emberviewer Server mode Features Tested Get started Docs GitHub

emberviewer

A free, cross-platform Ember+ viewer

Browse, monitor and control Ember+ devices from one clean desktop app on Windows, macOS and Linux. An open, cross-platform alternative to Lawo's EmberPlusView.exe.

Download View on GitHub

Prebuilt binaries are published on the GitHub Releases page. Prefer source? See Getting started.

New Server mode

Operate it from your phone, over the WiFi

Ember+ gear often sits on dedicated media networks that aren't always reachable from where you need to be, and devices often limit how many Ember+ consumers can connect at once. Flip on server mode and the desktop app becomes a gateway: it holds one connection per device and fans the live tree out to browser clients. This opens up access from iPads, tablets, phones and anything else with a browser. 

Ember+ devices ──TCP──►  emberviewer (engineering PC)  ──HTTP / WebSocket──►   📱 phone
                         one connection per device          shared live tree        💻 laptop

One consumer per device

A fan-out hub shares a single TCP connection and subscription set across every viewer, so a device sees just one consumer. Closing a browser never drops another viewer's updates.

Thin browsers

The very same egui UI, compiled to WebAssembly. Documents cross as the device's original Glow/BER bytes, so each browser rebuilds a byte-identical tree.

Access control

Token-protected by default (the token rides in the page URL). Toggle open on LAN for no-auth on a trusted network, or read-only so browsers can watch but not change anything.

One-tap joining

Bind the right network interface, then share the shown URL or scan the QR code. Browse the tree, set values, read meters, route matrices and invoke functions from anywhere on the WiFi.

Why it exists

An open, cross-platform alternative

EmberPlusView.exe has been the go-to Ember+ tool for years and does the job well. emberviewer covers the same ground - browsing, get/set, matrices, functions and streams - rebuilt from the protocol up, for anyone who'd like an option that is open, cross-platform and actively developed.

Open source

emberviewer is MIT-licensed and developed in the open, so anyone can read it, audit it, or build on it.

Cross-platform

A single Rust codebase runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Actively developed

It's under active development, so it keeps pace with new devices and feedback from the field.

Features

Everything you need to drive a provider

A focused tool that gets out of your way - fast browsing, live values and real control.

Standouts vs the old EmberPlusView

Server mode New

Serve the UI to phones and laptops on your LAN - token-protected, with read-only and open-LAN modes. Learn more.

Streams & meters New

High-rate StreamFormat-aware decode driving live vertical meters, with pop-out windows.

Change logging New

A running log of parameter changes for monitoring and debugging, optionally written to a file.

Address book New

Providers organised in folders with drag-and-drop, saved between sessions, with JSON import / export.

Safety & traffic New

An opt-in lock guards against accidental edits, and a TX/RX counter shows live traffic toward the device.

And everything you expect

TCP connect

Connect to any Ember+ provider over TCP (default port 9000).

Lazy tree browsing

Walk the provider tree on demand with getDirectory, expanding only what you open.

View & set values

Read parameter values and set them, with live subscriptions for changes.

Boolean controls

Dedicated set and pulse controls for boolean parameters.

Matrix crosspoints

Route a matrix grid with device-resolved source/target labels and a signal-parameters popup.

Function invocation

Call provider functions and inspect their results.

Multiple connections

Several simultaneous provider sessions, each in its own tab.

Search & filter

Filter the tree, copy a node's path, and find what you need fast.

Reconnect with backoff

Automatic reconnection with exponential backoff when a link drops.

Enum maps & sliders

Friendly enum labels and slider controls that honour each parameter's min/max and display factor.

mDNS discovery

Automatic discovery of providers on the local network (_ember._tcp).

Online / offline state

Honours isOnline so disappearing nodes grey out instead of vanishing.

Proven in the wild

Tested against real broadcast gear

emberviewer is exercised against a broad range of production Ember+ providers - consoles, routers, processors and software stacks from across the industry - not just a reference implementation.

Run it against something we haven't listed? Let us know - interop reports are welcome.

A look inside

Screenshots

The GUI is built with egui/eframe for a fast, native feel on every platform.

emberviewer tree browser showing integer, real, string and enum parameters with live values, sliders and an SDP text view
Live tree browsing: sliders, live values, string and SDP editors, enum pickers - all with live subscriptions.
emberviewer matrix crosspoint grid with a blue crosshair highlighting the hovered row and column, sticky row/column headers, and orange connected crosspoints
Matrix routing on a 40x70 router: a crosshair highlights the hovered row and column, with sticky headers so labels stay put while you scroll.
emberviewer Options dialog showing server mode settings - port, access token, open-LAN and read-only toggles - and a QR code to open the web UI on a phone
Server mode setup: token-protected by default, with a QR code for one-tap joining from a phone.
The emberviewer web UI open in a narrow phone-width browser window, showing the same provider tree and a matrix with the crosshair highlight active
Server mode in practice: the same tree and matrix, open in a phone's browser over the WiFi.

Get started

Download and run

No build tools, no installer - grab the binary for your platform, unzip, and run.

1

Download for your platform

From the latest release, grab the Windows .zip or the macOS / Linux .tar.gz. Every binary already embeds the web UI for server mode.

2

Run it

Unzip and launch emberviewer - no install step. On Windows, SmartScreen may warn about an unsigned binary: choose More info → Run anyway. The Linux build needs glibc 2.35+ (Ubuntu 22.04 / Debian 12 or newer).

3

Connect to a provider

Add a provider to the address book by its host and port (Ember+ defaults to 9000), then connect and browse. New to Ember+? Read the protocol primer.

Update check: on launch emberviewer asks GitHub once a day whether a newer release exists, and shows an "Update available" note if so. It's a normal HTTPS request (so GitHub sees your IP) and sends nothing about your devices. Turn it off any time in Options → "Check for updates on startup".

Want to hack on it instead? Build from source - it only needs a Rust toolchain.

For developers

Build from source

All you need is a Rust toolchain.

1

Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/mattlamb99/emberviewer
cd emberviewer
cargo run --release -p emberviewer
2

Embed the web UI (optional)

A plain build serves a placeholder for server mode; to embed the real browser UI, build the wasm bundle first. See the build notes in the README.

New to Ember+?

A short primer on what Ember+ is - providers, the tree of nodes, parameters, matrices and functions, and how getDirectory / set / subscribe work.

Read the primer