Your First Flow

This walkthrough creates a simple SRT-to-RTP flow using the manager web UI. It assumes you’ve already finished the manager and edge installs and the edge shows online at /admin/nodes/.

What is a flow?

A flow is one or more inputs feeding one or more outputs. The input receives media; each output independently delivers it to a destination. Slow outputs drop packets rather than back-pressuring — they never affect the input or any other output.

Input (SRT) ──► broadcast channel ──► Output 1 (RTP)
                                  ──► Output 2 (UDP)
                                  ──► Output 3 (RTMP)

Step 1 — Open the node config page

In the manager, go to Admin → Nodes and click the edge you just registered. Then click Configure. The config page shows three tabs: Inputs, Outputs, Flows.

Step 2 — Add an SRT input

Inputs tab → + Add Input.
Pick SRT as the type.
Set:
- Name: Source feed
- Mode: Listener
- Local port: 9000
- Latency (ms): 120
Save. The new input appears in the list with a status pill — yellow until the first sender connects.

Add Input modal — protocol picker expanded over the SRT entry, with name, mode, port, and latency fields

Step 3 — Add an RTP output

Outputs tab → + Add Output.
Pick RTP as the type.
Set:
- Name: Local preview
- Destination: 127.0.0.1:5004
Save.

Add Output modal — same protocol picker on the output side, with destination + latency + key fields

Step 4 — Wire them into a flow

Flows tab → + Add Flow.
Set:
- Name: My first flow
- Inputs: select Source feed
- Outputs: select Local preview
- Enabled: ✓
Save. The flow appears with a green dot once both ends settle.

Flow list — green status pill with input + output chips and a live thumbnail of the on-air content

Step 5 — Send some media

From any machine that can reach the edge, push an SRT stream at port 9000:

# srt-live-transmit (Haivision)
srt-live-transmit udp://your-source:1234 srt://EDGE-IP:9000

# Or ffmpeg (build with --enable-libsrt)
ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 -c copy -f mpegts srt://EDGE-IP:9000

The flow card in the manager updates within a couple of seconds — bitrate, packet rate, and a live thumbnail.

Step 6 — Watch the output

ffplay -i rtp://127.0.0.1:5004

Or in VLC: Media → Open Network Stream → rtp://@:5004.

Adding more outputs

Open the flow, click Edit, and add another output ID under Outputs. Each output subscribes independently — you can add an RTP multicast, an SRT push to a remote site, and an RTMP push to YouTube on the same flow without affecting the others.

What to read next

Supported protocols — full protocol reference and which fields each one takes.
Configuration — every input, output, and flow field documented.
Replay — record live flows and push clips back to air.
Switcher — PGM/PVW director console for live production.

Advanced — the same flow as a JSON config

If you’d rather hand-edit the on-disk config instead of using the UI, the equivalent v2 config is:

{
  "version": 2,
  "server": { "listen_addr": "0.0.0.0", "listen_port": 8080 },
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "in-srt",
      "name": "Source feed",
      "type": "srt",
      "mode": "listener",
      "local_addr": "0.0.0.0:9000",
      "latency_ms": 120
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "out-rtp",
      "name": "Local preview",
      "type": "rtp",
      "dest_addr": "127.0.0.1:5004"
    }
  ],
  "flows": [
    {
      "id": "my-first-flow",
      "name": "My first flow",
      "enabled": true,
      "input_ids": ["in-srt"],
      "output_ids": ["out-rtp"]
    }
  ]
}

Inputs, outputs, and flows are independent top-level entities; flows reference inputs and outputs by ID. The full schema is in Configuration.