ViewCast
Help Guide
Everything you need to know — from first login to running a full Sunday service with confidence.
What is ViewCast?
ViewCast is browser-based church presentation software. It lets your tech team control what appears on the front-of-house screen (what the congregation sees) from a separate operator screen, in real time.
It handles three types of content:
Account setup
You need two things to use ViewCast: a ViewCast account (your login), and a Firebase project (where your data lives).
Creating your account
Go to the app
Visit viewcast.github.io/app. You'll see the login screen.
Click "Register"
Enter your email and choose a password (minimum 6 characters). Click "Create Account".
Enter your Firebase config
After registering, you'll be prompted to add your Firebase project details. This only needs to be done once — it's saved to your account automatically.
Firebase setup
ViewCast uses your own Firebase project to store songs, playlists, and media. This means your data belongs to you and stays in your own Google account.
Creating a Firebase project
Go to the Firebase Console
Visit console.firebase.google.com and sign in with a Google account.
Create a new project
Click "Add project", give it a name (e.g. "My Church"), and follow the steps. You can disable Google Analytics if you like.
Add a web app
In your project, click the web icon (</>) to add a web app. Give it a nickname. You don't need Firebase Hosting.
Copy your config
After registering the app, Firebase shows your config object. You'll need: apiKey, authDomain, projectId, storageBucket, messagingSenderId, appId.
Enable Realtime Database
In your project sidebar, go to Build → Realtime Database → Create database. Choose a location and start in test mode. Copy the database URL.
Enable Firestore
In the sidebar, go to Build → Firestore Database → Create database. Start in test mode. This is where songs and media are stored.
Paste your config into ViewCast
Back in the ViewCast app, enter each field from your Firebase config. Include the Realtime Database URL at the bottom. Click "Save & Connect".
Songs
Songs are the core of ViewCast. Each song is made up of parts (Verse 1, Chorus, Bridge, etc.), and each part contains one or more slides of lyrics.
Adding songs
Songs are managed in the Admin Area. Click Admin Area in the sidebar of the main app, then navigate to the Songs section.
For each song, you'll set:
- Title & Author — used for searching
- CCLI Number — displayed briefly on screen when the song is first shown
- Parts — add as many as needed (Verse 1, Chorus, Bridge, Outro…)
- Slides per part — split long sections into multiple slides so text is readable on screen
Searching for songs
When adding a segment to a playlist, click the + next to "Segments" and search by title or author. Results are ranked by match quality — exact title matches appear first.
Media & Sermons
Media items (called "Sermons" in the database) are collections of slides for non-lyric content. Each item can mix different file types in one deck.
Each media segment can now store playback rules too: auto-cycle delay, repeat mode, and whether videos should wait until the clip finishes before advancing.
Supported types
Adding media
In the Admin Area, go to the Media section. Create a new item with a title, then add slides one by one — each slide is a URL pointing to your hosted file. You can use Cloudinary, Google Drive (direct link), or any public URL.
Playlists
A playlist is your service order for the day — an ordered list of songs and media items you'll present in sequence.
Creating a playlist
Click the + button next to "Playlists" in the sidebar. Give it a name (e.g. "Sunday 15 June — Morning"). Click "Add Playlist".
Adding segments
With a playlist selected, click the + next to "Segments". Choose a type:
- Song — search your song library and select one
- Media — choose from your media/sermon items
The segment appears in the sidebar. Click it to load the slides into the main panel.
Reordering and removing
Click the × on any segment to remove it. To reorder, remove and re-add in the desired order.
Going live
When you're ready to start presenting, click Go Live in the top bar.
First time setup
Open the FOH screen
Click "Open FOH Screen" in the Go Live modal. A new window opens — drag it to your projector or second display and press F11 to fullscreen it.
Optionally open the BOH screen
Click "Open BOH Screen". This is the monitor the presenter or worship leader uses — it shows current slide, what's coming next, and the clock.
