Zero to Hero (Hybrid Mode, UI)

First installation

Initialise norsk-ctl

Run norsk-ctl init to create the configuration file. Hybrid mode puts studio on the Docker bridge (proxied) and media on the host network for low-latency ingest.

$ norsk-ctl init --network-mode hybrid --working-directory /tmp/workspace --proxy-user admin --proxy-password testpass1

Proxy user "admin" created
Config written to ~/.norsk-ctl/config.yaml

Register the Studio product

Register Norsk Studio as a product so its template is available to launch from the dashboard. Run this once from the command line.

$ norsk-ctl product add --image norskvideo/norsk-studio-product:2026-07-21-a3d4d173 --license-file ~/norsk-license.json

name: norsk-studio
spec:
  kind: container
  image: norskvideo/norsk-studio-product:2026-07-21-a3d4d173
port: 14321
containerId: 669ac996e25a54f49da830476f55b402bbb77c89e47cb685e9b4b46de292f4b3
addedAt: 2026-08-04T19:21:41.946Z
running: true
health: unknown
manifest:
  manifestSchemaVersion: 1
  name: norsk-studio
  version: 0.0.1
  minRunnerVersion: 0.1.0
  api:
    basePath: /api
    proxyPaths:
      - /api/*
      - /configure
      - /configure/*
    openapiFragmentPath: /api/openapi.yaml
    mcpPath: /mcp
    healthCheckPath: /healthz
    productMcpPath: /mcp
  ui:
    configScreenUrl: /configure
    sidebarEntries:
      []
    dashboardWidgets:
      []
    productTemplateActions:
      - label: Add examples product template
        configScreenUrl: /configure?template=examples
      - label: Add dev product template
        configScreenUrl: /configure?template=dev
  cli:
    subcommandTree:
      - name: plugin
        description: Scaffold and build Norsk Studio plugins
        flags:
          []
        subcommands:
          - name: create
            description: "Scaffold a new plugin into the working directory's components/"
            flags:
              - name: name
                description: Plugin package name
                required: true
              - name: workingDirectory
                description: Working directory to scaffold into
                required: true
              - name: studioTag
                description: Studio image tag to scaffold against
            request:
              method: POST
              path: /api/plugins/create
          - name: list
            description: List plugins discovered in the working directory
            flags:
              - name: workingDirectory
                description: Working directory to inspect
                required: true
            request:
              method: GET
              path: /api/plugins
          - name: install
            description: Install an npm package as a plugin into the working directory
            flags:
              - name: pkg
                description: npm package to install
                required: true
              - name: workingDirectory
                description: Working directory to install into
                required: true
              - name: studioTag
                description: Studio image tag to install against
            request:
              method: POST
              path: /api/plugins/install
          - name: build
            description: "Bake the working directory's plugins into a studio image"
            flags:
              - name: tag
                description: Tag for the baked image
                required: true
              - name: workingDirectory
                description: Working directory whose plugins to bake
                required: true
              - name: fromImage
                description: Base studio image to bake onto
              - name: fromTag
                description: Base studio image tag
              - name: push
                description: Push the baked image to its registry
                type: boolean
            request:
              method: POST
              path: /api/plugins/build
  targets:
    - docker-compose
  components:
    []
  runtime:
    sharedWorkingDirectory: false
  defaultProductTemplates:
    - name: studio-examples
      url: /api/product-templates/examples
    - name: studio-dev
      url: /api/product-templates/dev
  export:
    include:
      - studio-save-files/**
      - dashboards/**
      - components/**
      - assets/**
      - "*.yml"
      - "*.yaml"
    exclude:
      - "**/node_modules/**"
      - recordings/**
      - logs/**
      - "**/*.mp4"
      - "**/*.ts3"
license:
  mode: byol
  file: ~/.norsk-ctl/licenses/norsk-license.json
warnings:
  - license is marked NON-PRODUCTION — not valid for production deployments

Getting started

Sign in

Navigate to the proxy URL. Unauthenticated requests are met with a sign-in form backed by the user you configured during init.

Enter your username and password and click Sign in.

Open the dashboard

Navigate to the Instances page

Click Instances in the sidebar to manage instances.

Launch an instance

Switch to Custom and open Advanced launch options to put media on the host network for low-latency ingest.

View instance details

The instance card shows its product, version, and launch parameters inline.

Open Norsk Studio

In hybrid mode, the studio is accessed through the proxy — just like Docker mode.

Clean up

Navigate back to the Instances page, then Terminate the instance to delete it and free its resources.

The proxy is needed whenever instances are running — with no instances left, it can be stopped to free the port.

$ norsk-ctl proxy stop

The daemon can be stopped and restarted at any time — running instances and the proxy are unaffected.

$ norsk-ctl shutdown --daemon-only

Daemon stopped (pid 441620)