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Deployments

Deploy software remotely to one or many machines. Owlette downloads and silently installs applications, tracking progress in real-time.

Overview

The deployment system allows you to:

  • Push installers to multiple machines simultaneously
  • Track download and installation progress per machine
  • Verify installations with path checking
  • Save deployment configurations as templates
  • Cancel in-progress deployments

Creating a Deployment

  1. Navigate to Deployments from the dashboard menu
  2. Click "New Deployment"
  3. Fill in the deployment configuration:
Field Required Description
Name Yes Descriptive name (e.g., "TouchDesigner 2025")
Installer URL Yes Direct HTTPS download link to the .exe installer
Silent Flags Yes Flags for unattended installation
Verify Path No File path to check after installation
Save as Template No Save configuration for reuse
  1. Select target machines (online, all, or specific)
  2. Click "Deploy to N Machines"

Silent Installation Flags

Different installer frameworks use different flags:

Installer Type Silent Flags Example Software
Inno Setup /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES Owlette, many open-source tools
NSIS /S Notepad++, 7-Zip
MSI /qn (with msiexec /i) Windows Installer packages
InstallShield /s /v"/qn" Enterprise software

Testing flags

Always test your silent flags on one machine before deploying to many. Run the installer manually with the flags to verify it completes without user interaction.

Deployment Progress

The dashboard shows real-time status for each machine:

Status Description
Pending Command queued, waiting for agent
Downloading Agent downloading installer (shows %)
Installing Installer running
Completed Installation successful
Failed Installation failed (shows error)
Cancelled Deployment was cancelled
Uninstalled Software was uninstalled from this machine

Overall deployment status is calculated automatically:

Overall Status Meaning
Pending All targets still pending
In Progress At least one target downloading or installing
Completed All targets completed
Failed All non-cancelled targets failed
Partial Mix of completed and failed targets
Cancelled All targets cancelled
Uninstalled All targets uninstalled

Deployment Templates

Save frequently-used configurations:

  1. When creating a deployment, check "Save as template"
  2. The template stores: name, installer URL, silent flags, verify path
  3. Load templates from the dropdown in the deployment dialog
  4. Edit or delete templates as needed

Cancelling a Deployment

To cancel an in-progress deployment:

  1. Find the deployment in the deployments list
  2. Click Cancel next to the target machine
  3. Machines that haven't started will skip the deployment
  4. Machines currently downloading or installing will be stopped (the agent terminates the installer process tree)

Note

Only targets in pending, downloading, or installing state can be cancelled. Targets that have already completed, failed, or been uninstalled cannot be cancelled.

Deployment Flow

Dashboard creates deployment record in Firestore
    │
    ├── For each target machine:
    │     │
    │     ├── Write install_software command to pending queue
    │     │
    │     ├── Agent detects command
    │     │     │
    │     │     ├── Download installer to %TEMP%\owlette_installers\
    │     │     │   (progress: downloading 0% → 100%)
    │     │     │
    │     │     ├── Execute installer with silent flags
    │     │     │   (timeout: 40 minutes)
    │     │     │
    │     │     ├── Verify installation (if verify_path set)
    │     │     │
    │     │     └── Report result to Firestore
    │     │
    │     └── Dashboard updates per-machine status in real-time
    │
    └── Overall deployment status updates when all machines complete

Troubleshooting

"Download failed"

  • Test the URL in a browser — it should directly download the file
  • Ensure the URL is a direct download link (not a web page)
  • Check that the agent machine has internet access
  • For Dropbox: change ?dl=0 to ?dl=1

Installation Fails

  • Verify silent flags are correct for the installer type
  • Check if the installer requires specific prerequisites (e.g., .NET Framework)
  • Review agent logs: C:\ProgramData\Owlette\logs\service.log
  • Try installing manually with the same flags to diagnose

Timeout

The default installation timeout is 40 minutes. Very large installers on slow connections may need the agent-side timeout adjusted in installer_utils.py.

Automatic timeout cleanup

Firebase Cloud Functions automatically mark stale deployments as failed:

  • Pending targets that haven't started after 15 minutes are marked failed
  • Downloading/Installing targets stuck for over 30 minutes are marked failed

This prevents deployments from appearing stuck indefinitely if a machine goes offline mid-deployment.

Security

  • Only deploy from trusted sources — the system does not verify installer signatures
  • HTTPS URLs are required — the API rejects HTTP, file://, and other non-HTTPS protocols
  • Optional SHA256 checksum verification — the agent supports verifying downloaded files against a SHA256 hash when provided via the command payload (not currently exposed in the dashboard UI)
  • The agent runs as SYSTEM — installed software has full administrative access
  • Pre-test installers before mass deployment