Skip to content

Improve Boot preset handling#5573

Draft
smitty078 wants to merge 5 commits intowled:mainfrom
smitty078:boot-preset-handling
Draft

Improve Boot preset handling#5573
smitty078 wants to merge 5 commits intowled:mainfrom
smitty078:boot-preset-handling

Conversation

@smitty078
Copy link
Copy Markdown

@smitty078 smitty078 commented May 7, 2026

Problem

Previously, boot preset application depended on the normal loop path. handlePresets() in the main loop is gated behind realtime mode checks:

if (!realtimeMode || realtimeOverride || (realtimeMode && useMainSegmentOnly))

If realtime mode became active before the first normal preset processing pass, the boot preset could be skipped or only partially applied. This was especially problematic for boot presets intended to set LiveDataOverride (lor).


Solution

This PR adds handlePresets() and handlePlaylist() calls during setup().

The startup-time calls are intentionally placed:

  • after UsermodManager::setup()
  • after any required config migration save (serializeConfigToFS())
  • before normal network and realtime activity begins

This placement avoids calling usermod JSON handlers before setup while ensuring boot presets are processed deterministically during startup.


Behavior Changes

Earlier and More Consistent “LEDs On” Timing

For users utilizing a boot preset with on:true, LEDs may now turn on earlier during boot.

Because the boot preset is now applied earlier in the startup sequence, lights may illuminate faster than before. During testing, this range varied greatly with a range of 100ms faster to almost 2s faster.

This is particularly beneficial for users powering controllers from a physical wall switch who expect lights to turn on immediately when power is applied.

Users who intentionally relied on the previous delayed or inconsistent timing — particularly setups sensitive to brownouts or power fluctuations — may need to adjust any related delays accordingly.

While the previous behavior could vary depending on timing and realtime state, the new behavior should provide more consistent startup timing across reboots and power-on events on the controller.

Improvements to Boot Preset Capabilities

  • The boot preset or playlist can now reliably set lor during startup.
  • A boot playlist can set lor:1 or lor:2 at the top level of the playlist, or in the first playlist entry.
  • A boot preset that sets lor:1 or lor:2 can set a single chained preset using the ps JSON API.

Example:

{ "lor": 2, "ps": 250 }

This is useful for a boot preset to establish realtime override behavior first and then immediately advance to another preset.

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • Bug Fixes
    • Refined preset loading and application flow to prevent recursive load behavior during device boot and initialization.
    • Enhanced the initialization process to properly manage interactions between presets and playlists during startup.
    • Improved safety checks to ensure presets are applied only after setup is complete.

@coderabbitai
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

coderabbitai Bot commented May 7, 2026

Review Change Stack

Walkthrough

Adds a global setupComplete flag, marks setup start/end in WLED::setup(), runs boot preset/playlist handling during setup (two-pass for boot presets), and tightens preset-apply and ps (load) gating in handlePresets() to block non-boot preset application during setup and avoid recursive load requests.

Changes

Preset Initialization and Boot Handling

Layer / File(s) Summary
Setup status flag
wled00/wled.h
Adds global setupComplete initialized to false.
Setup initialization flow
wled00/wled.cpp
WLED::setup() sets setupComplete = false at start and setupComplete = true near end; when bootPreset > 0 it calls handlePresets(), handlePlaylist(), then handlePresets() again.
Preset apply gating
wled00/presets.cpp
handlePresets() adds isBootPreset, presetWillSetLor, and shouldAllowPresetApply and early-returns to block preset application during setup unless allowed by boot/init/LOR conditions or setupComplete.
ps (load) field handling
wled00/presets.cpp
Refactors condition for preserving fdo["ps"] to use isButtonException or shouldAllowLoadRequest (permits boot/init LOR cases); otherwise removes fdo["ps"].
Code Formatting
wled00/presets.cpp
Whitespace/brace formatting change at end of deletePreset() (no functional change).

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage ⚠️ Warning Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Description Check ✅ Passed Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check ✅ Passed The title 'Improve Boot preset handling' directly and accurately reflects the main changes: adding explicit setup-time boot preset initialization with the new setupComplete flag and handlePresets/handlePlaylist calls during setup.
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.

Tip

💬 Introducing Slack Agent: The best way for teams to turn conversations into code.

