I Had My AI Assistant Audit Our Stream Deck Setup
If your church runs Bitfocus Companion, you probably have a Stream Deck or two that nobody fully understands anymore. Ours had grown over a few years. Different volunteers added buttons for different needs, and we share our building with another congregation, so both churches had their own startup routines layered on top of each other. It worked most Sundays. But nobody could tell you what every button did.
So I handed the whole configuration to my AI assistant and asked it to explain our setup back to me and tell me what to fix. It took about ten minutes, and it found things we had been tripping over for months.
Step 1: Export the backup
In Companion, open the web interface and go to the Import / Export tab. Choose Export and download the full configuration. You will get a .companionconfig file. It contains your connections, pages, buttons, triggers, and variables.
One caution before you share it: the file includes device IP addresses and sometimes stream keys or passwords typed into actions. Only give it to an assistant you trust with church data, and never post it publicly.
Step 2: Hand it over with a clear ask
I attached the file and asked for two things: a plain map of what the setup does, and a prioritized list of problems. The prompt is at the bottom of this post.
Step 3: What it found
Our setup ran a video switcher, presentation software, video-over-network encoders and decoders, lighting, power relays, projectors, TVs, and audio across nine Stream Decks. Here is what came back, in the order it said to fix things.
One-press buttons that could hurt a service. Our main Stream button started and stopped the livestream on a single press. Our Power Off button, which shut down the switcher, lights, projectors, and TVs, had no confirmation either, and it lived on four different pages. Worst of all, an unlabeled button would have set our streaming destination to blank. One curious volunteer tap and Sunday's stream would have had nowhere to go.
Duplicate buttons that had quietly drifted apart. We had five different "load" buttons and four Power Off buttons. They started as copies, but over time someone edited one and not the others. One shutdown button skipped a relay that another one turned off. One church's startup button turned the presentation software connection on, while the other church's turned it off. No wonder Sundays felt inconsistent.
Labels that didn't match reality. Three projector routing buttons were named for rooms they no longer controlled. Office volume up and volume down pointed at different audio groups. One decoder had two different addresses saved in two different fields.
Connections nobody used. Three devices were set up in Companion with zero buttons using them. They still showed up as errors on our status page, which trained everyone to ignore errors.
Clutter. About 74 empty pages, a few old test pages (including one a volunteer used to spell out a friend's name), several unlabeled buttons, and almost every button was plain black.
Step 4: The fixes
None of this needed new hardware. Here is what we changed:
- Hold to confirm. Stream and Power Off now need a long press or a second "Are you sure?" press, and they turn red while live.
- Delete the dangerous orphan. The blank stream button is gone.
- One master per routine. We kept a single Start (one for each congregation) and a single Shut Down. Every other copy now just presses the master button, so a fix in one place fixes it everywhere.
- Rename to match the room. Button labels now say what they actually control.
- Remove what isn't used. Unused connections and empty pages went away, so a red error on the status page means something again.
- A color system. Green for start, red for stop and stream, blue for routing, amber for lights. A new volunteer can read the deck at a glance.
The assistant also suggested a few upgrades: a single "Start Service" button that powers projectors, sets default video routing, brings up lights, runs the preservice video, and starts the countdown timer, plus sermon and service timers on the main page.
One honest note: the assistant could only read the file. It couldn't see our room or test anything. We checked each finding against the actual booth before changing it, and you should too.
The prompt
Copy this, attach your .companionconfig file, and send:
I'm attaching a Bitfocus Companion backup from our church tech booth. Please do two things. First, give me a plain-language map of what the setup does: each connection, each page, what the main buttons do, and any scheduled triggers. Second, give me a prioritized list of problems and fixes. Look especially for: buttons that start or stop the stream or power things off with a single press; duplicate buttons that do slightly different things; labels that don't match what a button actually controls; connections no button uses; empty or test pages; unlabeled buttons; and missing color or feedback. Don't guess. If something isn't clear from the file, say so. Write it so a volunteer could follow it.
A quick checklist
- ☐ Export a fresh backup before changing anything
- ☐ Remove stream keys or passwords if you're unsure who will see the file
- ☐ Put hold-to-confirm on stream, record, and power off
- ☐ Keep one master button per routine and point copies at it
- ☐ Rename buttons to match what they control
- ☐ Delete unused connections, empty pages, and test pages
- ☐ Pick a color system and apply it everywhere
- ☐ Test every changed button in the room before Sunday
- ☐ Export another backup when you're done
Your Stream Deck should make Sunday calmer for the person standing at it. An hour of cleanup is a gift to your next volunteer.