The tvlabs connect command uses the Ares SDK to connect with webOS devices on the TV Labs platform as if they were in front of you.
Prerequisites
Before starting, ensure that the webOS CLI Tools are installed.
If you have not installed them before, you can install through npm. Otherwise contine to Connecting.
npm install -g @webos-tools/cli
After installing, ensure ares and ares-setup-device are in your shell PATH.
Connecting
Before attempting to connect to a webOS device with tvlabs connect, ensure that the "Development Mode" application is installed from the webOS store, and you are logged in to your development account with Development Mode enabled. This will require restarting the device.
You will be signed into your developer account, and all installed applications will persist, until development mode is disabled.
Run the tvlabs connect command, which will setup the device using the Ares CLI tools.
After seeing a successful vendor connection, run ares-device -i -d tvlabs to confirm the device has been setup correctly.
Port Mapping
The port mapping when tvlabs connect is running and connected to a webOS session is as follows:
- Local port 9922 to webOS device port 9922 (SSH)
- Local port 9222 to webOS device port 9998 when the debugger is active (Web Inspector)
- Local port 9991 to webOS device port 9991 (Ares)
- Local port 3000 to Tizen device port 3000 (WebSocket remote)
- Local port 3001 to Tizen device port 3001 (WebSocket + SSL remote)
Installing
Package your application ipk file and run ares-install -d tvlabs path/to/the/ipk/file.ipk. The application will install, and then run ares-launch -d tvlabs com.your.app.id to launch the application.
Replace path/to/the/ipk/file.ipk with the path to your applications ipk file, and com.your.app.id with your application ID.
Debugging your application
The Chrome web inspector is available to use on webOS. To begin an inspector session, you must use a Chrome browser version compatible with the WebOS version on your TV. Using the wrong Chrome version will result in a JavaScript error when the DevTools frontend loads.
| WebOS Version | TV Model Year | Required Chrome |
|---|---|---|
| webOS TV 22–25 | 2022–2025 | Latest Chrome |
| webOS TV 6.0 | 2021 | Chrome 68 |
| webOS TV 5.0 | 2020 | Chrome 68 |
| webOS TV 4.x | 2018–2019 | Chrome 68 |
| webOS TV 3.x | 2016–2017 | Chrome 38 |
| webOS TV 1.x–2.x | 2014–2015 | Chrome 38 |
When tvlabs connect successfully pairs with a WebOS device, it will display the Chrome version reported by the TV so you know exactly which version to use.
Navigate to chrome://inspect within the Chrome browser.
The webOS inspector runs on port 9222 by default, but can be configured by setting the -i argument.
tvlabs connect -i 5678
If a session is active and connected to the local machine via tvlabs connect, the device will appear on this page. If nothing appears in the inspector list, ensure that you have installed a development application and it is open & running on the webOS device.
Click "Inspect" to open the inspector window.
Troubleshooting
If application installation fails, please ensure that the device storage is not full.
If tvlabs connect fails on vendor connection, please ensure that development mode is enabled.
If tvlabs connect fails with "No pre-paired key", or cannot make a connection after trying the above steps, please contact TV Labs for support.