it exposes, and how to set it up.

Why put slides on the same surface as your other cues

Most crews already have a control surface for lighting and video, built in Companion, run from a Stream Deck or a dedicated panel. Slide advance is usually the odd one out, stuck on a separate laptop with its own clicker. Folding it into Companion means one operator, one panel, and one set of muscle memory for the whole show instead of a second device to reach for. It also means training a fill-in operator takes minutes rather than a full walkthrough of a separate laptop and clicker they have never touched before.

How the integration works

Cliqer installs its Companion module automatically the moment it detects Companion on the same computer, no manual setup needed for the module itself. Under the hood, Cliqer runs two local servers the module connects to: an HTTP action API for triggering buttons, and a WebSocket feed for live timer and state updates flowing back into Companion's feedbacks and variables.

Setup steps

What the module actually gives you

The Cliqer module ships 19 actions across four categories:

It also exposes feedbacks, so a button can change colour when the timer is running, entering its warning phase, or a caller is live on air, and variables you can reference in button text, like the current timer display or how many viewers are in the room, updated live over the WebSocket feed. That live state is what turns a static button grid into something closer to a dashboard, an operator glancing down mid-show can see at a glance whether the timer is in its warning phase without needing to look up at a separate screen.

Companion vs a dedicated Stream Deck

Both tools solve a similar problem and Cliqer supports each independently, so the choice usually comes down to what the rest of the crew is already running:

If your crew runs both, that is fully supported, Stream Deck and Companion can each hold Cliqer's actions at the same time without conflict. And if timing on stage matters as much as the button press itself, pairing Companion with a DSAN Limitimer gives the speaker a physical countdown that stays in sync with whatever the panel is doing.

Fitting it into a wider show control setup

For crews running a full production desk, presentation control is rarely the only thing on the panel. See show control from the tech table for how slide advance sits alongside lighting and video triggers in practice, and controlling presentations inside a vMix production if your Companion setup is also driving a vision mixer. Touring and rental crews get a further benefit: a Companion configuration travels with the laptop between venues, see why rental and staging companies are moving show control to software for that angle.

Troubleshooting

If the Cliqer connection type does not appear in Companion, confirm Companion was installed and launched once before Cliqer's first run, since Companion only scans its modules folder on startup. The Refresh modules button in Companion refreshes its online store, not the local modules folder, so a full restart is what actually surfaces a freshly installed module. If actions fire but feedbacks and variables stay static, check that Companion is running on the same machine as Cliqer, since the live state feed is loopback-only and will not reach a different computer on the network.

FAQ

Bring slides onto your existing panel

If your crew already lives in Bitfocus Companion for lighting and video, adding slide control takes minutes. Download Cliqer free and connect it to your existing setup, or read the full Bitfocus Companion integration docs for the complete action and variable list. For teams building a full control rig, compare Pro, Ultra and Studio.