CueWeb User Guide

Complete guide to using CueWeb for OpenCue render farm management.

Table of contents
  1. Overview
    1. Key Benefits
    2. Core Features
  2. Getting Started
    1. Accessing CueWeb
    2. Authentication
    3. First Time Setup
  3. Jobs Dashboard
    1. Dashboard Layout
    2. Job Information Columns
    3. Job Status Indicators
  4. Job Management Operations
    1. Basic Job Controls
      1. Pause/Resume Jobs
      2. Kill Jobs
      3. Monitor/Unmonitor Jobs
    2. Advanced Job Operations
      1. Context Menu Actions
  5. Job Search and Filtering
    1. Basic Search
    2. Advanced Search Features
      1. Pattern Matching
    3. Search Results
  6. Frame and Layer Management
    1. Viewing Job Details
    2. Layer Operations
      1. Layer Information Columns
      2. Layer Actions
    3. Frame Operations
      1. Frame Information Columns
      2. Frame Status Colors
      3. Frame Actions
      4. Frame Log Viewer
  7. Table Customization
    1. Column Management
  8. Real-time Updates and Monitoring
    1. Auto-refresh Settings
  9. Mobile and Responsive Usage
    1. Mobile Interface
    2. Responsive Features
  10. Troubleshooting and Support
    1. Common Issues
      1. Connection Problems
      2. Performance Issues
      3. Authentication Problems
  11. Advanced Features
    1. API Integration

Overview

CueWeb is a web-based interface for managing OpenCue render farms, replicating the core functionality of CueGUI (Cuetopia and CueCommander) in a web-accessible format. It extends OpenCue access across multiple platforms, ensuring users can manage their rendering tasks from virtually anywhere.

Key Benefits

  • Browser-based Access: No client software installation required
  • Cross-platform: Works on Windows, macOS, Linux, tablets, and mobile devices
  • Real-time Updates: Automatic refresh of job status and frame progress with configurable intervals
  • Collaborative: Multiple users can access the same interface simultaneously
  • Modern UI: Dark/light themes, responsive design, and intuitive navigation
  • Enhanced Security: JWT token generation for secure API communication
  • Advanced Search: Regex-enabled search with dropdown suggestions

Core Features

  1. Secure User Authentication
    • Multiple OAuth providers (GitHub, Google, Okta, Apple, GitLab, Amazon, Microsoft Azure, LinkedIn, Atlassian, Auth0)
    • Email and credential-based authentication options
    • Configurable authentication through NextAuth.js
  2. Customizable Job Management Dashboard
    • Paginated table with sortable columns
    • Column visibility controls for personalized views
    • Filter jobs by state (active, paused, completed, failing, dependency)
  3. Flexible Monitoring Controls
    • Add/remove jobs from monitoring
    • Bulk operations on multiple selected jobs
    • Un-monitor jobs across all statuses
  4. Detailed Job Inspection
    • Pop-up windows showing layers and frames
    • Resource allocation information
    • Job statistics and performance metrics
  5. Frame Navigation and Logs Access
    • Hyperlinked frames leading to dedicated pages
    • Comprehensive log viewing with version selection
    • Real-time log updates for running frames
  6. Advanced Job Search Functionality
    • Search by show name with “show-shot-“ prefix
    • Regex search with “!” prefix
    • Dropdown suggestions with green highlighting for monitored jobs
    • Optimized loading with virtualization and web workers
  7. Context Menu Actions
    • Job actions: Un-monitor, Pause/Unpause, Retry dead frames, Eat dead frames, Kill
    • Layer actions: Kill, Eat, Retry, Retry dead frames
    • Frame actions: Retry, Eat, Kill
    • Context-aware menu items (disabled for finished jobs)
  8. Auto-reloading Tables
    • All tables (jobs, layers, frames) auto-reload at configurable intervals
    • Loading animations for better user experience

Getting Started

Accessing CueWeb

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Navigate to your CueWeb URL (typically http://your-server:3000)
  3. If authentication is enabled, sign in with your credentials

Authentication

CueWeb supports secure authentication through multiple providers:

  • OAuth Providers: GitHub, Google, Okta, Apple, GitLab, Amazon, Microsoft Azure, LinkedIn, Atlassian, Auth0
  • Email Authentication: Email-based login
  • Custom Credentials: Username/password authentication
  • Other Providers: Additional providers can be configured using NextAuth.js

CueWeb authentication page (light mode)

CueWeb authentication page (dark mode)

Note: If authentication is disabled for development, you’ll see a “CueWeb Home” button to access the interface directly.

