Comms Ops panel (Star Comms beta)¶

The Comms Ops page shows your org's Star Comms shard live in the web portal: whether the operation is open, which nets exist, and who is on each one. Officers can also run the op from here: assign people to nets, open or close the operation, send ACARS messages, save and apply presets, set role rules that put everyone with a Discord role on a net, and run a Ready Check.

You'll find it under Events & Ops → Comms Ops. It appears once your server has linked its Star Comms shard (Server Settings → External) and is in the Star Comms beta. The same things are available in Discord through the /comms commands.

Running an op on Star Comms¶

Every event and template has a Voice comms choice: Discord, Star Comms or Both. In the event wizard it is the Voice Comms step after the roster, and on a server with Star Comms linked it is the one place for every voice setting: the Meet Up channel and net, and each team's Discord channel and net (the roster step is just teams and slots). On the full event form and the template form it sits with the voice settings. Star Comms and Both are offered once the shard is linked (below) and your server is in the beta.

Discord — voice channels in your server, exactly as before.
Star Comms — each team gets a Star Comms net.
Both — Discord channels and Star Comms nets side by side.

Pick a Meet Up net for the whole op and a net for each team: one of your shard's existing nets, Create a new net… with a name, or no net. A recurring op or one created from a template gets the template's choice. The event's Discord announcement then shows a Comms section with the Meet Up net and each team's net and a Get Star Comms link and button. The link goes to the download link from the settings card, or the Star Comms website when none is set. On a Star Comms-only op the announcement no longer shows the Discord "Meetup Channel" line — the Comms section's Meet Up → net is where people gather (a Both op shows the two). If the shard is later unlinked, the section quietly disappears and nothing else about the event changes.

Teams and nets can also be changed from the event page: open the op, and in Mission Structure press Manage Nets (Manage Voice on a Both op). A Meet Up net picker for the whole op sits above the teams, and each team has a Team net picker, both with the same choices as the wizard; a Star Comms-only op hides the Discord channel pickers there, and Fleet Command shows each team's net instead of its voice channel. Outside the editor, Mission Structure shows the op's Meet Up → net above the teams.

New nets are created on your shard when the op is saved (it takes a few seconds; "(new)" in the announcement turns into the real net). If the shard is down or refuses — for example a plan that doesn't include creating nets — the op saves anyway and Star Org tries again on the next save and when the op launches. A net Star Org created is removed from the shard when the op ends, is cancelled or is deleted — unless another upcoming op still uses it, which then takes it over — and nets you picked that already existed are never touched. Copying an op gives the copy its own new nets. If the shard is down when an op is deleted outright, its nets stay on the shard.

Putting people on their nets. Everyone signed up to a Star Comms (or Both) op is assigned on your shard to their team's net and the op's Meet Up net — a few seconds after they sign up, swap team or ship, or are moved by an officer, and again whenever a new net is created for the op. Tentative and late signups count; benched, pending and declined ones don't. Members from allied servers are assigned too. Star Comms lets a member sit on several nets, so this only adds nets: someone who was already on a net keeps it, and when they withdraw, change team, or the op ends or is cancelled, Star Org takes back only the nets it gave them — never one they already had or one another upcoming op still gives them. A member the shard doesn't know (not on your Star Comms roster yet) is skipped and everyone else is still assigned; they're picked up on the next change after they join. If the shard is down nothing is lost: the next signup change tries again.

A global template (made by the Star Org team) can carry a Star Comms choice and "create a net" requests, but not your shard's existing nets; a copy into a server without Star Comms falls back to Discord.

Linking the shard (server admins)¶

First time? Use the setup wizard. While nothing is linked, the Star Comms card shows Start setup wizard, and the Comms Ops page shows Connect Star Comms to server admins. The wizard takes five steps:

Get a key: where to create the Owner API key, and the scopes to tick, each with a copy button.
Shard address: the same forgiving address field as the card (below).
Key & check: paste the key. Save & check saves the address and key (Star Comms stays off), then runs Test Connection and Verify permissions and shows the result for each scope. If the check fails you can fix it and Try again, or Continue anyway.
Announcements: the notification channel and the two announce switches.
Review & enable: everything you chose, with Edit to jump back to a step. Enable starts on only if the check passed.

