Adding a network driver

Network drivers live in their own crates behind the stable hypercolor-driver-api boundary. They depend on hypercolor-driver-api and hypercolor-types, never on hypercolor-core directly. Native drivers can also use hypercolor-driver-support for credentials, mDNS, control documents, pairing lifecycle, and endpoint validation. The hypercolor-network crate holds only the registry and capability-dispatch shell; protocol logic stays in each driver crate. This page walks through the full lifecycle of adding a new one, using WLED and Govee as concrete reference implementations.

#The driver-api boundary

hypercolor-driver-api defines every trait and type the daemon needs from a driver. The dependency rule is strict:

hypercolor-types ──▶ hypercolor-driver-api ──▶ hypercolor-driver-support
                              │                         │
                              ╰───────────┬─────────────╯
                                          ▼
                                  your-driver-crate
                                          │
                         ╭────────────────┴────────────────╮
                         ▼                                 ▼
             hypercolor-network (registry)   hypercolor-driver-builtin (bundle)

Never reach into hypercolor-core from a driver crate. Core depends on driver-api, not the reverse. The hypercolor-network crate is only the DriverModuleRegistry orchestration layer; it does not own any protocol logic.

The API crate contains only capability contracts and shared wire values. The support crate owns concrete native behavior, so crypto, mDNS, filesystem I/O, and reusable driver policy never leak into the stable trait boundary.

#Key types at a glance

#Declaring a descriptor

Every driver crate exposes a static DESCRIPTOR at crate root. DriverDescriptor::new stamps it with the current DRIVER_API_SCHEMA_VERSION automatically; the registry rejects mismatches at load time.

use hypercolor_driver_api::DriverDescriptor;
use hypercolor_types::device::DriverTransportKind;

pub static DESCRIPTOR: DriverDescriptor =
    DriverDescriptor::new("acme", "Acme Lights", DriverTransportKind::Network, true, false);
//                         id      display_name    transport             discovery pairing

Set supports_discovery to true if you implement DiscoveryCapability. Set supports_pairing to true if you implement PairingCapability. Govee does; WLED does not (no auth required).

#Implementing DriverModule

DriverModule is the capability root. Implement it on a struct that carries any compile-time configuration the module needs, for example whether mDNS browsing is enabled.

use std::sync::Arc;

use hypercolor_driver_api::{
    DeviceBackend, DeviceBackendFactory, DiscoveryCapability,
    DriverConfigProvider, DriverConfigView, DriverDescriptor, DriverError,
    DriverHost, DriverModule, OutputBinding,
};
use hypercolor_types::identity::BackendId;

pub struct AcmeDriverModule {
    mdns_enabled: bool,
}

impl DriverModule for AcmeDriverModule {
    fn descriptor(&self) -> &'static DriverDescriptor {
        &DESCRIPTOR
    }

    fn output(&self) -> OutputBinding<'_> {
        OutputBinding::Owned {
            id: BackendId::new(DESCRIPTOR.id).expect("Acme backend ID must be valid"),
            factory: self,
        }
    }

    fn discovery(&self) -> Option<&dyn DiscoveryCapability> {
        Some(self)
    }

    fn config(&self) -> Option<&dyn DriverConfigProvider> {
        Some(self)
    }
}

impl DeviceBackendFactory for AcmeDriverModule {
    fn build(
        &self,
        _host: &dyn DriverHost,
        config: DriverConfigView<'_>,
    ) -> Result<Arc<dyn DeviceBackend>, DriverError> {
        let cfg = config.parse_settings::<AcmeConfig>()?;
        Ok(Arc::new(AcmeBackend::new(cfg, self.mdns_enabled)))
    }
}

Methods you do not need (pairing, controls, runtime_cache, presentation, protocol_catalog) have default implementations that return None. Override only what you support; DriverModule::module_descriptor assembles the capability set automatically from those Option returns.