Slack Agent is built on CodeRabbit's deep understanding of your code, so your team can collaborate across the entire SDLC without losing context.

  • Generate code and open pull requests
  • Plan features and break down work
  • Investigate incidents and troubleshoot customer tickets together
  • Automate recurring tasks and respond to alerts with triggers
  • Summarize progress and report instantly

Built for teams:

  • Shared memory across your entire org—no repeating context
  • Per-thread sandboxes to safely plan and execute work
  • Governance built-in—scoped access, auditability, and budget controls

One agent for your entire SDLC. Right inside Slack.

👉 Get started


Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands and usage tips.

@smitty078
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Author

@coderabbitai review

@coderabbitai
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

coderabbitai Bot commented May 7, 2026

✅ Actions performed

Review triggered.

Note: CodeRabbit is an incremental review system and does not re-review already reviewed commits. This command is applicable only when automatic reviews are paused.

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

@coderabbitai coderabbitai Bot left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents
Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@wled00/presets.cpp`:
- Around line 197-200: The guard currently lets any fdo["ps"] value through for
CALL_MODE_INIT (so string cycling specs like "1~5~" reach deserializeState);
restrict the CALL_MODE_INIT exception to numeric preset values by adding a type
check (e.g. fdo["ps"].is<int>() or appropriate numeric type) to the existing
condition (mirror the pattern used for CALL_MODE_BUTTON_PRESET which checks
fdo["ps"].is<const char *>()), so only numeric "ps" values are preserved for
deserializeState() and non-numeric strings are removed with fdo.remove("ps") to
avoid unintended playlist/cycling behavior.
🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

  • Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
  • Create a new PR with the fixes

ℹ️ Review info
⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 8125ad27-4651-45d0-adf2-70d57c1158bb

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between c050973 and 88994e9.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)
  • wled00/presets.cpp
  • wled00/wled.cpp

Comment thread wled00/presets.cpp Outdated
@DedeHai
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Collaborator

DedeHai commented May 7, 2026

would a playlist not be able to do the same?
I do not see a significant speed increase, maybe 100ms.

@smitty078
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Author

would a playlist not be able to do the same? I do not see a significant speed increase, maybe 100ms.

Thanks for the feedback! Hence why I’m still in draft mode - I’m not ready to say this is review or merge ready just yet.

  1. In my initial test I thought the same thing but was unable to get a playlist to do the same thing. There may very well be a similar improvement needed for a boot playlist - I have not yet investigated that codepath but will.

  2. I wonder if the speed increase I see is specific to my hardware and/or environment. My controller is at the edge of WiFi range, so maybe that impacts startup time for WiFi fairly significantly for me. I’ll update my statement on performance before submitting for review.

smitty078 added 2 commits May 7, 2026 10:18
TODO:

set up logic handling inside handlePresets() and anywhere else required to implement behavior that is described in comments here.
Add TODO comments for handling boot presets and playlists.
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

@willmmiles willmmiles left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Re performance changes: I do expect that the latency of how long it takes the main loop to get around to applying the boot preset will be highly dependent on environment and wifi setup. In fact, one down side of the proposed new approach is that it may lead to more devices showing visible stutters and hiccups during the connection sequence, as the light "starts up" earlier. There's undoubtedly room for improvement there -- I suspect some of the execution order details in the current code are workarounds for issues with older platforms that may not still apply. I don't think we should spend too much time worrying about this (either way) at the moment.

Re ps vs playlists: there's a very real sense in which the functionality of "ps" and "playlist" overlap: "ps" could (almost) be implemented as a single-entry "playlist" with 0 delay. In this context, both approaches require extra work at setup() time -- but realistically we probably should handle both, if only so that we don't have to document a bunch of special cases.

In practice I think this works out to something like:

if (bootPreset > 0) {
   handlePreset();   // execute boot preset
   handlePlaylist();  // if boot preset set a playlist, process it
   handlePreset();   // if either of the above set a preset for deferred execution, execute it now
}

Comment thread wled00/wled.cpp Outdated
Comment thread wled00/wled.cpp Outdated
Comment thread wled00/wled.cpp Outdated
@DedeHai
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Collaborator

DedeHai commented May 7, 2026

Re performance changes: I do expect that the latency of how long it takes the main loop to get around to applying the boot preset will be highly dependent on environment and wifi setup. In fact, one down side of the proposed new approach is that it may lead to more devices showing visible stutters and hiccups during the connection sequence, as the light "starts up" earlier. There's undoubtedly room for improvement there -- I suspect some of the execution order details in the current code are workarounds for issues with older platforms that may not still apply. I don't think we should spend too much time worrying about this (either way) at the moment.

