Auto-KJ — auto-kj.com Host Dashboard Guide & FAQ

The Operator Console is the host dashboard on the website. It holds your account, your License Key, your venues and gig schedules, the OpenKJ songbook bridge, and your billing. Everything about running a show happens in the desktop app; the dashboard is where the cloud side gets set up.

Open it at auto-kj.com → Sign In, or go straight to https://auto-kj.com/#manage. Related guides: User Guide · FAQ · Help & Troubleshooting.

1. Creating an account

1. On auto-kj.com click Get Started (or Sign In → Sign up). Enter a display name (your stage or operator name), email, and password.
2. You land in Free version with a permanent License Key already minted. The welcome email carries it too.
3. Forgot the password later? Sign In → FORGOT KEY? emails a one-hour, single-use reset link. Opening it shows the Set New Password form; every other session is signed out when it completes.

One account can run any number of rigs; the plan decides how many live shows run at the same time (not venues-total, not shows-per-month).

2. The tabs

TELEMETRY

VENUES & GIGS

Venues are places; gigs are when you play there. Both need a cloud plan (Full version or higher) or an active trial. Free version, LAN Cabinet, and Ghost-Trax standalone accounts are refused.

• ADD NEW VENUE: VENUE NAME, STREET ADDRESS, then VERIFY ADDRESS (geocodes with OpenStreetMap) or click the map to drop the pin. SAVE VENUE. Each venue gets a 4-letter show code used by the singer app, GPS discovery, Browse Before You Go, and the OpenKJ songbook link.
• ACTIVE VENUES: delete with the X (this also deletes the venue's gigs).
• SCHEDULE A GIG: choose the venue, REPEATING FREQUENCY (ONE-TIME with a date; WEEKLY with weekday pills; MONTHLY with a rule such as 3rd Friday), START TIME and END TIME, then CREATE SCHEDULED GIG. Singers within 50 miles see the gig as UPCOMING, then LIVE NOW once the desktop app selects it and goes online.
• ACTIVE GIG SCHEDULES: cancel a schedule with the X. Past one-time gigs clear on their own.
• The desktop app lists these gigs under Settings → 🎪 Active Venue / Gig. If a saved venue has no gig for tonight the app creates a one-time 20:00–02:00 gig automatically.

OPENKJ SONGBOOK

For hosts who run OpenKJ instead of Auto-KJ. The bridge is the $5/mo Songbook plan on its own and is included free with every cloud plan (Full version, Infinite Play, and grandfathered Basic/VIP). LAN Cabinet and the Ghost-Trax standalone license do not include it.

• REQUEST SERVER URL (https://auto-kj.com/api/okj) and API KEY: paste both into OpenKJ under Settings → Requests. NEW KEY invalidates the old key immediately.
• CATALOG: how many of the 100,000-song allowance OpenKJ has uploaded. Titles and artists only; music files never leave the rig.
• SONGBOOK LINKS: pick the auto-kj.com/your-venue address per venue (lowercase letters, digits, hyphens). Singers open it, search, and send requests that appear in OpenKJ.
• Read commands keep working if the subscription lapses, so the songbook stays visible; adding songs and accepting requests resume when it's renewed.

SECURITY

• CHANGE PASSWORD (current password required; other sessions are signed out).
• DELETE ACCOUNT: type DELETE, confirm. Removes venues, gigs, catalog cache, and the account. Desktop-app data on your rig is untouched.

Bottom buttons: RETURN TO SHOW closes the console; DISCONNECT CONSOLE signs out.

3. Activating the desktop app

1. Install Auto-KJ from the site (Windows, macOS Apple Silicon, Linux AppImage/.deb/.rpm).
2. In the app's setup wizard choose Paid plan or free 60-day trial → Yes — I have my key, or later Settings → 🔑 License Activation.
3. Enter the account email and the License Key from TELEMETRY → Activate License.

The app verifies the key with the server and caches the result for 14 days offline (365 days on Infinite Play). Every 5 minutes it re-checks quietly; a cancelled plan drops the app to Free version when the period ends.

4. The 60-day trial

The trial is started inside the desktop app, never on the website: Settings → 🔑 License Activation → Try Full version for 60 days, or the wizard's Start my free 60-day trial. It signs in with the account you created here, emails you a verification code, and then unlocks Full version (1 live show at a time) on that computer for 60 days with no card and no automatic billing.

• One trial per account and per computer. The app hashes a firmware identifier; extra accounts on the same machine, or reinstalls, don't get another one.
• Only Free version accounts qualify. Songbook and paid accounts are refused.
• When it ends, buy a plan here, copy the License Key, and enter it in the app. Free version keeps the library and show data meanwhile.

5. Plans and seats

Seat takeover: if every simultaneous-show seat is busy when another rig starts a show, that rig sees Another show is already running on this license at the same time with Take over (ends the longest-running instance, whose state is saved locally) or Exit.

6. FAQ

Where is my License Key? TELEMETRY → LICENSE KEY → COPY. It is also in the welcome email.

The app says "Verification failed". The email must be the account email exactly as shown under EMAIL, and the key must be current. Check that the plan under LICENSE is not Free version (Free version has a key but nothing to unlock), and that the rig is online for the first activation.

I changed my email. Do I re-activate? Yes: the app verifies email + key together. Enter the new email in Settings → License Activation.

Why is ACTIVE SHOW CODE a long id? It's the internal show id. The 4-letter join code singers use is on the venue, and the desktop app shows it on the lyrics and rotation screens and in Settings → Browse Before You Go.

Can I see the join QR here? Not yet. The QR lives on the desktop app's lyrics and rotation screens (and per-venue under Settings → Browse Before You Go).

How do I run more than one show at the same time? Full version is 1 live show at a time. Extra Instance is +$5/mo for each additional simultaneous show. Infinite Play (Lifetime) is unlimited simultaneous shows. These are simultaneous seats — not venues-total and not shows-per-month. Buy Extra Instance or Lifetime on the pricing page while signed in.

Do different paid tiers unlock different features in the app? No. The desktop app treats every paid tier the same; tiers differ only in how many shows can run at the same time.

Are custom skin and theme unlocks tied to my account or my machine? All skin unlocks (including the $5.00 Premium Signature Skins from the Skin Creator Market) are permanently tied to your Auto-KJ dashboard account (host_id), not an individual machine or license key. Any rig activating with your account email or license key automatically synchronizes all unlocked skins, allowing you to design or purchase skins on one rig and run them across all your venue setups seamlessly. VIP Pass and Infinite Play accounts unlock all premium signature skins automatically across all rigs.

Does my paid plan include the OpenKJ songbook? Yes on Host and Infinite Play (and legacy Basic/VIP plans) and on the Songbook plan itself; not on LAN Cabinet or the Ghost-Trax standalone license. Auto-KJ hosts don't need it: the singer app is the request system.

I deleted a venue by mistake. Add it again. It gets a new show code, so update any printed QR sheets and Browse Before You Go links.

7. Troubleshooting

Auto-KJ Host Dashboard Guide • Documentation Revision 2026-09-10 (v1.22) • auto-kj.com