Fleet command for Batocera arcades

Batocera Overmind

One free, open-source dashboard for your Batocera machines. Connect your arcade boxes, see what is online, sync ROMs, artwork, and configs, and debug issues remotely without SSHing into every device.

See every arcade machine

Know which Drones are connected, online, and ready from one Overmind screen.

Sync games and configs

Keep ROMs, artwork, metadata, and emulator configurations aligned across your arcade machines.

Connect a swarm

Pair Batocera machines as Drones so they can report back to the Overmind dashboard.

Debug remotely

View logs, configs, metadata, and machine status from the browser so you can troubleshoot without standing at the cabinet.

What Overmind Does

Think of Overmind as the control room for your retro arcade fleet. Each Batocera machine runs a small Drone app. Overmind brings those Drones together so you can:

  • See machine health: online status, connection state, and swarm membership.
  • Understand game coverage: which systems and ROMs are present across the fleet.
  • Debug remotely: review logs, metadata, emulator configs, and machine state from the browser before touching the physical device.
  • Trigger safe actions: collect logs, refresh inventory, sync content, and manage approved Drones without touching every machine.
  • Stay free and open: the project is open source and completely free to use, modify, self-host, and extend.

Quick install: Drone on a Batocera machine

  1. On the Batocera machine, open a command prompt. You can SSH into the machine, or press F1 on the Batocera keyboard and open the terminal from the file manager.
  2. Copy and run this installer command:
curl -fsSL https://github.com/Batocera-Fleet-Federation/batocera.drone/releases/latest/download/batocera_install.sh | bash
  1. If you are using Batocera v43 or newer, go to System Settings > Services, then turn on DRONE_SERVER.
  2. If you are using an older Batocera version, reboot the machine after the installer finishes.
Done! The Drone app is installed on this Batocera machine.

Open the Drone app on your home network

  1. From a phone, laptop, or another computer on the same home network, open https://BATOCERA-HOSTNAME.local.
  2. The default hostname is usually batocera, so try https://batocera.local first.
  3. Older bookmarks and router rules can still use https://BATOCERA-HOSTNAME.local:8443.
  4. If that does not open, check the machine name in Batocera under Network Settings > Hostname, then replace BATOCERA-HOSTNAME with that name.

Once the Drone app opens, sign in with the default username batocera and password linux. You can change these credentials from the Drone app after logging in.

After that, this Batocera machine is ready to connect back to Overmind and join your swarm.

Connect your Drone to Overmind

Link the Drone app to your Overmind account so this Batocera machine can join your swarm at www.batocera-swarm.com.

Recommended setup order

  1. Register or sign in at https://www.batocera-swarm.com.
  2. Go to My Swarm and click Generate Token.
  3. Log in to your local Drone app.
  4. Open Admin > Overmind Integration.
  5. Set Overmind URL to https://www.batocera-swarm.com.
  6. Set Drone Name to the name you want shown in Overmind.
  7. Paste the generated token into Authorization Token, then save.

After saving, Overmind will detect the Drone. Approve it from My Swarm to finish adding the machine.

Optional: enable file syncing

Port forwarding is only required for ROM, file, artwork, config, and settings syncing. You can still connect a Drone to Overmind without port forwarding, but Overmind and other Drones will not be able to download ROMs, configs, settings, or files from that machine.

  • Forward internet traffic on port 443 to your Batocera machine.
  • In the Drone app, find your router address under System Info > Router IP Address, then enter that IP in your browser to log in to your router.
  • In your router, look for NAT, Port Forwarding, or Connected Devices.
  • Find your Batocera machine and forward port 443 to its IP address.
  • You can also find the Batocera IP address on the machine under Network Settings > IP Address.
  • Need help? Open NAT Port Forwarding Help.
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