#Implementing DeviceBackend

DeviceBackend is the hot-path trait the render loop calls on every frame. It is Send + Sync and must not block the async executor.

use hypercolor_driver_api::{
    BackendInfo, DeviceBackend, DiscoveredDevice, OutputCadence,
};
use hypercolor_types::device::{DeviceError, DeviceId};

#[async_trait::async_trait]
impl DeviceBackend for AcmeBackend {
    fn info(&self) -> BackendInfo {
        BackendInfo {
            id: "acme".into(),
            name: "Acme Lights".into(),
            description: "Acme UDP streaming backend".into(),
        }
    }

    fn adopt_device(&self, discovered: &DiscoveredDevice) -> Result<(), DeviceError> {
        // Validate driver metadata, then install the route under discovered.info.id.
        self.routes.insert(discovered)?;
        Ok(())
    }

    async fn connect(&self, id: &DeviceId) -> Result<(), DeviceError> {
        // Open the UDP socket or handshake as required.
        todo!()
    }

    async fn disconnect(&self, id: &DeviceId) -> Result<(), DeviceError> {
        todo!()
    }

    async fn write_colors(
        &self,
        id: &DeviceId,
        colors: &[[u8; 3]],
    ) -> Result<(), DeviceError> {
        // Encode and send one frame. Called on every render tick; keep allocations minimal.
        todo!()
    }

    fn output_cadence(&self, id: &DeviceId) -> Option<OutputCadence> {
        // Govern how often the render loop sends frames to this device.
        Some(OutputCadence::from_fps(30))
    }
}

DeviceLifecyclePolicy::default() gives a 5-second connect timeout with inline execution and retry on timeout. Override lifecycle_policy only when your connect call blocks for several seconds and you need ConnectExecution::Background, for example a DTLS handshake like Hue’s Entertainment API.

#Discovery patterns

#WLED: mDNS + HTTP enrichment

WLED discovers via mDNS service type _wled._tcp.local. and then enriches each result with a GET http://<ip>/json/info call that returns firmware version, LED count, RGBW flag, and max FPS. It also probes a list of known IPs for controllers that do not advertise via mDNS, which is common on networks with multicast filtering.

The DiscoveryCapability implementation loads cached probe targets from the previous run via DriverHost::discovery_state().load_cached_json(...), merges them with the current config and tracked devices, then passes the combined list to the scanner:

#[async_trait::async_trait]
impl DiscoveryCapability for WledDriverModule {
    async fn discover(
        &self,
        host: &dyn DriverHost,
        request: &DiscoveryRequest,
        config: DriverConfigView<'_>,
    ) -> Result<Vec<DiscoveredDevice>, DriverError> {
        let config = config.parse_settings::<WledConfig>()?;
        let tracked = host.discovery_state().tracked_devices(DESCRIPTOR.id).await;
        let known_targets = resolve_wled_probe_targets_from_sources(
            &config, &tracked, &cached_probe_ips, &cached_targets,
        );
        let mut scanner = WledScanner::with_known_targets(
            known_targets, request.mdns_enabled, request.timeout,
        );
        scanner.scan().await.map_err(DriverError::discovery)
    }
}

Device fingerprints use DeviceFingerprint::mint(FingerprintNamespace::Net, "wled", mac) rather than the IP address, so a DHCP reassignment keeps the same DeviceId.

#Govee: UDP multicast + optional cloud fallback

Govee has no mDNS. Discovery sends a JSON scan command to the multicast address 239.255.255.250:4001; devices respond on port 4002. Each device is then reachable for control on port 4003.

After the LAN scan, if the user has stored an API key, the driver calls the Govee Developer Cloud API (list_v1_devices) and merges any cloud-only devices into the result set. Cloud devices whose MAC matches a LAN entry are merged in-place; cloud-only devices are added with DiscoveryConnectBehavior::Deferred because they cannot be LAN-controlled without an IP.

// After the LAN scan completes:
if let Some(api_key) = account_api_key(host).await? {
    match self.cloud_client(api_key)?.list_v1_devices().await {
        Ok(cloud_devices) => merge_cloud_inventory(&mut devices, cloud_devices),
        Err(error) => warn!(error = %error, "Govee cloud inventory failed"),
    }
}

The cloud call is best-effort: a failure logs a warning and does not fail the scan.

#Pairing

Drivers that require credentials implement PairingCapability. Govee is the reference; WLED intentionally sets supports_pairing: false because it requires no authentication.