First Time Setup

When you first access CueWeb, you’ll see the main dashboard:

CueWeb main page (light mode)

CueWeb main page (dark mode)

  • Jobs Dashboard: Central paginated table populated with OpenCue jobs
  • Navigation Menu: Access to different sections
  • Theme Toggle: Switch between light and dark modes
  • User Menu: Authentication and settings (if enabled)

Jobs Dashboard

The Jobs Dashboard is the main interface for monitoring and managing rendering jobs.

Dashboard Layout

The dashboard consists of:

  • Filter Bar: Show selection, status filters, and search
  • Jobs Table: Sortable table with job information
  • Action Buttons: Job control operations
  • Status Indicators: Visual job state representation

Job Information Columns

Column Description
Select Checkbox for multi-job selection
Name Job identifier with show-shot-user and job name on separate lines
State Current job state (Failing, Finished, In Progress, Dependency, Paused)
Done / Total Succeeded frames out of total frames (e.g., “150 of 200”)
Started Job start timestamp in human-readable format
Finished Job completion timestamp (if finished)
Running Number of currently running frames
Dead Number of failed frames
Eaten Number of frames marked as completed (skipped)
Wait Number of frames waiting to run
MaxRss Maximum resident set size (peak memory usage)
Age Total time since job started (HHH:MM format)
Progress Visual progress bar showing completion percentage
Pop-up Button to open job details panel

Job Status Indicators

Jobs are color-coded by status:

  • Green: Successfully completed or finished jobs (SUCCEEDED, FINISHED)
  • Yellow: Currently running jobs with active frames (RUNNING)
  • Blue: Paused jobs or jobs waiting for resources (PAUSED, WAITING)
  • Purple: Jobs with dependencies (DEPEND, DEPENDENCY)
  • Red: Failed or failing jobs (DEAD, FAILING)
  • Gray: Default/other statuses

Job Management Operations

Basic Job Controls

Pause/Resume Jobs

  1. Single Job: Click the Pause/Unpause button in the Actions menu
  2. Multiple Jobs: Select jobs using checkboxes, then use the Pause/Unpause button

Kill Jobs

  1. Single Job: Click the Kill button in the Actions menu
  2. Multiple Jobs: Select jobs and click Kill

Monitor/Unmonitor Jobs

Jobs can be added or removed from monitoring:

  1. Add to Monitor: Search for jobs and select them to monitor (selected jobs are green)
  2. Remove from Monitor: Select the job and use the “Unmonitor” option

  3. Bulk Operations: Select multiple jobs using checkboxes for batch operations

    Un-monitoring selected jobs (before)

    Un-monitoring selected jobs (after)

Advanced Job Operations

Context Menu Actions

Right-click on jobs to access the context menu with the following actions:

  • Unmonitor: Remove job from monitoring
  • Pause/Unpause: Pause or resume job execution
  • Retry Dead Frames: Restart only failed frames in the job
  • Eat Dead Frames: Mark failed frames as completed (skip)
  • Kill: Terminate the job

Note: Menu items are automatically disabled if the job has finished, and the context menu is always rendered on-screen.

CueWeb with job context menu open

Pop-up showing successful kill job message

Job Search and Filtering

  1. Show Filter: Select specific shows from the dropdown
  2. Status Filter: Filter by job state (Active, Paused, Completed)
  3. User Filter: Show jobs for specific users
  4. Quick Search: Type in the search box for name matching

Advanced Search Features

Pattern Matching

  • Simple Search: Type show name followed by hyphen and shot (e.g., “show-shot-“) to trigger dropdown suggestions
  • Wildcard Search: Use * for any characters (e.g., “test*job”)
  • Regex Search: Prefix with ! for regex patterns (e.g., “!.character-name.”)
  • Tooltip Guidance: Tooltips are provided to guide search functionality

Search Results

  • Dropdown Suggestions: Shows matching jobs as you type with optimized loading using virtualization and web workers
  • Add to Monitor: Click to add jobs to your monitoring dashboard
  • Green Indicators: Jobs already in your monitor list are highlighted in green

  • Multiple Job Selection: Add or remove multiple jobs directly from search results

    Job search functionality

Frame and Layer Management

Viewing Job Details

  1. Use the Job detail button to view the job’s layers and frames

Job detail button to open the job layers and frames

  1. The job details panel opens with tabs:
    • Layers: Show job layers information (top datatable)
    • Frames: Show frames information (bottom datatable)

    Pop-up window layers and frames (light mode)

    Pop-up window layers and frames (dark mode)

