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Headless Installation

Advanced users — not part of Autodarts Desktop

This is a separate setup path from Autodarts Desktop, the app most people use. Both run the same underlying Detection software; a headless install just leaves out the application window and is run from a terminal instead. It's aimed at advanced users and at low-budget builds on small computers like a Raspberry Pi, where running without a window saves resources. Linux and macOS.

If you just want to connect a normal board and you're not sure this is for you, it probably isn't — use Autodarts Desktop instead.

What "headless" means

A headless computer is one that runs without a screen, keyboard or mouse attached — you reach it over the network instead, typically with SSH (a way to type commands on one computer from another). Everything on this page is typed into a terminal, either on the machine itself or over SSH.

Requirements​

  • Linux on a 64-bit PC (x86_64), a 64-bit ARM board (arm64), or a 32-bit Raspberry Pi (armv7l) — for example Raspberry Pi OS, Debian 11 or newer, or Ubuntu 20.04 or newer. Or macOS, on an Apple Silicon or Intel Mac.

  • curl, which most systems already have. If yours doesn't:

    sudo apt install curl -y

    (On distributions without apt, use whichever package manager they provide instead.)

Installing doesn't need administrator rights (sudo): everything goes into your own user account, which is also what lets it update itself later.

Installing​

curl -fsSL https://autodarts.sh | bash -s -- --headless

That downloads the latest release and installs it for your user. When it finishes it prints the commands you'll need, starting with the one that opens the board: autodarts.

To follow the beta track instead — pre-release versions that get new features first, and occasionally new bugs — add --beta:

curl -fsSL https://autodarts.sh | bash -s -- --headless --beta
autodarts: command not found?

The installer puts the autodarts command in ~/.local/bin. If that folder isn't on your system's search path yet, the installer says so and prints the line that adds it. Logging out and back in also fixes it on most Linux systems.

Setting it up​

Run:

autodarts

This opens the board's own screen, right in the terminal. It walks you through the same steps as Autodarts Desktop's setup:

  1. Sign in. The screen shows a QR code, a web address and a short code. Scan the QR code with your phone — or open the address on any device — and sign in to your Autodarts account there. Nothing needs to be typed into the headless machine itself.
  2. Create or claim a board. Give this board a name, or pick one of your existing boards to move over to this machine.
  3. Set up the cameras and calibrate them, just as in Autodarts Desktop.

Starting automatically​

Out of the box, the board runs while the autodarts screen is open. To keep it running in the background — and have it start by itself whenever the machine boots — open the screen's Service section and install the service from there.

Managing it from another computer​

A board without a screen is easiest to look after from your laptop: install the same way on the other computer, then run autodarts remote. It lists the boards it finds on your network and opens the one you pick. If it can't find yours (a different network segment, for example), give it the address directly: autodarts remote -H 192.168.0.42.

Board Manager

The browser-based Board Manager of earlier versions (at port 3180) is not supported from version 2 on — autodarts and autodarts remote replace it.

Updating​

When a newer release is out, the board's screen offers it. You can also update from the terminal at any time — handy over SSH:

autodarts update

Upgrading from the previous version​

If this machine ran the previous headless version (Autodarts 0.x), remove it before installing the new one, so the two don't fight over the cameras:

sudo systemctl disable --now autodarts
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/autodarts.service /etc/systemd/system/autodartsupdater.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
rm -rf ~/.local/opt/autodarts ~/.local/bin/autodarts ~/.local/bin/updater.sh

Your settings in ~/.config/autodarts stay where they are, and the new version picks up the board's sign-in from them on its first start. Then install as described above.

Uninstalling​

curl -fsSL https://autodarts.sh | bash -s -- --uninstall --headless

This removes the program and its service but keeps your settings and calibration, so a reinstall picks up where you left off. To delete those too, use --purge instead of --uninstall.