Join and leave announcements name the member, and wait a minute before posting. A member whose client drops and reconnects within that minute is not announced at all, and a member who joins for real is announced once. The bot never posts a join or leave without a name, and posts at most six Star Comms announcements a minute per server. Past that, it posts one "…and N more" line.

Closing the wizard keeps a draft of your answers for next time, except the API key, which is never stored in your browser. Use the full form switches to the card below.

Or fill in Server Settings → External → Star Comms Shard directly:

Shard URL. Hosted shards live at https://s-<your-org>.star-comms.org — note the s-. The same address without s- is the Star Comms website, not your shard; if you enter it, the card says so and offers the right address in one click. The field is forgiving: a Star Comms launch link, a bare host (s-yourorg.star-comms.org), a host with a port, or an address with a path are all reduced to the shard address, and a short note under the field says what was trimmed. A launch link's id and token are never kept.
Owner API key. Your shard admin creates a scok_… key in the shard's Advanced API Integration settings. The card's Required permissions list shows every scope the key needs, what each one is for, and which are optional (marked for planned features).
Test Connection checks the address is a Star Comms shard and that the key works. Verify permissions checks each scope it can without changing anything on your shard and shows Granted, Missing, Key rejected or Can't check beside it. Write scopes (assigning, ACARS, nets, rules…) can't be checked without making a change, so they show Can't check; make sure the key has them. If every scope says Missing, the key may have none of them — or the shard is refusing this server's IP address. When the shard reports its plan limits (how many nets, whether ACARS is on), they are shown under the list.

Both checks test the saved settings. While the card has unsaved changes the buttons are off and the card says to save first. Enable stays off until there is a shard URL and an API key.

Both checks are limited to a few a minute; if you hit the limit the buttons wait, with a countdown, until you can try again.

Launch link (Launch Star Comms button)¶

The card's Launch link section decides where the Launch Star Comms button comes from. Pick one of three modes:

Auto (the default): Star Org makes the link that opens the Star Comms desktop app on your shard for you, when you save Star Comms on or finish the connect wizard, or the next time an admin opens the card. The key needs the write:uri scope; add manage:uri too so Star Org can revoke old links. If Star Org can't make the link (the shard has no launch links, or the key is missing write:uri), the card shows why. Your save still goes through. Star Org tries again on its own after an hour, or you can press Create launch link to try now. You can name the link when you create it by hand; it shows in your shard's list of launch links.
Off: no Launch Star Comms button anywhere. A link Star Org already made is kept, not revoked, so switching back to Auto reuses it.
Custom URL: members get a link you supply. It must start with https://, can't contain a user name or password, and can be at most 512 characters. Press Save URL to use it.

Members then get a Launch Star Comms button:

at the top of the Comms Ops page, for officers and members alike (hidden while the org has no launch link),
on the event's Comms map,
on your event posts for Star Comms ops, next to Get Star Comms, including the post that goes up when the op launches,
under the /comms status reply (only the member who asked sees it).

The button opens a small Star Org page that shows which shard the link connects to. Check it, then click Connect to hand the link to the Star Comms app; nothing opens until you click. Your browser may ask whether to open Star Comms; allow it. On that page:

Connect sends the link to Star Comms. If Star Comms was closed, it can open without joining your comms; once it has loaded, click Connect again.
Install Star Comms goes to star-comms.org if the app isn't installed yet.
If the page says the link doesn't work, go back and use the Launch Star Comms button again.

The link's secret part stays in your browser: it isn't sent to Star Org's servers or shown on the page. The link is not a login: members still sign in and pass your shard's normal Discord checks. It is only shown in your own server. Copies of your event posts in allied servers don't carry it.

Regenerate makes a new link and revokes the old one, so copies of the old link stop working. Remove revokes the link, takes the buttons away and switches the mode to Off, so Star Org doesn't make a new one. If the shard won't revoke the old link (usually because the key has no manage:uri), the card says so; revoke it in the Star Comms admin panel. Moving the card to a different shard address drops the link, because it only works on the shard it was made for.