Layer Operations

Layer Information Columns

Column Description
Dispatch Order Processing order for the layer
Name Layer identifier/name
Services Associated render services
Limits Resource limits applied
Range Frame range (start-end frames)
Cores Minimum CPU cores required (minCores)
Memory Minimum RAM required
Gpus Minimum GPU count required
Gpu Memory Minimum GPU memory required
MaxRss Maximum resident set size (memory usage)
Total Total number of frames
Done Successfully completed frames (succeeded)
Run Currently running frames
Depend Frames waiting on dependencies
Wait Frames waiting to run
Eaten Skipped/marked complete frames
Dead Failed frames
Avg Average frame render time (HH:MM:SS)
Tags Associated tags/labels
Progress Completion percentage
Timeout Frame timeout duration (HHH:MM)
Timeout LLU Timeout for last layer update (HHH:MM)

Layer Actions

  • Kill: Kill/stop all frames in the layer
  • Eat: Mark layer as completed (skip)
  • Retry: Restart all frames in the layer

  • Retry Dead Frames: Restart only failed frames

    CueWeb with layer context menu open

    Pop-up showing successful retry layer message

Frame Operations

Frame Information Columns

Column Description
Order Dispatch order for frame processing
Frame Frame number identifier
Layer Layer name the frame belongs to
Status Current frame state (RUNNING, SUCCEEDED, DEAD, etc.)
Cores Number of CPU cores assigned to the frame
GPUs Number of GPUs assigned to the frame
Host Host machine where the frame is/was processed
Retries Number of retry attempts for this frame
CheckP Checkpoint count for the frame
Runtime Frame execution time (HH:MM:SS format)
Memory Memory usage (used memory for running, max RSS for completed)
GPU Memory GPU memory usage (used for running, max for completed)
Start Time Frame start timestamp in human-readable format
Stop Time Frame completion timestamp (if finished)

Frame Status Colors

Frames are color-coded by status:

  • Green: Successfully completed frames (SUCCEEDED)
  • Yellow: Currently running frames (RUNNING)
  • Red: Failed/dead frames (DEAD)
  • Blue: Waiting frames (WAITING)
  • Gray: Default/other statuses

Frame Actions

  1. Right-click on frame for context menu:
    • Retry: Restart failed frame
    • Eat: Mark frame as completed (skip)
    • Kill: Stop running frame

    CueWeb with frame context menu open

    Pop-up showing successful eat frame message

Frame Log Viewer

  1. View Log: Click on the link in the frame line to open the logs
  2. Log Selection: Choose from available log versions

  3. Auto-refresh: Automatically update running frame logs

    Frame information and logs visualization (light mode)

    Frame information and logs visualization (dark mode)

Table Customization

Column Management

  1. Show/Hide Columns: Click the columns button to toggle visibility

    Column visibility dropdown

  2. Sort Data: Click column headers to sort (ascending/descending)
  3. Resize Columns: Drag column borders to adjust width

Real-time Updates and Monitoring

Auto-refresh Settings

CueWeb provides automatic real-time updates:

  1. Fixed Refresh Interval: All tables automatically update every 5 seconds
  2. All Tables: Jobs, layers, and frames tables are auto-reloaded at regular intervals to display the latest data
  3. Background Updates: Continue updates when tab is not active
  4. Performance Optimization: Loading animations and virtualization optimize performance on slow connections

Mobile and Responsive Usage

Mobile Interface

CueWeb adapts to smaller screens:

  • Simplified Navigation: Collapsible menu for mobile
  • Touch-friendly: Large buttons and touch targets
  • Swipe Gestures: Navigate between sections
  • Essential Information: Prioritized data display

Responsive Features

  • Adaptive Layout: Adjusts to any screen size
  • Progressive Enhancement: Core features work on all devices

Troubleshooting and Support

Common Issues

Connection Problems

Symptoms: “Cannot connect to OpenCue” error Solutions:

  1. Check if REST Gateway is running
  2. Verify network connectivity
  3. Check browser console for detailed errors
  4. Confirm JWT token is valid

Performance Issues

Symptoms: Slow loading, high memory usage Solutions:

  1. Reduce auto-refresh frequency
  2. Limit number of monitored jobs
  3. Use status filters to reduce data load
  4. Clear browser cache and cookies

Authentication Problems

Symptoms: Login loops, permission errors Solutions:

  1. Clear browser cookies and local storage
  2. Check OAuth configuration
  3. Verify user permissions
  4. Contact administrator for account issues

Advanced Features

API Integration

For advanced users and developers:

  • REST API Access: Direct API calls using JWT tokens
  • Custom Scripts: Automate operations with curl or scripts
  • Integration Tools: Connect with external monitoring systems
  • Webhook Support: Real-time notifications to external services

For advanced configuration and development, see the CueWeb Developer Guide.

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Page last modified: Sep 18 2025 at 12:19 PM.