Cli

pushtodisplay

Command-line interface and MCP server for Push To Display — send real-time updates to display boards from your terminal or AI agents.

[Push to Display — 4-panel regional status board]

Get the app

Turn any screen into a live display board — get Push to Display on iOS and Android.

[Download on the App Store] [Get it on Google Play]

Install

Run directly with npx (no install needed):

npx pushtodisplay --help

Or install globally:

npm install -g pushtodisplay

Requires Node.js 18+. See the PushToDisplay documentation for guides, use cases, and API details.

Quick start

# Log in (opens browser)pushtodisplay auth login
# Send an update (uses your default board)pushtodisplay send "Hello, Display!"
# Send to a specific boardpushtodisplay send -b <board-id> "Deploy completed"
# List your boardspushtodisplay boards list

Authentication

Log in with your Push To Display account — the same account you use in the mobile app.

Browser login (default)

pushtodisplay auth login

Opens your browser. Sign in and the CLI receives your credentials automatically.

Device code login (headless)

For machines without a browser — SSH sessions, containers, or remote servers:

pushtodisplay auth login --device-code

The CLI prints a URL and a one-time code. Open the URL on any device, enter the code, and approve the login.

Credentials are stored in your OS keychain (macOS Keychain, Linux libsecret, Windows Credential Manager). Falls back to ~/.config/pushtodisplay/ if the keychain is unavailable.

# Check auth statuspushtodisplay auth status
# Machine-readable status for scripts/agents (exit 0 = authenticated)pushtodisplay auth status --json
# Log out (clear stored credentials)pushtodisplay auth logout

auth status reports effective auth: an expired access token is still reported as authenticated when a valid refresh token can renew it transparently (a will refresh automatically note is shown instead of the raw token expiry). It exits 0 when authenticated and 1 when not, so it is safe to gate scripts on it.

{  "authenticated": true,  "method": "oauth",  "accessTokenExpired": true,  "canRefresh": true,  "sessionExpiresAt": "2026-06-01T00:00:00.000Z"}

Commands

send

Send a display update to a board.

# Simple textpushtodisplay send -b my-board-id "Deploy succeeded"
# Styled textpushtodisplay send -b my-board-id "Status" --size large --weight bold --color "#00FF00"
# Multiple blockspushtodisplay send -b my-board-id "Build:" "passing" --color "#22C55E"
# Panel targeting with layout optionspushtodisplay send -b my-board-id --panel 2 "Right panel content"pushtodisplay send -b my-board-id --panel 1 --full-panel --density compact --align-x center "Alert"
# Per-block styling with JSON (repeatable)pushtodisplay send -b my-board-id \  --block '{"text": "API Health", "size": "large", "weight": "bold"}' \  --block '{"text": "Uptime: 99.97%", "color": "#22C55E"}'
# Pipe a full JSON payload from stdinecho '{"boardId":"my-board-id","blocks":[{"text":"From pipe"}]}' | pushtodisplay send --stdin

If no -b flag is provided, the server uses your default board.

Style flags

Panel flags

Other flags

boards

pushtodisplay boards list              # List all boardspushtodisplay boards get <id>          # Get board detailspushtodisplay boards create -n "Name"  # Create a boardpushtodisplay boards create -n "Dash" -l 4  # Create with a layoutpushtodisplay boards delete <id>       # Delete a board

Create options:

devices

pushtodisplay devices list    # List active device-board streams

config

pushtodisplay config              # Show current configurationpushtodisplay config show         # Same as above

JSON output

Add --json to any command for machine-readable output:

pushtodisplay boards list --jsonpushtodisplay send -b my-board "test" --json

Configuration

Configuration is resolved in order: environment variables → config file → defaults.

MCP server

The CLI includes a built-in Model Context Protocol server, giving AI agents (Claude, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, and others) direct access to your display boards.

The MCP server inherits your CLI session — if you've run pushtodisplay auth login, it authenticates automatically.

Setup

Claude Code

claude mcp add pushtodisplay -- npx pushtodisplay mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{  "mcpServers": {    "pushtodisplay": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["pushtodisplay", "mcp"]    }  }}

Cursor

Open Settings → MCP Servers → Add Server, or edit .cursor/mcp.json:

{  "mcpServers": {    "pushtodisplay": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["pushtodisplay", "mcp"]    }  }}

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{  "servers": {    "pushtodisplay": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["pushtodisplay", "mcp"]    }  }}

Other MCP clients

Any MCP client that supports stdio transport can use Push To Display. The server command is:

npx pushtodisplay mcp

Available MCP tools

Commands at a glance

API key authentication

For CI/CD pipelines and scripts where interactive login isn't available, you can authenticate with an API key. Create one from the mobile app or the web portal. API keys start with pt_.

# Via environment variableexport PTD_API_KEY=pt_your_key_herepushtodisplay send "From CI"
# Or store in keychainpushtodisplay auth login --api-key pt_your_key_here

Note: API key auth only supports the send command. Use auth login for full access to boards, devices, and config management.

Screenshots

[4-panel layout — regional status board] 4-panel layout — regional status at a glance

[2-panel layout with CI/CD logs] Multi-panel with CI/CD pipeline and infrastructure logs

[Incident timeline display] Incident timeline with color-coded severity

License

MIT