The three methods:

#[async_trait::async_trait]
impl PairingCapability for GoveeDriverModule {
    async fn auth_summary(
        &self,
        host: &dyn DriverHost,
        device: &TrackedDeviceCtx<'_>,
    ) -> Result<Option<DeviceAuthSummary>, DriverError> {
        // Inspect host.credentials() and return the current auth state.
        // Return None only if this driver cannot describe auth for this device at all.
        todo!()
    }

    async fn pair(
        &self,
        host: &dyn DriverHost,
        device: &TrackedDeviceCtx<'_>,
        request: &PairDeviceRequest,
    ) -> Result<PairDeviceOutcome, DriverError> {
        // Validate the credential against the remote service, then store it.
        let Some(api_key) = api_key_from_request(request) else {
            return Ok(PairDeviceOutcome {
                status: PairDeviceStatus::InvalidInput,
                message: "API key is required.".into(),
                auth_state: DeviceAuthState::Open,
                activated: false,
            });
        };
        self.cloud_client(api_key.clone())
            .map_err(DriverError::pairing)?
            .list_v1_devices()
            .await
            .map_err(DriverError::pairing)?;
        host.credentials()
            .set_json(DESCRIPTOR.id, "account", serde_json::json!({ "api_key": api_key }))
            .await
            .map_err(DriverError::pairing)?;
        Ok(PairDeviceOutcome {
            status: PairDeviceStatus::Paired,
            message: "API key validated and stored.".into(),
            auth_state: DeviceAuthState::Configured,
            activated: false,
        })
    }

    async fn clear_credentials(
        &self,
        host: &dyn DriverHost,
        device: &TrackedDeviceCtx<'_>,
    ) -> Result<ClearPairingOutcome, DriverError> {
        host.credentials()
            .remove(DESCRIPTOR.id, "account")
            .await
            .map_err(DriverError::pairing)?;
        Ok(ClearPairingOutcome {
            message: "Credentials removed.".into(),
            auth_state: DeviceAuthState::Open,
            disconnected: false,
        })
    }
}

Describe the pairing flow to the UI by returning a PairingDescriptor from auth_summary. Govee uses PairingFlowKind::CredentialsForm with step-by-step instructions:

PairingDescriptor {
    kind: PairingFlowKind::CredentialsForm,
    title: "Pair Govee Account".into(),
    instructions: vec![
        "Open the Govee Home app.".into(),
        "Go to Profile, Settings, Apply for API Key.".into(),
        "Paste the API key here to validate it and unlock cloud fallback.".into(),
    ],
    action_label: "Validate API Key".into(),
    fields: vec![PairingFieldDescriptor {
        key: "api_key".into(),
        label: "Govee API Key".into(),
        secret: true,
        optional: false,
        placeholder: Some("xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx".into()),
    }],
}

#Streaming protocols

#DDP (WLED default)

DDP (Distributed Display Protocol) sends pixel data as a UDP datagram to port 4048. The payload is capped at 1440 bytes to stay under the 1472-byte UDP MTU, limiting a single packet to 480 RGB pixels or 360 RGBW pixels. For longer strips the implementation segments across multiple packets using sequential push flags.

DDP data types: 0x0B for RGB24, 0x1B for RGBW32. The WLED driver exposes a per-device protocol override so individual controllers can run E1.31 while the rest use DDP.

#E1.31 / sACN

E1.31 is the sACN (Streaming ACN) protocol used in professional lighting. It spreads pixels across DMX universes: one universe carries 512 channels, mapping to 170 RGB pixels or 127 RGBW pixels. Use E1.31 only when integrating with an existing sACN workflow. For most setups, DDP is preferred; it is simpler and carries a full strip in fewer packets.

#Govee LAN UDP

Govee uses a JSON-over-UDP control protocol on port 4003. For SKUs with the RAZER_STREAMING capability flag, the driver encodes pixel data as base64 frames at up to 25 fps, with a cap of 255 LEDs per frame. Plain LAN devices without Razer streaming support run at up to 10 fps.

