Development¶

How to create and modify aircraft deck configurations.

Project structure¶

cockpitdecks-configs/
├── decks/                      # Aircraft configurations
│   └── cirrus-sr22/
│       └── deckconfig/         # Symlinked into X-Plane aircraft folder
│           ├── config.yaml     # Aircraft-level config
│           ├── _docs.yaml      # Documentation metadata
│           └── loupedecklive1/ # Layout for a specific deck
│               ├── config.yaml # Layout defaults (fonts, colours, home page)
│               ├── index.yaml  # Home page
│               ├── engine.yaml # Functional pages
│               └── encoders/   # Encoder sub-pages
├── modules/                    # Reusable page configs (radio, engine, etc.)
├── decktypes/                  # Deck type YAML definitions
├── scripts/                    # Doc generation scripts
└── mkdocs.yml

Config hierarchy¶

Configs follow a hierarchy: Aircraft → Layout → Page → Button.

Aircraft config¶

The top-level config.yaml in each deckconfig/ folder defines the aircraft and which decks it supports:

aircraft: Cirrus SR22
icao: SR22
decks:
  loupedeck1:
    type: LoupedeckLive
    layout: loupedecklive1
    brightness: 80

It can also include global dataref rounding settings to reduce WebSocket churn.

Layout config¶

Each layout folder (e.g. loupedecklive1/) contains its own config.yaml with display defaults:

default-label-font: DIN Condensed
default-label-size: 14
default-label-color: white
default-label-position: ct
default-home-page-name: index

Page files¶

Each .yaml file in the layout folder defines a page of buttons. Pages can include shared modules and encoder sub-pages:

name: switches
includes: pager, encoders/encoders_fcu
buttons:
  - index: 0
    type: push
    command: sim/electrical/battery_1_toggle
    label: "BAT"
    formula: ${sim/cockpit2/electrical/battery_on[0]}

Button types¶

Type	Description
page	Navigates to another page
push	Single command on press
begin-end-command	Command on press and release (for multi-position switches)
none	Display only, no interaction

Buttons use formula with ${dataref} syntax to read live state from X-Plane.

Adding a new aircraft¶

1. Create a folder under decks/ matching the X-Plane aircraft directory name
2. Add a deckconfig/ folder with a config.yaml
3. Create a layout folder for your deck (e.g. loupedecklive1/)
4. Add a layout config.yaml with display defaults
5. Add page .yaml files for each cockpit function
6. Symlink deckconfig/ into the X-Plane aircraft folder

Using modules¶

Modules are reusable button sets shared across aircraft. They live in the modules/ directory, organised by deck type:

modules/
├── loupedecklive/    # Loupedeck Live modules
└── streamdeckxl/     # Stream Deck XL modules

Include a module in a page with the includes directive:

includes: pager, encoders/encoders_fcu

See Modules for the full list.

Generating docs¶

The deck overview pages under docs/decks/ are auto-generated. After modifying configs, regenerate them:

python3 scripts/generate_deck_docs.py

To preview the docs site locally:

mkdocs serve

VS Code YAML support¶

For YAML validation in VS Code, add the following to your workspace settings:

{
  "yaml.schemas": {
    "https://json.schemastore.org/mkdocs-1.0.json": "mkdocs.yml"
  }
}