Instrument overlay for OBS-Studio
From time to time, I repair electronic stuff that end up on my workbench. For diagnostics and testing, I use various instruments and measurement tools. Most of my test gear supports LAN connectivity and SCPI/LXI, while some devices — like the FNIRSI C1 USB meter — use Bluetooth BLE.
For documentation, I usually take screenshots from the web interfaces of my test-gear. The downside is that, for a single test setup, I often need multiple screenshots from different instruments. Sometimes I also record the process using OBS Studio. Recently, I watched a YouTube video by BordRev. He uses several diagnostic tools as well, but all of them share the same visual style and overlay design. I really liked that clean and unified look.
Since my programming knowledge is limited, I used Claude Code to help me create a solution using Python, WebSockets, HTML, and CSS. The system now runs on my Linux laptop and is tailored to my specific instrument setup. Claude also helped generate a configuration system for colors, layouts, and device-specific settings. The setup consists of a backend service that starts first. OBS then connects to it through a local WebSocket-based HTML interface, which is used as a browser source inside OBS. So far, Claude successfully connected not only my LAN-based instruments (Keithley DMM7510, Envox Bench Box 3, and Korad KEL103), but also the FNIRSI C1 USB meter over BLE. Adding SCPI-compatible devices is relatively easy. The well-known TestController application already includes configuration files for a wide range of instruments, which makes integrating additional hardware much simpler.
