Connecting
3 minute read
Desk talks to a controller over WebSocket. You only enter the controller’s hostname or IP address — never a port number.
Connection panel
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| URL | Controller hostname or IP address (e.g. 192.168.2.102 or controller.local) |
| Lock icon | Toggle between secured (wss://) and insecure (ws://) WebSocket |
| Username | Defaults to administrator |
| Password | Leave empty when no password is set |
| Connect / Disconnect | Opens or closes the session |
The URL, the secured flag and the username are remembered in the browser; the password is not.
Pasting a full URL works too — wss://192.168.2.102 sets the host and flips the lock to secured, ws://… to
insecure.
Secured vs insecure
Desk connects with wss:// (encrypted) by default. Click the lock icon to fall back to ws:// for a controller without TLS.
Note
Motorcortex controllers use a self-signed certificate. Before the first wss:// connection, open the controller in a browser tab (e.g. https://192.168.2.102) and accept the warning. Without that, the browser blocks the WebSocket silently.
Ports
Classic controllers expose two WebSocket ports: 5568 for request/reply and 5567 for the live data stream. Newer images put both behind a single TLS port through a reverse proxy; Desk probes for that automatically on connect and falls back to the two-port scheme when the probe fails. Either way, no port is entered by hand.
Connecting and disconnecting
- Enter the controller address.
- Enter credentials if the controller requires them.
- Click Connect, or press Enter in any of the three fields.
- Click Disconnect to close the session.
Connection states
The state is shown as a chip in the Connection tab header, so it stays visible even when another tab is in front.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Disconnected | No session; click Connect |
| Connecting… | Opening the session and loading the parameter tree |
| Connected | Live: parameters poll and subscribed traces stream |
| Reconnecting… | The data stream dropped; Desk is re-establishing it automatically |
When only the pub/sub socket dies, Desk reconnects on its own and resumes streaming into the existing traces — your trace list, colours and axes are kept.
Switching controllers
Traces survive a reconnect on purpose, which is what you want for the same machine. When you connect to a
different controller, Desk validates every subscribed path against the new parameter tree and removes the ones
that do not exist there (or whose channel index is out of range), with a toast such as
Removed 3 signals not on this controller. The remaining signals resubscribe normally.
Live data and Replay are exclusive
Loading a file in the Replay panel disconnects a live session, and starting a connection clears loaded replay traces. Desk switches for you — there is nothing to disable first.