Overview
Rooms let you organize your control loops by physical location or process stage. A brewing system might have rooms for Boil Kettle, Mash Tun, Chiller, and Fermenter. A greenhouse might have rooms for Propagation, Vegetative, and Flowering zones.
Room assignments in the Configurator determine how your loops are grouped on the dashboard and how Node-RED flows are structured on the Pi.
Managing Rooms
In Step 3 (Configure), a room management panel lets you:
- Create rooms — Click "Add Room" and enter a name. Rooms appear as tabs above your parts list.
- Rename rooms — Click the room name to edit it inline.
- Remove rooms — Delete a room. Any loops assigned to that room return to the default room.
Assigning Loops to Rooms
Each control loop can be assigned to a room. Use the room selector on any loop group to move the entire loop (sensor, controller, and actuator together) into a different room.
When you assign a loop to a room, all parts in that loop move together. Intra-loop connections are preserved — wiring between parts in the same loop is never broken by a room change.
Sync with Flow Maps
Room assignments propagate bidirectionally between Step 3 (Configure) and Step 4 (Flow Maps):
- Assigning a loop to a room in Configure updates the Flow Maps layout automatically.
- Moving nodes between rooms in Flow Maps updates the Configure step's room assignments.
This means you can organize by room in whichever step feels more natural, and the other step stays in sync.
Single-Room Drafts
If your project uses only one room (the default), the Configurator displays a flat layout identical to the pre-room-assignments experience. No room tabs or room selectors appear. Room management UI only activates when you create a second room.
Room Conflict Resolution
If rooms were created or signals were moved on the dashboard (outside the Configurator), the Configurator detects these differences when you next open the draft. A conflict dialog shows what changed and lets you choose whether to keep the dashboard's room assignments or the Configurator's version for each conflict.
Related Documentation
- Signal Grouping — Organizing parts into control loops
- Room Tabs and Layout — Room display on the dashboard
- Deploying to Pi — How room structure maps to Node-RED flows