Re ps vs playlists: there's a very real sense in which the functionality of "ps" and "playlist" overlap: "ps" could (almost) be implemented as a single-entry "playlist" with 0 delay. In this context, both approaches require extra work at setup() time -- but realistically we probably should handle both, if only so that we don't have to document a bunch of special cases.

In practice I think this works out to something like:

if (bootPreset > 0) {
   handlePreset();   // execute boot preset
   handlePlaylist();  // if boot preset set a playlist, process it
   handlePreset();   // if either of the above set a preset for deferred execution, execute it now
}

With the reports about brownouts which may be related to faster LED turnon time (I measured roughly 1.2s vs 2.5s in 0.15) making it more consistent would be a welcome improvement, albeit this may cause some transitional friction with existing setups that have insufficient power stability

@smitty078 smitty078 requested a review from willmmiles May 9, 2026 03:31
@smitty078
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Author

@coderabbitai help

@coderabbitai
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

coderabbitai Bot commented May 9, 2026

Chat

There are 3 ways to chat with CodeRabbit:

  • Review comments: Directly reply to a review comment made by CodeRabbit. Example:
    • I pushed a fix in commit <commit_id>, please review it.
    • Open a follow-up GitHub issue for this discussion.
  • Files and specific lines of code (under the "Files changed" tab): Tag @coderabbitai in a new review comment at the desired location with your query.
  • PR comments: Tag @coderabbitai in a new PR comment to ask questions about the PR branch. For the best results, please provide a very specific query, as very limited context is provided in this mode. Examples:
    • @coderabbitai gather interesting stats about this repository and render them as a table. Additionally, render a pie chart showing the language distribution in the codebase.
    • @coderabbitai read the files in the src/scheduler package and generate a class diagram using mermaid and a README in the markdown format.

CodeRabbit commands

These commands are invoked using PR/Issue comments.

  • @coderabbitai pause to pause the reviews on a PR.
  • @coderabbitai resume to resume the paused reviews.
  • @coderabbitai review to trigger an incremental review. This is useful when automatic reviews are disabled for the repository.
  • @coderabbitai full review to do a full review from scratch and review all the files again.
  • @coderabbitai rate limit to show your current review rate limit status.
  • @coderabbitai summary to regenerate the summary of the PR.
  • @coderabbitai evaluate custom pre-merge check --instructions <custom-checks-instructions> --name <custom-checks-title> [--mode <error|warning>] to validate the custom pre-merge checks instructions. Defaults to error when --mode is omitted.
  • @coderabbitai ignore pre-merge checks to override pre-merge checks and get an approval on PR.
  • @coderabbitai run pre-merge checks to run pre-merge checks on the pull request.
  • @coderabbitai generate sequence diagram to generate a sequence diagram of the changes in this PR.
  • @coderabbitai resolve merge conflict to automatically resolve merge conflicts.
  • @coderabbitai autofix to automatically fix issues identified in unresolved review comments.
  • @coderabbitai resolve to resolve all the CodeRabbit review comments.
  • @coderabbitai configuration to show the current CodeRabbit configuration for the repository.
  • @coderabbitai generate configuration to create a PR that adds the current resolved configuration as .coderabbit.yaml (or show it if already present).
  • @coderabbitai help to get help.

Other keywords and placeholders

  • Add @coderabbitai ignore or @coderabbit ignore anywhere in the PR description to prevent this PR from being reviewed.
  • Add @coderabbitai summary to generate the high-level summary at a specific location in the PR description.
  • Add @coderabbitai anywhere in the PR title to generate the title automatically.

Status, support, documentation and community

  • Visit our status page to check the current availability of CodeRabbit.
  • Create a ticket on our support page for assistance with any issues or questions.
  • Visit our documentation site for detailed information on how to use CodeRabbit.
  • Join our Discord community to connect with other users and get help from the community.
  • Follow us on X/Twitter for updates and announcements.

@smitty078
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Author

@coderabbitai full review

@coderabbitai
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

coderabbitai Bot commented May 9, 2026

✅ Actions performed

Full review triggered.

