Concepts in five minutes
Session and showfile
A session is the live show you edit and run. When you save, Cue2 writes a .c2 showfile containing the cuelist, show settings (patches, canvas, OSC/MIDI maps, defaults), and references to media paths.
App-only preferences (keyboard shortcuts, language, UI scale) stay on the machine under user data — they are not stored in the showfile and therefore persist between sessions.
Cuelist
The cuelist is the ordered list of cues in the main window. You select cues here, GO the playhead selection, nest groups, and multi-edit shells when multi-edit is enabled.
Cue (shell)
A cue is a shell plus the components it holds. The shell is the container: identity, timing, armed state, and triggers. It is not itself a type such as audio or video. The cuelist shows shells; components live inside them.
What the shell defines:
| Field | Role |
|---|---|
| Number | Operator-facing cue number (string; not the same as the internal id). Does not need to be unique. |
| Name | Label. Does not need to be unique. |
| Colour | UI colour in the list and active cue. Useful for visual grouping. |
| Pre-wait | Delay after GO before content starts |
| Duration | Content duration (derived from components / children when applicable) |
| Post-wait | Delay used by Continue / Follow sequencing |
| Follow mode | None, Continue, or Follow — see Cue sequences |
| Armed | When disarmed, GO does not trigger cue content |
| Skip if disarmed | When disarmed, the playhead skips this cue instead of standing on it |
| Notes | Operator notes |
| Memo | When enabled, the list row becomes a single notes field instead of the standard shell layout |
Each cue also has an internal numeric id. This is an immutable unique identifier assigned to the cue and can be referenced by OSC and control components to target that specific cue. The id is shown in the Shell inspector.
Components
Components are the work the cue does: play audio, show video, send OSC, and so on. One shell can hold multiple components of different types. When a cue is triggered it runs those components according to the shell’s timing and armed state.
Mixed-type cues are supported, but it is best practice to keep one component type per shell for showfile clarity. Group related cues instead.
| Type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Audio | File playback through patches / devices |
| Video | Movie or still image on a target layer |
| Text | Overlay text on a target layer |
| OSC | Send a message on a named connection |
| MIDI output | Send Note/CC/Program on a session device |
| Control | GO/stop/fade/seek another cue or move a layer |
See Component types.
Playhead and selection
- Selection is which cue(s) are highlighted for editing and for “selected” transport/OSC actions.
- The playhead is the cue that will receive a standard GO from the space bar / GO control (typically the selected standby cue in list order).
Exact playhead advancement after GO respects armed and skip if disarmed. See Armed & status.
GO and active cues
GO starts the selected cue’s sequence: pre-wait → content → (optional) chain to the next sibling via Continue/Follow. Running instances appear in the active cues area so you can monitor and stop them.
Grouping
Shells nest in parent/child relationships. Any shell can be reordered as a child of another shell. Triggering a parent also starts its children (and their children) when the parent’s content phase begins. If you GO a child, the playhead moves to its next sibling. If that child is the last in the group, the playhead walks out to the next cue after the parent.
Continue/Follow still chain to the next sibling at the same nesting level. See Groups.