#Shared HTTP clients

Drivers that make HTTP calls for pairing or discovery enrichment (WLED’s GET /json/info, Govee’s cloud API) should share a single reqwest::Client rather than building one per call. Store it in a LazyLock at crate root:

use std::sync::LazyLock;
use std::time::Duration;

static HTTP_CLIENT: LazyLock<Result<reqwest::Client, String>> = LazyLock::new(|| {
    reqwest::Client::builder()
        .timeout(Duration::from_secs(5))
        .build()
        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
});

fn http_client() -> anyhow::Result<&'static reqwest::Client> {
    HTTP_CLIENT
        .as_ref()
        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("HTTP client unavailable: {e}"))
}

#Config and control surfaces

Expose driver-level configuration via DriverConfigProvider. The default_config method returns a DriverConfigEntry::enabled(...) with a BTreeMap<String, serde_json::Value> of default settings. validate_config parses and validates the config on user changes.

WLED’s driver-level config covers known_ips, default_protocol, realtime_http_enabled, and dedup_threshold. Per-device overrides (for example, an individual WLED controller using E1.31 while others use DDP) are exposed separately through DriverControlProvider::device_surface.

ApplyImpact (in hypercolor_types::controls) tells the host what needs to happen when a field changes. All eight variants:

#Runtime cache

Implement DriverRuntimeCacheProvider so discovered device addresses survive daemon restarts. The snapshot method serializes whatever you need into a BTreeMap<String, serde_json::Value>; the host writes it to disk and feeds it back via DriverHost::discovery_state().load_cached_json(...) on the next boot.

WLED serializes probe_ips and probe_targets. Govee serializes probe_devices. Keep the cached data compact; it is loaded synchronously at discovery startup.

#[async_trait::async_trait]
impl DriverRuntimeCacheProvider for AcmeDriverModule {
    async fn snapshot(
        &self,
        host: &dyn DriverHost,
    ) -> anyhow::Result<BTreeMap<String, serde_json::Value>> {
        let tracked = host.discovery_state().tracked_devices(DESCRIPTOR.id).await;
        let probe_ips = collect_probe_ips(&tracked);
        Ok(BTreeMap::from([(
            "probe_ips".into(),
            serde_json::to_value(probe_ips)?,
        )]))
    }
}

#Registering in the bundle

Add your crate as an optional feature-gated dependency of hypercolor-driver-builtin and register the module in register_driver_modules:

// In hypercolor-driver-builtin/src/lib.rs

#[cfg(feature = "acme")]
use hypercolor_driver_acme::AcmeDriverModule;

// Inside register_driver_modules():
#[cfg(feature = "acme")]
registry.register(AcmeDriverModule::new(config.discovery.mdns_enabled))?;

Also add a normalize_driver_config_entries call so the driver’s config entry is created on first run:

#[cfg(feature = "acme")]
config
    .drivers
    .entry(hypercolor_driver_acme::DESCRIPTOR.id.to_owned())
    .or_default();

DriverModuleRegistry::register verifies that your DriverDescriptor::schema_version matches DRIVER_API_SCHEMA_VERSION. A mismatch returns DriverModuleRegistryError::SchemaVersionMismatch and prevents the daemon from starting.

#Tests

Tests live in crates/hypercolor-driver-<name>/tests/, not inline #[cfg(test)] blocks. Name each file after the capability being tested: discovery_tests.rs, pairing_tests.rs, and so on.

At minimum, cover:

• Config round-trips: default_config deserializes cleanly via parse_settings.
• Known-IP merging: resolve_*_probe_targets_from_sources merges config, tracked devices, and cache without duplicates.
• Fingerprint stability: the same MAC address produces the same DeviceId across independent calls.
• Pairing validation: missing fields and empty credentials return PairDeviceStatus::InvalidInput, not an error.

just test-crate hypercolor-driver-acme

#Cross-links

• Network device ports and mDNS service types: @/hardware/network-devices.md
• WLED setup and streaming parameters: @/hardware/wled.md
• Govee setup, LAN ports, and cloud pairing: @/hardware/govee.md
• HAL (USB/HID/SMBus) driver contribution guide: @/contributing/adding-a-driver.md
• Render pipeline and BackendManager::write_frame: @/architecture/render-pipeline.md