Quick start for CueNIMBY

Get started with CueNIMBY workstation control

CueNIMBY is a Qt-based cross-platform system tray application that provides user control over OpenCue’s NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) feature on workstations. It features professional icons with the OpenCue logo, emoji hints (🔒❌⚠️🔧) for quick status recognition, and enhanced status detection. It allows artists and users to monitor their machine’s rendering availability, toggle between available and disabled states, receive notifications when jobs start, launch CueGUI directly from the tray, and schedule automatic state changes. CueNIMBY starts even when CueBot is unreachable and reconnects automatically.

Before you begin

You must have the following software installed on your machine:

  • Python version 3.7 or greater
  • The Python pip command
    • On some systems this command may be installed as pip3
  • Qt for Python (PyQt6 or PySide6) - automatically installed with CueNIMBY
  • OpenCue client libraries (pycue)
  • Access to a running Cuebot server (CueNIMBY will start even if CueBot is unreachable and reconnect automatically)

Platform-specific requirements

macOS:

  • macOS 10.14 or later
  • Optional but recommended: terminal-notifier for most reliable notifications (brew install terminal-notifier)
  • Alternative: pync for enhanced notifications (pip install pync)
  • Built-in fallback: osascript (no additional install required)

Windows:

  • Windows 10 or later
  • Optional: win10toast for toast notifications

Linux:

  • A desktop environment with system tray support
  • Notification daemon (usually pre-installed)
  • Optional: notify2 for desktop notifications

Installing CueNIMBY

From source

  1. Clone or download the OpenCue repository:

    git clone https://github.com/<username>/OpenCue.git
cd OpenCue

  2. Install CueNIMBY:

    cd cuenimby
pip install .

Using the sandbox installer

If you’re using the OpenCue sandbox environment, CueNIMBY is automatically installed when you run:

./sandbox/install-client-sources.sh

Running CueNIMBY

  1. Start CueNIMBY from the command line:

    cuenimby

    On first run, CueNIMBY creates a configuration file at ~/.opencue/cuenimby.json.

  2. Look for the CueNIMBY icon in your system tray (professional icons with OpenCue logo):
    • 🔄 Starting (opencue-starting.png): Application is initializing
    • 🟢 Available (opencue-available.png): Host is idle and ready for rendering
    • 🔴 Working (opencue-working.png): Currently rendering frames (red dot in center)
    • 🔴 Disabled (opencue-disabled.png): Manually locked, NIMBY locked, or host down
    • ❌ Error (opencue-error.png): CueBot unreachable or machine not found on CueBot
    • ⚠️ Warning (opencue-warning.png): Host ping above 60 second limit
    • 🔧 Repair (opencue-repair.png): Host is under repair
    • ❓ Unknown (opencue-unknown.png): Unknown status

    macOS - Available status:

    CueNIMBY Available Status on macOS

    Windows - Available status:

    CueNIMBY Available Status on Windows

    Icon Gallery:

    Icon File Description
    Available opencue-available.png Green - Ready for rendering
    Working opencue-working.png Icon with red dot in center - Currently rendering
    Disabled opencue-disabled.png Red - Locked/disabled
    Error opencue-error.png Red X - Error/unreachable
    Warning opencue-warning.png Yellow - Warning/lagging
    Repair opencue-repair.png Orange - Under repair
    Starting opencue-starting.png Gray - Initializing
    Unknown opencue-unknown.png Gray ? - Unknown
    Default opencue-default.png Default fallback
  3. Right-click the tray icon to access the menu:
    • Toggle Available to enable/disable rendering (disabled when CueBot is unreachable or host not found)
    • Toggle Notifications to control desktop alerts
    • Toggle Scheduler for time-based control
    • Launch CueGUI to open CueGUI application directly (disabled when CueGUI is not available)
    • Open Config File to edit configuration in your default editor
    • About to view CueBot address, monitored host, and version information

    macOS - CueNIMBY menu:

    CueNIMBY Menu on macOS

Connecting to Cuebot

By default, CueNIMBY connects to localhost:8443. To connect to a different Cuebot server:

Using command-line arguments 

cuenimby --cuebot-host cuebot.example.com --cuebot-port 8443

Using environment variables 

export CUEBOT_HOST=cuebot.example.com
export CUEBOT_PORT=8443
cuenimby

Using configuration file

Edit ~/.opencue/cuenimby.json:

{
  "cuebot_host": "cuebot.example.com",
  "cuebot_port": 8443
}

Testing the setup

  1. With CueNIMBY running, verify your host appears in CueGUI:
    • Open CueGUI or CueCommander
    • Navigate to the Hosts view
    • Find your workstation by hostname
  2. Test manual control:
    • Right-click the CueNIMBY tray icon
    • Uncheck Available to disable rendering
    • Check Available to re-enable rendering
    • Observe the icon color change and notification
  3. Test job notifications:
    • Submit a test job to OpenCue
    • When a frame starts on your workstation, you should receive a notification

Troubleshooting

CueNIMBY won’t start

  • Check that Python 3.7+ is installed: python --version or python3 --version
  • Verify OpenCue client libraries are installed: pip list | grep pycue
  • Check the logs for errors: Run with cuenimby --verbose

Can’t connect to Cuebot

CueNIMBY will now start even when CueBot is unreachable and display a clear error status (❌).

macOS - Connection error:

CueNIMBY Connection Error on macOS

Windows - Connection error:

CueNIMBY Connection Error on Windows

  • Check the tray icon tooltip for specific error message
  • Verify Cuebot is running and accessible
  • Check firewall rules allow gRPC traffic on the Cuebot port
  • Test connectivity: telnet cuebot.example.com 8443
  • Verify hostname and port in ~/.opencue/cuenimby.json
  • Run with --verbose to see detailed connection errors
  • CueNIMBY will automatically reconnect when CueBot becomes available

Tray icon doesn’t appear

  • Linux: Ensure your desktop environment supports system tray icons
  • Some environments require Qt6 and system tray support
  • Try restarting CueNIMBY after logging in

Host not found

If you see “❌ Machine not found on CueBot, check if RQD is running”:

  • Verify RQD is running on your machine: ps aux | grep rqd (macOS/Linux)
  • Check RQD logs for connection errors
  • Verify hostname matches in CueBot (check CueGUI > Monitor Hosts)
  • Use --hostname flag to specify exact hostname: cuenimby --hostname your-host-name
  • Ensure RQD successfully registered with CueBot

Host lagging

If you see “⚠️ Host ping above limit” warning:

macOS - Host lagging:

CueNIMBY Host Lagging on macOS

Windows - Host lagging:

CueNIMBY Host Lagging on Windows

  • Check if RQD is still running: ps aux | grep rqd
  • Verify network connection stability
  • Review RQD logs for connection issues
  • Consider restarting RQD if problem persists
  • Check CueBot server load

Host under repair

If you see “🔧 Under Repair” status:

macOS - Under repair:

CueNIMBY Under Repair on macOS

Windows - Under repair:

CueNIMBY Under Repair on Windows

  • Contact your technical team for repair status
  • Host has been administratively marked for maintenance
  • No rendering will occur until repair state is cleared
  • Check with system administrators for estimated resolution

No notifications

  • macOS: Grant notification permissions in System Preferences. For best results, install terminal-notifier: brew install terminal-notifier
  • Windows: Check notification settings in Windows Settings
  • Linux: Ensure notification daemon is running: ps aux | grep notification

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Page last modified: Oct 29 2025 at 04:31 PM.