What you see¶

Four tiles across the top:
- Operation: open, closed, or unknown (the shard has not said yet).
- Connected: how many people are on comms. Each person counts once, however many nets they are on.
- Nets: how many nets the shard reports.
- Freshness: how current the page is (see below), with how long ago the data was updated.
One card per net listing who is on it. Star Comms lets a person sit on several nets at once, so they appear on the card of every net they are on. A blue badge with a microphone means that person is transmitting right now. People on no net, or only on nets the shard no longer lists, appear under Unassigned. If the shard's public net is switched on, it has a card too. On a very large op the page lists the first 500 people on comms and says "Showing 500 of N"; the Connected and net counts still include everyone.
The last ACARS message and who sent it.

Names come from your Discord server: the member's server nickname, else their username. Someone who is not a member of your server shows the name the shard has for them, or their Discord ID if it has none. Members who have hidden themselves from the roster are not named.

How fresh is it? (about 10 seconds behind)¶

The page refreshes about every 10 seconds. It does not ask your shard directly. It reads the copy the bot keeps from the shard's live event stream. So when someone joins a net, changes channel or keys their mic, expect the page to catch up within about 10 seconds. That delay is normal, not a fault. Your own changes (an assignment, opening the operation) are sent to the shard straight away; the page shows them on its next refresh.

Some shards close the bot's live connection about once a minute. The bot reconnects within a second or two and the page keeps showing the last data, so you won't see Link error for that. You'll only see it when the reconnect itself fails.

The Freshness tile tells you how far to trust what you see:

Freshness	Meaning
Live	The bot is connected to the shard and the data is current.
Stale	The bot has not reported for a few minutes (it may be reconnecting or just starting up). The page shows the last data it has, which may be out of date.
Link error	The bot cannot reach the shard, or the shard is refusing it (for example a rejected API key). The reason is shown, and the page keeps the last roster it saw.
Not set up	The server has no working Star Comms link. A server admin sets it up in Server Settings → External, or with Connect Star Comms on this page.

Officer controls¶

These need the Comms Management permission (officers by default). Members see the panel read-only.

Open operation / Close operation. Asks you to confirm first, because everyone on comms sees it. While the operation state is unknown (the bot has not read it yet), the button says Operation state unknown and does nothing, so you are never offered to open an operation that may already be open. A Link error keeps the last operation state the bot saw.
Assign members. Opens a side panel:
- Choose Assign or Unassign.
- Pick one or more members. People currently on comms are listed first, then your server's members.
- For Assign, pick the net. With exactly one member you can also set Temporary (minutes), from 1 to 1440, and the shard removes the assignment when it runs out.
- Up to 200 members at once. If any net can't be found, nothing is changed.
- Unassigning several people skips anyone who had no net and tells you how many.
ACARS. Type up to 280 characters (the counter shows how many you've used) and choose the alert type: Emergency (the default), Critical or Routine. It is sent to everyone on comms, signed with your server nickname (or username). Your server can send one ACARS message a minute. After a send, the button shows a countdown until the next one is allowed, and the countdown carries over if you reload the page.

If the shard refuses an action (a rejected key, a missing permission on the key, a rate limit), the panel shows the reason. Nothing is retried automatically, so an action is never sent twice.

Ready Check (officers)¶

A Ready Check asks everyone on comms whether they're ready. It runs for about 20 seconds: each person answers with their Ready or Not ready key in the Star Comms client, and anyone who doesn't answer in time counts as AFK. Ready Check is a feature of premium Star Comms shards.

Open the Ready Check tab.
Pick a Template. Templates are made in the Star Comms app (they set the message people see and who is asked: everyone, squad leads, admins or certain roles). Star Org can start them but doesn't create or edit them. The hint under the picker shows the message people will see.
Press Start Ready Check. It starts under your name in this server.
While it runs, the tab counts down and shows each answer as it comes in, grouped as Not ready, AFK, Waiting and Ready, with a count for each. Answers can take a second or two to show.
When time is up, Star Org reads the final result from the shard and shows it, for example "Finished: 9 of 12 ready, 2 not ready, 1 AFK." Press New check to run another.

A Ready Check started in the Star Comms app also shows on this tab, live while it runs, then as Last Ready Check.

"Ready Check isn't available on this shard" means the shard can't run one through the API: it isn't a premium shard, or the Owner API key is missing the read:ready-checks and write:ready-checks permissions. A server admin adds them to the key in the shard's control panel and then runs Verify permissions in Server Settings (the message has a button to get there). Until then the tab doesn't ask the shard again, so it costs nothing.

