Getting Started

Open Live is a cloud-based, browser-native live production tool built for modern broadcast workflows. It provides a collaborative environment where production teams can manage and control live productions directly from the browser, with no installed software required.

Open Live depends on three components that work together:

  • Apache CouchDB — stores production state and configuration
  • Strom — handles audio routing for the live production
  • Open Live Studio — the browser-based frontend that producers interact with

This guide walks you through setting up Open Live in Eyevinn Open Source Cloud.

Prerequisites

  • An Eyevinn OSC account. If you have not already signed up, the free trial gives you 15 days of access.
  • Service slots for the required dependencies: Apache CouchDB and Strom must be running before you create the Open Live instance.

Step 1: Create a CouchDB instance

Open Live uses Apache CouchDB to store its production state. Navigate to the Apache CouchDB service and click Create couchdb.

Give the instance a name (for example openlive) and choose an admin password.

Important: Use only alphanumeric characters in your password. Special characters like @, :, /, or # will break the database connection URL you need to provide later.

When the instance is running, click on its card to see the URL. Take note of this URL — you will need it in Step 3.

The URL will look like:

https://<name>.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io

Click the URL to open the CouchDB admin panel (Fauxton). Log in with your admin password and create a database named open-live.

Step 2: Create a Strom instance

Open Live uses Strom for audio routing. Navigate to the Strom service in OSC and create an instance. When it is running, take note of the instance URL.

Step 3: Create an Open Live instance

Navigate to the Open Live service and click Create open-live.

Fill in the configuration fields:

Field Description Example
Name A name for your Open Live instance myprod
DatabaseUrl CouchDB connection URL including credentials and database name https://admin:mypassword@myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io/open-live
StromUrl URL of your Strom instance (URL from Step 2)

DatabaseUrl format

The DatabaseUrl field must follow this exact format:

https://{user}:{password}@{hostname}/{database-name}

Where:

  • {user} is your CouchDB admin username (typically admin)
  • {password} is the admin password you set in Step 1
  • {hostname} is the CouchDB instance hostname, without the https:// prefix
  • {database-name} is the database you created inside CouchDB (for example open-live)

Example: If your CouchDB URL is https://myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io, then your DatabaseUrl should be:

https://admin:mypassword@myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io/open-live

Tip: You can store the admin password in a secret and reference it as {{secrets.couchdbpassword}} in the password field.

Step 4: Access Open Live Studio

When the Open Live instance is running, click on its card to open the Open Live Studio interface in your browser. From here you can manage your live productions, configure audio routing, and collaborate with your team.

Configuration Options

Option Description
Name Instance name (alphanumeric)
DatabaseUrl CouchDB connection URL with credentials and database path
StromUrl URL of the Strom audio routing instance

Troubleshooting

Instance fails to start

The most common cause of startup failure is an incorrectly formatted DatabaseUrl. The CouchDB client library used by Open Live is strict about the URL format.

Check 1: No double https:// prefix

The DatabaseUrl field must contain the hostname only, not the full URL copied from the OSC dashboard. A common mistake is copying the CouchDB URL directly and embedding it:

# Wrong — double https:// prefix
https://admin:mypassword@https://myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io/open-live

# Correct — hostname only, no https:// inside the credentials section
https://admin:mypassword@myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io/open-live

Strip the https:// from the beginning of your CouchDB URL before using it as the hostname in DatabaseUrl.

Check 2: Database name included in the path

The URL must end with a database name. Providing only the hostname without a path causes the client to fail:

# Wrong — no database path
https://admin:mypassword@myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io

# Correct — database name included
https://admin:mypassword@myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io/open-live

Check 3: The database exists in CouchDB

The database named in the URL (for example open-live) must exist inside your CouchDB instance. If you have not created it yet, open the CouchDB admin panel (Fauxton) at your CouchDB URL, log in, and create the database before starting Open Live.

Check 4: Alphanumeric password

If your CouchDB password contains special characters such as @, :, /, or #, these will break the URL parsing. Set a new password using only letters and numbers, then update the DatabaseUrl accordingly.

Summary of correct DatabaseUrl format

Element Source Example
Scheme Always https:// https://
Username CouchDB admin user admin
Password Admin password from Step 1 mypassword
Hostname CouchDB URL with https:// stripped myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io
Database Database created in Fauxton open-live
Full URL https://admin:mypassword@myname.apache-couchdb.auto.prod.osaas.io/open-live

Additional Reading