How Flapjack works
A board is a display. Screens are what it plays. Everything else — frames, regions, scenes, schedules, TVs — hangs off those two ideas.
Start here
1. Make a board from the dashboard and pick a look.
2. Open the Screens tab and type your first message, or let Cook write it.
3. Add a second screen and set how long each one stays up.
4. Save, then open the board link on the screen that should show it.
On a topic below, the wording matches the labels in the editor, so you can read and click along.
Boards
A board is one display: its size, its frame and everything it shows. Make one from the dashboard and give it a name — the link (/f/your-board) is what you open on a TV, a tablet or a laptop.
Frame & Size holds the physical side: aspect ratio, bezel thickness, frame style, board name plate.
Every board gets a public link. Anyone with the link can watch it; nobody can edit it.
Duplicate a board when you want a second location that starts from the same look.
Screens — the playlist
A board plays its screens from top to bottom, then loops. One screen is a still board; five screens is a rotation. Everything you type lives on a screen.
Add a screen, pick what it says: a fixed message, a rotating list, a data table, weather, airport flights or live scores.
Each screen has its own time on screen — from 10 seconds up to 10 minutes.
Drag the handle to reorder, or use the arrows. The copy button clones a screen you already like.
Cook one writes a screen for you: describe the moment ("grand opening Saturday") and pick from three designs.
Days and hours on a screen keep it out of the loop until it applies — a Sunday-only special stays hidden all week.
How it looks
The display type decides the hardware you are imitating: split-flap tiles, dot-matrix, LED matrix, plain type, printed signage, a photo, a slideshow or a bottom ticker.
All screens the same is the simple mode — one display for the whole board.
Per screen lets one screen be split-flap and the next a photo or a sign, in the same loop.
Colours, grid size, font, flip speed, gap and alignment all live under Look.
Regions (advanced)
Regions split one board into panels that play at the same time — a title strip along the top, a sidebar, a ticker across the bottom.
Open "Split this board into regions" under the playlist, then drag a region on the board to move or resize it.
Each region has its own playlist, so a pinned header can stay put while the main panel rotates.
Pin a region when it should never be interrupted by a pushed message.
Scenes and scheduling
A scene is a saved version of the whole board — Everyday, Holiday, Closed. Scheduling rules decide which scene is on the board at a given time.
Create scenes from the Scene selector at the top of the editor, then edit each one independently.
Rules run on days and time windows; a window like 22:00–06:00 carries over midnight.
Schedule history keeps previous versions, so a bad change can be restored.
Add a webhook to a scene to notify your own systems whenever that scene takes the board.
Putting a board on a screen
Any browser works: open the board link and use Pop out board for a clean full-screen view. For a dedicated TV or player, pair it instead so you never have to touch the URL again.
On the TV, open /tv. It shows a six-character code.
On your computer, go to Pair a screen and type that code.
Name the screen (Lobby TV) and choose the board it shows. Change the board later without touching the TV.
Use /calibrate once if the picture is cropped or offset by the TV's overscan.
Automation, API and assistants
Anything you can do by hand, another system can do for you — push a message, replace the rows of a table, upload an image.
The board editor's Developer tab reveals the board's ingest key. Treat it like a password; rotate it if it leaks.
The REST API covers board state, messages, table rows, media, bezel and device pairing.
Assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) connect to the built-in MCP server and sign in with your own account.
Common questions
Why is my new screen not showing?
Check its days and hours — a screen with a time window stays out of the loop outside it — and make sure you saved. Unsaved changes show under the board name.
Why does my text get cut off?
A split-flap grid is a fixed number of tiles per row. Shorten the line, drop the grid to fewer columns, or switch that screen to plain type or signage, which lay text out themselves.
How do I take the board over right now?
Use the Send tab (or the API) to push a message. It holds the board for its own time, then the playlist resumes.
Can two people edit one board?
Editing follows the account that owns the board. Everyone else watches through the public link.
Going further
Automating a board, wiring a webhook or connecting an assistant is covered in the API reference. Want to see finished boards first? The gallery is live, not screenshots.