Presets and role rules (officers)¶

Officers see five tabs at the top of the page: Live (everything above), Presets, Rules, Structure and Ready Check. Members only see the live view. Presets and rules are stored on your shard, not by the bot; the structure is kept by Star Org.

Structure¶

Structure sets how your nets fit together, the way you'd draw your comms plan: for each net, which net it reports to and its type (Command & control, Peer-to-peer or Support). The diagram under the list previews it, and Fleet Command's Comms map draws it for every op, with each team's Discord call hanging off its team's net.

A net can't report to itself or to a net below it, so those aren't offered.
Save structure replaces the whole structure. Discard changes puts it back.
Star Comms has no setting for this, so it's kept in Star Org and saving changes nothing on the shard. If you delete a net in Star Comms, it drops out of the structure; nets under it move to the top level.

Presets¶

A preset is a saved layout: who sits on which net, and whether the operation is open.

Save current layout asks for a name and saves the board exactly as the shard has it right now. Saving with the name of an existing preset replaces it (the button says Overwrite preset when it will).
Apply shows what the preset will do ("Places 12 members onto Command, Alpha Wing and opens the operation") and asks you to confirm. Members who are not in the preset stay where they are. Applying the same preset twice changes nothing the second time.
If a net in the preset has been deleted since it was saved, applying it is refused and nobody is moved. Save the preset again to fix it.
Delete removes the preset from the shard. Nobody is moved.

In Discord, /comms preset list shows the presets and /comms preset apply <name> applies one.

The Rules tab¶

Star Comms has two ways to put people on nets automatically, and the Rules tab shows both:

By net, at the top, sums both up one net at a time: each net lists the Discord roles that land on it, from Groups and from saved role rules together, and how many members groups put there by name. A net nobody is put on says so. On a computer, hover a role to see which group or rule puts it there. It shows what is saved, so unsaved edits to the role rules below don't appear until you save. Switch it to Grid to see every role against every net at once: each cell says Rule (a role rule puts that role there), Group (a Star Comms Group does) or Both, shown in amber because the role is set up twice. The last column counts each role's nets, and the bottom rows count each net's roles and the members groups add by name. On a phone the grid scrolls sideways inside its box, with the role names kept in view.
Star Comms Groups, under By net, are the groups you set up in the Star Comms app. The tab lists every group that has auto-assign turned on and at least one net, with its Discord roles, how many members it lists by name, and its nets. This list is read only: edit groups in the Star Comms admin menu. If the shard can't list its groups (an older shard, or an API key that isn't allowed to), the section says so and the role rules below still work.
Role rules, below, are set through the Star Comms API, and you edit them here. The Star Comms app does not show them.

Which one wins. Star Comms keeps whichever assignment happens last:

Role rules are applied when someone joins, so anything later replaces them.
Star Org's assignments come next: the nets an op puts its signups on, Assign members on Comms Ops, and presets.
Groups with auto-assign keep re-applying, so they usually win in the end.

So for nets that change from op to op, let Star Org assign people, and keep auto-assign Groups for standing nets that should never change. If a Group with auto-assign covers people an op or Assign members puts somewhere else, Star Org shows a warning naming the Group: turn off auto-assign on that Group in the Star Comms admin menu if Star Org should decide. Role rules suit an org that already manages Discord roles; Groups can be changed by anyone with the Star Comms admin menu.

Role rules¶

A rule gives a Discord role one or more nets: the shard puts everyone holding that role on them.

Each row is a Discord role and its Nets (pick one or more). Add rule adds a row; the bin icon removes one. A role can have only one rule.
Save rules replaces the whole list on the shard. It does not add to it: any rule you removed from the page is deleted, and the confirmation says how many. Saving an empty list deletes every rule.
Only your own server's roles can be used. A net that no longer exists is marked on its rule, and must be removed before you can save.
Discard changes puts the list back to what the shard has.
If someone else changed the rules while you were editing (another officer, or a tool using the Star Comms API), the save is refused and nothing is changed. The page reloads the shard's list and says why above it. Make your change again on the new list.
After a save, Star Org reads the list back from the shard. If the shard didn't keep what was sent, the save fails with a message saying how many rules it holds now, instead of reporting success.
To check a save worked: refresh the page and open Rules again. The rule should still be there with the same nets.
Rules live on the shard and are not tied to an event or operation in Star Org. They stay until someone saves a different list.