Guest — guest.html

Open it on a device you want to be able to look but not touch. It pairs, then forwards to the hub about a second later. The pairing URL is on the Settings page under Security, and Plugins → Dashboards → Show Guest Access Info logs it too.

What it shows

A single card, in one of three states, before the page forwards on:

  • Setting up guest access… — a spinner while it pairs, which takes well under a second.
  • Guest access ready — “This device can view the dashboards but control nothing.” Then it forwards to the hub.
  • Pairing failed — with the reason in brackets. Guest pairing works on the Indigo Mac’s own network and over Tailscale, plus any network added under Configure → Extra trusted networks.

How it works

It fetches guest-bootstrap from the plugin’s proxy on port 8177, with a four-second abort. On success it stores the returned guest token in localStorage and removes any full API key that was there — so a device that previously held the key is demoted rather than left holding both. The proxy answers only the trusted networks (see Which networks are trusted), which is what keeps guest access to your own network and Tailscale.

What a guest device can do

View every page. Control nothing: the tiles render, the toggles do not act.

A guest device cannot switch anything: it holds no API key, so that is not a matter of the interface politely hiding buttons. It is not a private view, though. It reads every device’s name and state through the plugin, which tells whoever holds it who is home, which doors and windows are open and when the house is empty, and it sees the camera pictures. Indigo variables are hidden from it unless you name them in guestVariables (Settings → Raw JSON, none by default, from 3.46.0). So give a guest link to a device you would let watch the house, not to anyone passing through, and withdraw it with Plugins → Dashboards → Rotate Guest Link and Camera-Stills Folder, which cuts off every guest device at once.

A guest link only means something while Auto-seed the API key to LAN browsers is off (the default for a new install from 3.46.0): with it on, any device on your network, a guest’s included, can ask the plugin for the full key instead.

Worth knowing

  • Pairing is per-browser. Clearing site data un-pairs the device and it will need the URL again.
  • Rotating the guest link (the menu item above) un-pairs every guest device together, each needs the URL again, which is the same address, with a new token behind it.
  • A wall tablet is the intended case. A visitor’s phone on your Wi-Fi is the other.