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

@coderabbitai coderabbitai Bot left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Actionable comments posted: 2

♻️ Duplicate comments (1)
wled00/presets.cpp (1)

213-214: ⚠️ Potential issue | 🟠 Major | ⚡ Quick win

Restrict the boot-time ps exception to numeric preset IDs.

shouldAllowLoadRequest still preserves any boot ps value when lor is present, so cycling strings like "1~5~" can still reach deserializeState() during setup. That contradicts the intended single numeric handoff.

🛡️ Proposed fix
-    const bool shouldAllowLoadRequest = (isBootPreset && presetWillSetLor) || (tmpMode == CALL_MODE_BUTTON_PRESET && fdo["ps"].is<const char *>() && strchr(fdo["ps"].as<const char *>(),'~') != strrchr(fdo["ps"].as<const char *>(),'~'));
+    const bool shouldAllowLoadRequest = ((isBootPreset && presetWillSetLor && fdo["ps"].is<int>()) || isButtonException);
🤖 Prompt for AI Agents
Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@wled00/presets.cpp` around lines 213 - 214, The boot-time exception currently
lets any fdo["ps"] through when isBootPreset && presetWillSetLor, which allows
non-numeric strings like "1~5~" to reach deserializeState(); change the
shouldAllowLoadRequest logic in the block around
shouldAllowLoadRequest/presetWillSetLor so the isBootPreset branch only permits
ps values that are strictly numeric (e.g., contains only digits or is recognized
as an integer by the JSON API) — keep the existing tmpMode ==
CALL_MODE_BUTTON_PRESET check and the fdo["ps"] existence check, but add a
numeric validation of fdo["ps"] before allowing the boot-time handoff to
deserializeState().
🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents
Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@wled00/presets.cpp`:
- Around line 191-196: The branch that returns when shouldAllowPresetApply is
false currently exits after calling requestJSONBufferLock(JSON_LOCK_PRESET_LOAD)
and clearing presetToApply, which both drops the pending preset and leaves the
JSON lock held; change this path to first release the JSON lock (call
releaseJSONBufferLock(JSON_LOCK_PRESET_LOAD) or the matching unlock function)
and requeue the blocked preset instead of clearing it (restore/push
presetToApply back into the pending queue or do not clear it) before returning
so the preset is not lost and the JSON lock is not left locked; update the logic
around shouldAllowPresetApply, requestJSONBufferLock(JSON_LOCK_PRESET_LOAD) and
presetToApply to perform unlock + requeue prior to the early return.
- Around line 211-213: The two const bool declarations isButtonException and
shouldAllowLoadRequest are missing trailing semicolons; add a semicolon at the
end of each declaration line (the lines that compute isButtonException using
tmpMode, CALL_MODE_BUTTON_PRESET, fdo["ps"].as<const char *>(), strchr and
strrchr, and the similar shouldAllowLoadRequest expression) so both variable
definitions terminate properly.

---

Duplicate comments:
In `@wled00/presets.cpp`:
- Around line 213-214: The boot-time exception currently lets any fdo["ps"]
through when isBootPreset && presetWillSetLor, which allows non-numeric strings
like "1~5~" to reach deserializeState(); change the shouldAllowLoadRequest logic
in the block around shouldAllowLoadRequest/presetWillSetLor so the isBootPreset
branch only permits ps values that are strictly numeric (e.g., contains only
digits or is recognized as an integer by the JSON API) — keep the existing
tmpMode == CALL_MODE_BUTTON_PRESET check and the fdo["ps"] existence check, but
add a numeric validation of fdo["ps"] before allowing the boot-time handoff to
deserializeState().
🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

  • Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
  • Create a new PR with the fixes

ℹ️ Review info
⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: c0bed3d1-01f4-47c8-8a7c-b593e291c16f

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between c050973 and 0cd7097.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)
  • wled00/presets.cpp
  • wled00/wled.cpp
  • wled00/wled.h

Comment thread wled00/presets.cpp
Comment thread wled00/presets.cpp
@smitty078
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Author

@coderabbitai review

@coderabbitai
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

coderabbitai Bot commented May 9, 2026

✅ Actions performed

Review triggered.

Note: CodeRabbit is an incremental review system and does not re-review already reviewed commits. This command is applicable only when automatic reviews are paused.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

3 participants