opencue-cuenimby 1.13.6

CueNIMBY is a cross-platform system tray application for OpenCue NIMBY control. It allows workstation users to monitor their machine's rendering availability, toggle between available and disabled states, receive notifications when jobs start, and schedule automatic state changes based on time of day.

CueNIMBY - OpenCue NIMBY Control

CueNIMBY is a cross-platform system tray application that provides user control over OpenCue's NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) feature on workstations.

Features

• System Tray Icon: Visual indication of current rendering state

  • 🟢 Green: Available for rendering
  • 🔵 Blue: Currently rendering
  • 🔴 Red: Disabled (manually locked)
  • 🟠 Orange: NIMBY locked (due to user activity)
  • ⚫ Gray: Unknown/Disconnected

• User Controls:

  • Toggle workstation availability for rendering
  • Enable/disable desktop notifications
  • Enable/disable time-based scheduler

• Desktop Notifications:

  • Alert when a job starts rendering on your machine
  • Notify when NIMBY locks/unlocks your workstation
  • Notify when you manually change availability

• Time-based Scheduler:

  • Automatically disable rendering during work hours
  • Configure different schedules for each day of the week
  • Example: Disable rendering Mon-Fri 9AM-6PM, enable evenings and weekends

Installation

From Source

cd cuenimby
pip install .

With Development Dependencies

pip install -e ".[dev,test]"

Usage

Basic Usage

Start CueNIMBY with default settings:

cuenimby

Command Line Options

cuenimby --help

Options:
  --version              Show version and exit
  --config PATH          Path to config file (default: ~/.opencue/cuenimby.json)
  --cuebot-host HOST     Cuebot hostname (overrides config)
  --cuebot-port PORT     Cuebot port (overrides config)
  --hostname HOST        Host to monitor (default: local hostname)
  --no-notifications     Disable desktop notifications
  --verbose, -v          Enable verbose logging

Examples

Connect to a specific Cuebot server:

cuenimby --cuebot-host cuebot.example.com --cuebot-port 8443

Run with verbose logging:

cuenimby --verbose

Monitor a specific host:

cuenimby --hostname workstation-01

Configuration

CueNIMBY stores its configuration in ~/.opencue/cuenimby.json. The configuration file is automatically created on first run with default values.

Configuration File Format

{
  "cuebot_host": "localhost",
  "cuebot_port": 8443,
  "hostname": null,
  "poll_interval": 5,
  "show_notifications": true,
  "notification_duration": 5,
  "scheduler_enabled": false,
  "schedule": {
    "monday": {
      "start": "09:00",
      "end": "18:00",
      "state": "disabled"
    },
    "tuesday": {
      "start": "09:00",
      "end": "18:00",
      "state": "disabled"
    }
  }
}

Configuration Options

• cuebot_host: Hostname of the Cuebot server
• cuebot_port: Port number for Cuebot gRPC
• hostname: Host to monitor (null = auto-detect local hostname)
• poll_interval: How often to check state (seconds)
• show_notifications: Enable/disable desktop notifications
• notification_duration: How long notifications stay visible (seconds)
• scheduler_enabled: Enable/disable time-based scheduler
• schedule: Weekly schedule configuration

Schedule Configuration

Each day can have a schedule entry with:

• start: Start time in HH:MM format (24-hour)
• end: End time in HH:MM format (24-hour)
• state: Desired state during this time period ("disabled" or "available")

During the configured time period, the host will be set to the specified state. Outside the period, the opposite state applies.

System Tray Menu

Right-click the tray icon to access:

• Available (checkbox): Toggle rendering availability
• Notifications (checkbox): Enable/disable notifications
• Scheduler (checkbox): Enable/disable time-based scheduler
• Open Config File: Open the configuration file in your default editor
• About: Show application info
• Quit: Exit CueNIMBY

Platform-Specific Notes

macOS

CueNIMBY uses the native macOS notification system. For best results:

• Grant notification permissions when prompted
• Install terminal-notifier for most reliable notifications (recommended):

  brew install terminal-notifier
  

• Alternative: Install optional pync package for enhanced notifications:

  pip install pync
  

• Built-in fallback uses osascript (no additional install required)

Windows

CueNIMBY uses Windows 10+ toast notifications:

• Notifications require Windows 10 or later
• Install optional win10toast package:

  pip install win10toast
  

Linux

CueNIMBY uses the freedesktop notification system:

• Requires a notification daemon (usually pre-installed)
• Install optional notify2 package:

  pip install notify2
  

• Fallback to notify-send command if package unavailable

Understanding NIMBY and Desktop Rendering

What Does "Locked" Mean?

When a host is locked (either manually or via NIMBY), it becomes unavailable for rendering jobs in OpenCue:

• Disabled (Manual Lock): User manually disabled rendering via CueNIMBY
• NIMBY Locked: RQD automatically locked the host due to user activity (mouse/keyboard)

In both cases, the host will not accept new rendering jobs. Any currently running jobs will continue until completion, but no new work will be dispatched to the host.

Desktop Rendering Control

Desktop workstations in OpenCue are typically configured under a special allocation called local.desktop. This allows administrators to control rendering on user workstations separately from dedicated render farm machines.

How Desktop Rendering Works:

1. Allocations: Desktop hosts are assigned to the local.desktop allocation
2. Show Subscriptions: Shows are configured with subscriptions to allocations, including local.desktop
3. Controlling Rendering: To enable rendering on desktops for a specific show:
   • Increase the subscription size for the local.desktop allocation
   • Adjust the burst value to control how many jobs can run
   • Setting size/burst to zero effectively disables desktop rendering for that show

Example:

• Default: Show has local.desktop subscription with size=0, burst=0 (no desktop rendering)
• Enable: Set local.desktop subscription to size=10, burst=20 (allow up to 10 cores, burst to 20)

This gives production teams fine-grained control over when and how much desktop resources are used for rendering.

For more detailed information about desktop rendering control, allocations, and subscriptions, see the Desktop rendering control guide in the official documentation.

Integration with RQD

CueNIMBY works alongside RQD's built-in NIMBY feature:

1. RQD NIMBY: Automatically detects user activity (mouse/keyboard) and locks the host
2. CueNIMBY: Provides user control and visual feedback via system tray

Both can run simultaneously:

• RQD handles automatic locking based on activity detection
• CueNIMBY allows manual control and shows visual notifications
• When RQD locks the host due to user activity, CueNIMBY reflects this with the NIMBY_LOCKED state (🟠 Orange icon)
• Users can manually lock/unlock via CueNIMBY regardless of RQD's automatic behavior

Troubleshooting

Can't connect to Cuebot

Ensure:

• Cuebot is running and accessible
• Hostname and port are correct
• Network allows gRPC traffic on the specified port
• Environment variables are set if needed:

  export CUEBOT_HOST=cuebot.example.com
  export CUEBOT_PORT=8443
  

Notifications not working

Check:

• Notification permissions are granted
• Install platform-specific notification package (see Platform-Specific Notes)
• Enable notifications in configuration or tray menu

Host not found

Verify:

• The hostname matches exactly (case-sensitive)
• The host is registered with Cuebot
• Use --hostname flag to specify exact hostname

Icon not appearing

Some desktop environments require:

• AppIndicator support (Linux)
• System tray enabled in desktop settings
• Restart of the application after desktop environment changes

Development

Running Tests

pytest

Code Formatting

black cuenimby/

Linting

pylint cuenimby/