sndwrks hud

A cross-platform, OSC-driven display. Receives Open Sound Control messages over UDP, TCP and displays text in a window.

It's modeled off of the Figure 53 Q Display, but uses OSC instead of Applescript to display the messages. Very much written with a lot of help from AI, but this is tested and actively maintained, and we use it ourselves.

Install

Download the appropriate file for your system from the latest release. Releases

macOS (Apple Silicon)

Download the macos-arm file. After downloading, right-click the app and select "Open". If that doesn't work, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click "Open Anyway" next to the blocked app message.

macOS (Intel)

Download the macos-intel file. Follow the same steps as above to allow the app to run.

Windows

Download the windows installer and run it. Windows may show a SmartScreen warning—click "More info" and then "Run anyway".

Linux

Download the linux AppImage or deb file. For AppImage, make it executable with chmod +x and run it. For deb, install with your package manager.

Note We primarily test on macOS ARM. Please open an issue if it doesn't work on your OS.

OSC API

The app listens for OSC messages on a configurable UDP port (default 52100). All addresses are prefixed with /sndwrks/hud/.

Address	Args	Description
/sndwrks/hud/message/single	text [color]	Display a single line of text
/sndwrks/hud/message/lines	text... [color]	Display multiple stacked lines
/sndwrks/hud/message/flash	text duration [color]	Display text with a flash animation
/sndwrks/hud/clear		Clear the display
/sndwrks/hud/color	color	Set the default text color
/sndwrks/hud/background	color	Set the background color
/sndwrks/hud/fontsize	size	Set the font size

Colors can be named (white, red, green, blue, yellow, teal, orange, purple, pink) or hex (#ff0000, #f00).

Settings

Open Settings from the app menu. You can configure:

• UDP/TCP ports — which ports to listen on (default: 52100/52101)
• Text color — default color for displayed text
• Always on top — keep the HUD above other windows
• Auto-fit font — automatically size text to fill the window
• Fixed font size — set a specific font size when auto-fit is off

Settings are saved to ~/.config/sndwrks-hud/settings.json.

Development

• Rust toolchain (install via rustup)
• Node.js 18+
• npm 9+

Linux additional deps:

sudo apt-get install -y libgtk-3-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  libappindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev patchelf

Install and Run

npm install
npm run tauri dev

Build

npm run tauri build

Testing

# Rust tests
npm test

Architecture

src/                    # Frontend (vanilla HTML/CSS/JS)
  hud.html              # Main HUD window
  hud.js                # HUD logic (auto-sizing, events)
  settings.html         # Settings window
  settings.js           # Settings form logic
  help.html             # Help documentation
src-tauri/              # Rust backend
  src/
    main.rs             # App entry, window setup, menu
    osc.rs              # OSC UDP listener, message parsing
    config.rs           # Settings persistence (JSON)
    commands.rs         # Tauri IPC commands