Remote presenter control

• Introduction
• Starting a session
• Viewer navigation
• Session configuration
• Ending a session
• Troubleshooting

Introduction

Remote presenter control is available in SlideWire 1.5.0. Session state is stored in Laravel's cache, and viewers receive updates through Livewire polling. No WebSocket server is required.

Presentations opened without a remote session continue to work normally and do not poll for updates.

Starting a session

First, register the presentation using Route::slidewire() in routes/web.php:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::slidewire('/slides/pitch', 'pitch');

The command uses the generated slidewire.pitch route name. Keep this name when starting remote sessions. Nested presentation keys such as team/q1-kickoff are also supported. See Routing and presentation discovery for details.

Before starting a session, make sure the command and web requests use the same persistent cache store with support for atomic locks. A file store works for a single local host. For multiple application servers, use a shared store such as Redis. An array store does not share session state between the command and web requests.

Start the session with the presentation key, not its URL:

php artisan slidewire:remote pitch

The command prints two URLs:

• The controller URL has a temporary signature and gives the presenter control of the session.
• The viewer URL lets the audience follow the presenter without changing the shared position.

Open the controller URL in your presentation browser and share only the viewer URL. The controller displays a LIVE badge, a viewer lock toggle, and an end-session button. New viewers start at the presenter's current position.

By default, sessions last two hours and viewers poll every two seconds. You may override either value when creating a session:

php artisan slidewire:remote pitch --ttl=30m --poll=500ms

Viewers follow slide changes and revealed fragments on their next poll. Polling is not instantaneous, and shorter intervals increase requests to your application. Viewers do not re-render unchanged slides on every poll.

Viewer navigation

Viewers are locked to the presenter by default. Navigation arrows are hidden, and keyboard, touch, and other navigation actions cannot move viewers away from the presenter's position. Fullscreen remains available when enabled by the deck's controls settings.

Use the controller's lock toggle, labeled Let viewers navigate freely, to allow browsing. This setting applies to all viewers in the session. Navigation arrows return when controls are enabled, and viewers may browse without changing the shared position.

While browsing is unlocked, a viewer stays on their selected slide until the presenter changes the slide or fragment position. That change brings viewers back to the presenter's position.

Use Lock viewers to the presenter to disable browsing again. On their next poll, viewers return to the current presenter position even if the presenter has not moved. Their navigation arrows are hidden again. The lock is also enforced on the server.

Session configuration

The remote section in config/slidewire.php accepts a RemoteConfig DTO:

use WendellAdriel\SlideWire\DTOs\RemoteConfig;

'remote' => new RemoteConfig(
    ttl: '2h',
    pollInterval: '2s',
    viewerControls: false,
    cacheStore: null,
),

For example, 30m, 2h, and 1d are valid session lifetimes. 500ms and 2s are valid polling intervals. Zero, negative, fractional, and overflowing values are rejected. Polling intervals cannot exceed 2,147,483,647 milliseconds.

If you published the package configuration before 1.5.0, you may add the remote entry to your existing file. When the entry is absent, SlideWire uses the defaults shown above.

To use a dedicated cache store, set cacheStore to its configured name:

'remote' => new RemoteConfig(
    cacheStore: 'redis',
),

The store must support atomic locks and be accessible to both the Artisan command and every application server serving the presentation. Clearing or losing the session cache ends the remote session. See Configuration for the other package settings.

Ending a session

Use End remote session in the controller and confirm the prompt to stop sharing the presenter's position. Ending a session cannot be undone. Start a new session to generate new links.

Sessions also end when their configured lifetime expires. Navigating does not extend the lifetime, and closing the controller browser does not end the session early.

On their next poll after a session ends or expires, viewers stop following and return to independent browsing. They keep their current slide and revealed fragments. Normal navigation controls return according to the deck settings, and remote polling stops.

Opening a link for a missing or expired session loads the presentation in normal solo mode rather than joining a remote session.

Troubleshooting

If slidewire:remote reports that no route was found, register the presentation with Route::slidewire() and pass the same presentation key to the command. The command expects the generated route name to remain unchanged.

If a viewer link opens as a normal presentation, check that the session has not expired or been ended. Also check that the command and web server use the same cache configuration. An in-memory array store cannot carry the session from the command to the web server.

If the controller cannot update or end a session, check that the selected cache store supports atomic locks. In a multi-server deployment, every server must share the session cache and lock backend.

If viewers appear delayed, check the polling interval and network connectivity. Updates arrive through polling rather than a continuous connection.