Click "Complete Setup & Go Live"
The status indicator turns green and shows Live. The control buttons (BG, Logo, Black) appear in the top bar.
Already open windows
If your FOH and BOH windows are already open from a previous session, clicking Go Live will skip the modal and immediately go live — no need to re-open the windows.
Stopping the presentation
Click Stop in the top bar. This closes the FOH and BOH windows and returns you to offline mode.
FOH & BOH screens
Front of House (FOH)
The FOH screen is what the congregation sees projected on screen. It displays lyric slides, media slides, the church logo overlay, and starts blank — nothing appears until you explicitly send a slide.
Back of House (BOH)
The BOH screen is the operator/presenter confidence monitor. It shows the current slide content, the next slide preview, the current song title and slide number, a live clock, and the current fade setting.
Keyboard shortcuts
All shortcuts work when the slides panel has focus. Click anywhere in the main slide area to make sure it's focused.
Videos are controlled from the on-screen Presenter Controls area rather than the keyboard. Use those controls for play, pause, restart, looping, and timeline seeking.
On-screen controls
When live, the top bar shows additional controls alongside the keyboard shortcuts.
CCLI licenses
If your songs have a CCLI license number stored, ViewCast will display it briefly on screen the first time each song is shown in a service.
How it works
- The license text appears in the bottom-right corner of the FOH screen
- It fades in when the first slide of a song is sent
- It automatically fades out after 6 seconds, regardless of whether you change slides
- It only appears once per song per session — navigating to a different slide in the same song will not re-trigger it
- It is a global overlay — it does not "belong" to any specific slide
Adding CCLI info to songs
In the Admin Area → Songs, edit any song and add the license field. Typically this is your church's CCLI license number plus the song's CCLI song number, e.g.: CCLI Licence #123456 | Song #7654321
Troubleshooting
I see "Firebase: Error (auth/configuration-not-found)."
This means shared cloud sign-in is not fully configured. ViewCast now offers Starter Mode on the login screen so you can keep working on the current device, then return to shared auth later if you want cross-device sign-in.
Videos start small, then jump larger
ViewCast now reserves the full FOH screen before playback starts. If autoplay is blocked by the browser, start the clip once on the FOH screen and continue using the presenter timeline controls from the operator window.
Keyboard shortcuts aren't working
The slides panel needs keyboard focus. Click anywhere in the main slide area (the dark grid). Shortcuts won't work if an input field, dropdown, or modal has focus.
The FOH screen shows nothing
The FOH starts blank by default — nothing shows until you send a slide. Make sure you've clicked Go Live and the status indicator shows Live. Then click a slide card or press Space.
Slides look different on the FOH than in the preview
The preview cards in the control window are small scaled-down versions. Typography settings (font size, weight, colour) are only applied correctly on the FOH. Check your typography settings in Admin → Settings.
The background doesn't appear on the FOH
Make sure a background image URL is set in Admin → Settings (or under your user profile). The background is applied when the app initialises — if you set it after going live, try stopping and restarting.
"Song not found" error
The song ID stored in the segment no longer matches a song in the database. This can happen if the song was deleted. Remove the segment and re-add it by searching for the song again.
Media item shows "no slides" error
The media item exists in the database but has no slides added to it. Go to Admin → Media, find the item, and add at least one slide URL.
Firebase permission errors on login
Your Firebase test mode rules have likely expired (they last 30 days). Go to the Firebase Console → Firestore/Realtime Database → Rules and update the rules to allow authenticated access:
For Firestore: allow read, write: if request.auth != null;
For Realtime Database: "rules": { ".read": "auth != null", ".write": "auth != null" }
The FOH window didn't go fullscreen automatically
Browsers require a user interaction before allowing fullscreen. If the auto-fullscreen didn't trigger, click inside the FOH window and press F11 (Windows/Linux) or use View → Enter Full Screen on Mac.
Stop button didn't close the display windows
Some browsers block popup window management. If the windows don't close automatically when you click Stop, close them manually by pressing F11 to exit fullscreen first, then close the tab/window.