Fishtank Monitor

A local dashboard for fishtank.live that shows live camera feeds, polls, TTS messages, stock prices, real-time notifications, and more — all in one place without needing the main site open.

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What You Need

• A Windows, Mac, or Linux computer
• A fishtank.live account
• Node.js installed (free, takes 2 minutes)

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Step 1 — Install Node.js

Node.js is a small program that lets your computer run the server that powers this dashboard.

1. Go to https://nodejs.org
2. Click the big green "LTS" download button (the recommended version)
3. Run the installer and click through — all default options are fine
4. When it's done, you're ready

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Step 2 — Set Up the Files

You should have two files:

• fishtank-dashboard.html
• server.js

Put both files in the same folder anywhere on your computer (e.g. your Desktop or a folder called fishtank).

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Step 3 — Install Dependencies

The server requires one npm package. Open a terminal in your folder (see Step 4 for how to do that) and run:

npm install ws

You only need to do this once. It creates a node_modules folder in the same directory — leave it there.

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Clipping now requires ffmpeg installed, on windows:

winget install ffmpeg

Or download the installer from ffmpeg.org.

Step 4 — Start the Server

On Windows:

1. Open the folder where you put the files
2. Click the address bar at the top of the folder window and type cmd, then press Enter
3. A black window will appear. Type the following and press Enter:

   node server.js
   

On Mac:

1. Open the Terminal app (search for it in Spotlight)
2. Drag your folder into the Terminal window — this sets the location
3. Type the following and press Enter:

   node server.js
   

You should see:

✓ Dashboard → http://localhost:3000

Leave this window open — closing it stops the dashboard.

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Step 5 — Open the Dashboard

Open your browser and go to:

http://localhost:3000

The dashboard will load with camera feeds starting automatically.

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Step 6 — Link Your Account

Linking your fishtank.live account unlocks polls, TTS messages, stock prices, live notifications, contestant locations, and other live data. The cameras work without it.

To get your token:

1. Go to fishtank.live and log in
2. Press F12 to open Developer Tools
3. Go to Storage (Firefox) or Application (Chrome) tab
4. Click Cookies → https://www.fishtank.live
5. Find the cookie named sb-wcsaaupukpdmqdjcgaoo-auth-token
6. Copy the entire Value field (it starts with %5B%22eyJ...)

To link it:

1. Click the LINK API button in the top-left of the dashboard
2. Paste the value you copied into the input field
3. Press Enter or click CONNECT
4. The API dot turns green and shows API LIVE
5. The WS dot (next to the clock) also turns green and shows WS LIVE — this is the live WebSocket connection to fishtank

Your token is saved automatically — you won't need to do this again unless you log out or clear your browser data. The dashboard also refreshes the token automatically so it stays connected.

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Stopping the Server

In the terminal window where the server is running, press:

Ctrl + C

If you closed the terminal window and need to stop it:

• Windows: Open Task Manager → find node.exe → End Task
• Mac/Linux: Open Terminal and run pkill node

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Features

📹 Camera Feeds

• 17 live camera feeds from the fishtank house displayed as thumbnails
• Director Mode plays as the main featured feed by default
• Click any thumbnail to switch it to the featured view — Director Mode takes its place in the grid
• Click the cell showing Director Mode in the grid to return to Director Mode
• Double-click the main feed to go fullscreen. Press Escape or double-click again to exit
• Cameraman feed displayed in its own panel next to the stocks chart, same switching behaviour
• THUMBS / LIVE toggle — Thumbs mode refreshes a snapshot every 30 seconds (saves bandwidth). Live mode streams all cameras simultaneously

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Contestant Locations

• Contestant avatar icons appear directly on the camera thumbnails showing who is currently in each room
• Updated in real time via facial recognition data from the fishtank WebSocket feed
• Hover over an avatar to see the contestant's name, current action (sitting, standing, etc.), and mood
• The featured camera also shows avatars, slightly larger
• Contestants whose location is unknown (off-camera) show no icon

🔔 Live Notifications

• Production announcements (evictions, challenges, events, etc.) appear as a popup overlay in the top-center of the dashboard
• A notification sound plays when a new one arrives
• Auto-dismisses after 8 seconds, or click ✕ to close manually
• If a new notification arrives before the previous one dismisses, it replaces it immediately

📊 Polls

• Shows the current active poll with live vote bars
• Displays the winner of the last poll
• Narrative polls are labelled with a NARRATIVE POLL badge

💬 TTS Messages

• Accumulates TTS messages as they play in the house
• Shows the sender, voice used, room, status, cost, and timestamp
• Click any message to jump to the camera for that room
• A green/red dot next to the panel title shows whether TTS is currently enabled on the site

📈 Stocks

• Line chart showing all contestant stock prices over time
• Toggle between 1D, 1H, and 1W views
• Each stock has its own colour — click a stock in the legend to hide/show it
• Percentage change shown next to each ticker with up/down arrows

📷 Capture Tools (in the camera panel header)

• 📷 SNAP — takes a full resolution PNG screenshot of the current featured camera
• ✂ CLIP — opens a trimming selection window showing the last ~60secs. Drag sliders and save a trimmed clip or save the entire buffer.
• ⏺ REC / ⏹ STOP — records forward from when you click. A live file size counter shows how large the recording is getting
• 3.9MB LIMIT toggle — when enabled, recording auto-stops before hitting 4MB (useful for sites with upload limits)
• 🔇 CLIPS MUTED / 🔊 AUDIO toggle — controls whether clips and recordings include audio

⚙️ Other Controls

• VOL slider — controls the volume of the featured camera
• Interval selector (5s / 10s / 30s / 60s) — how often the API data refreshes
• LOGOUT — clears your stored token and disconnects from the API

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Troubleshooting

Cameras not loading: Make sure the server is running (node server.js) and you're visiting http://localhost:3000 — not opening the HTML file directly.

"LINK API" not working: Make sure you copied the full cookie value starting with %5B%22eyJ. Just the token alone (starting with eyJ) also works but won't enable auto-refresh.

WS dot stays red / no notifications or contestant locations: Make sure you've linked your account — the WebSocket connection requires auth. If it was already linked, try logging out and back in to refresh the token.

Server won't start — "Cannot find module 'ws'": You need to install the ws package. Run npm install ws in the folder containing server.js, then try again.

Server won't start: Make sure Node.js is installed. Open a terminal and type node --version — if it prints a version number, Node is installed. If not, go back to Step 1.

Port already in use: Something else is using port 3000. Either stop that program or edit server.js and change const PORT = 3000 to another number like 3001, then visit http://localhost:3001 instead.