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How Supra Works

This article explains the Supra architecture: how rendering is offloaded from client devices to a centralized Supra Server and how bi-directional communication flows between them.

Feature entitlement: supraOnPremise ยท Plan: ๐Ÿ‘‘ Add-on โ€” not in a standard Device Plan

Architecture Overviewโ€‹

Supra uses a hub-and-spoke model. One device in a Location acts as the Supra Server (the hub), and all other devices in that Location are clients (the spokes).

There can be more than one Supra server in every location with built-in fallback back mechanism. Supra servers behave as peers and client devices connect to them automatically.

Client devices are using proprietary rendering technology with bi-directional communication to Supra server. Bi-directional communication enables real-time interactivity, access to peripherals and other resources available either on Client or Supra server side.

The Supra Server renders applets in a headless Chromium browser and delivers them in realtime to client devices over the local network.

Rendering โ€” Normal Mode vs Supra Modeโ€‹

In normal operation, each device downloads and renders its applet locally using the device's built-in browser engine. In Supra mode, the rendering is offloaded to a centralized Supra Server running a modern Chromium-based environment.

AspectNormal ModeSupra Mode
Rendering locationLocal deviceSupra Server
Browser engineDevice-specific (Tizen WebView, Android WebView, etc.)Latest Chromium
Applet downloadDevice downloads appletSupra Server downloads applet
Video/Image renderingLimited by device capabilitiesEnhanced capabilities
Interaction handlingLocalDelegated to Supra Server

User Interactionโ€‹

User interactions on the client device (mouse movements, clicks, touch events, keyboard input, peripherals, sensors) are captured and forwarded to the Supra Server. The Supra Server injects these events into the running Chromium instance, enabling full interactivity as if the applet were running locally.

Supra Server Detectionโ€‹

A device is automatically detected as a Supra Server when:

  1. It runs the Linux Core App
  2. It has the supra-server-daemon package installed

This is reported through device telemetry and detected automatically โ€” no manual flagging is needed. All devices in the same Location as the detected Supra Server are automatically capable of Supra rendering.