Configuration Reference

Dais supports layered configuration. Settings are applied in this order:

  1. Built-in defaults
  2. Machine-wide config in the platform-appropriate location
  3. Project-local dais.toml next to the PDF you open
  4. An explicit --config <path> file, if provided

The machine-wide config lives at:

  • Windows: %APPDATA%\dais\config.toml
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/dais/config.toml
  • Linux: ~/.config/dais/config.toml

If a config layer doesn’t exist, Dais skips it. All settings are optional.

Full Default Configuration

sidecar_format = "dais"        # "dais" (default) or "pdfpc"

[display]
mode = "dual"                  # "dual", "single", or "screen-share"
single_monitor_view = "hud"    # "hud" or "split" when F5 enters single-monitor presentation mode
audience_monitor = "auto"      # Monitor name, monitor id, display number like "2", or "auto"
presenter_monitor = "auto"     # Monitor name, monitor id, display number like "1", or "auto"

[timer]
mode = "elapsed"               # "countdown" or "elapsed"
# duration_minutes = 20        # Optional. If omitted in elapsed mode, no limit is shown.
# warning_minutes = 5          # Optional. Used only when duration_minutes is set.
overrun_color = true           # Red when past duration

[laser]
color = "#FF0000"              # Default for all pointer styles
size = 12.0                    # Default pixels at 1x scale
style = "dot"                  # "dot", "crosshair", "arrow", "ring", "bullseye", or "highlight"

[spotlight]
radius = 80.0                  # Pixels at 1x scale
dim_opacity = 0.6              # 0.0 = invisible, 1.0 = fully black

[ink]
colors = ["#FF0000"]           # Pen color presets, RGB or RGBA hex strings
width = 3.0

[text_boxes]
color = "#000000"
background = "transparent"    # Hex color or "transparent"

[notes]
font_size = 16.0
font_size_step = 2.0           # Increment/decrement step

[keybindings]
# See docs/keybindings.md for the full reference
# Example overrides:
# next_slide = ["j", "Return"]
# toggle_laser = ["p"]
# cycle_laser_style = ["Ctrl+l"]

Project-Local Config

To override machine-wide settings for a specific talk or course folder, create a dais.toml file next to the PDF you open.

Example:

[display]
audience_monitor = "Projector"
mode = "dual"

[timer]
mode = "elapsed"

Display Modes

Mode Description
dual Audience fullscreen on secondary monitor, presenter console on primary. Default when 2+ monitors detected.
single Single-monitor presenter mode. Press F5 to enter either the split workspace or HUD, depending on single_monitor_view.
screen-share Audience window is a normal resizable window (not fullscreen). For Zoom/Teams screen sharing. Use --screen-share CLI flag or set in config.

CLI flags (--single, --screen-share) override config. If no flag is given and config is "dual" (default), Dais auto-detects: 2+ monitors → dual, 1 monitor → single.

Monitor Assignment

Set audience_monitor and presenter_monitor to a monitor name, monitor id, or a 1-based display number such as "1" or "2". Use "auto" for automatic assignment.

Detected monitors are logged at startup with ids and names, so you can see which selector to use.

Timer

  • Elapsed mode: Starts at 0:00 and counts up. This is the default. If duration_minutes is omitted, no limit is shown.
  • Countdown mode: Starts at duration_minutes and counts down. If you use countdown mode, you should set duration_minutes.

Laser Pointer

[laser] controls the active pointer style and the default appearance used by every pointer style. Add [laser.dot], [laser.crosshair], [laser.arrow], [laser.ring], [laser.bullseye], or [laser.highlight] only when you want to override one style.

Example:

[laser]
color = "#FFFFFF"
size = 12.0
style = "dot"

[laser.crosshair]
color = "#00FF00"
size = 24.0

[laser.highlight]
color = "#FFFF0080"
size = 36.0

In this example, dot, arrow, ring, and bullseye stay white at size 12. Crosshair changes to green at size 24, and highlight changes to translucent yellow at size 36.

Freeze

Press F to freeze the audience display on the current slide. While frozen, the presenter console continues to show navigation controls normally. You can advance slides, change tools, and check notes. The audience stays locked on the page that was visible when freeze was toggled. Press F again to unfreeze.

Blackout

Press B or . (period) to black out the audience display. Navigation is blocked while blacked out. Press B again to restore the audience view.

At the end of a presentation, advancing past the last slide automatically blacks out the audience. Press B again to return.

Blackout and whiteboard are mutually exclusive. Activating one deactivates the other.

Whiteboard

Press W to show a blank white canvas on the audience display. Ink mode activates automatically. Whiteboard strokes are shared across all slides. They persist regardless of navigation and are saved to the sidecar with Ctrl+S. Press C to clear the whiteboard. Press W again to return to the slide view.

Activating the whiteboard deactivates blackout and the laser pointer. Whiteboard ink uses the same [ink] settings as slide annotations.

Zoom

Press Z to toggle zoom mode on the audience display. While zoom is active, click and drag on the audience view to set the zoom region. The zoom factor is clamped between 1× and 10×. Press Z again to exit.

Text Boxes

[text_boxes] controls the default style for newly created text boxes.

  • color accepts #RRGGBB or #RRGGBBAA
  • background accepts #RRGGBB, #RRGGBBAA, or "transparent"

Example:

[text_boxes]
color = "#111111"
background = "#FFF7CCDD"

Sidecar Formats

Dais stores slide grouping, notes, and metadata in sidecar files next to your PDF.

Format Extension Description
dais .dais Native EON-based format with versioning for Dais annotations and text boxes. Default save format.
pdfpc .pdfpc Compatible with pdfpc for notes and overlay grouping.

Set the save format in config:

sidecar_format = "pdfpc"   # "dais" (default) or "pdfpc"

When loading, Dais checks in order: .dais sidecar → .pdfpc sidecar → embedded PDF metadata. The grouping editor and save_sidecar action both use sidecar_format when choosing what to write.

Single-Monitor Presentation Mode (F5)

In single-monitor mode, press F5 to toggle between the presenter console and the active presentation surface selected by display.single_monitor_view.

single_monitor_view = "split" shows:

  • The audience slide on the left
  • A compact presenter workspace on the right with current slide, next preview, notes, and status

single_monitor_view = "hud" keeps the original fullscreen HUD, which shows:

  • The audience slide
  • A bottom bar that appears near the lower edge
  • Notes when you hover near the bottom edge

Press Escape to exit HUD mode back to the console. In dual-monitor mode, F5 is available but the audience already has a dedicated screen.

Monitor Recovery

If a configured audience monitor is missing at launch, Dais now:

  • Falls back gracefully to another display or single-monitor mode
  • Shows a startup dialog in the presenter window so you can reassign the audience output for the current session

The reassignment dialog does not rewrite dais.toml. To persist the new monitor choice, update display.audience_monitor in config afterward.

DPI and Scaling

Dais renders slides at the audience monitor’s native resolution for maximum sharpness. The presenter console uses a fixed 1920×1080 canonical render size, scaled by the GPU.

On mixed-DPI setups (e.g., Retina laptop + 1080p projector): - The audience window renders at the projector’s native resolution - The presenter window renders at the standard canonical size - egui’s built-in scaling handles UI element sizing per-window