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App Lifecycle

Last updated: March 31, 2025

This document describes the lifecycle of an AugmentOS app within the AugmentOS ecosystem. Understanding this lifecycle is crucial for building robust and responsive apps.

Stages of the App Lifecycle​

An AugmentOS app goes through the following stages:

  1. Registration (One-time): This happens outside of the normal runtime flow. You register your app with AugmentOS Cloud, providing:

    • packageName: A unique identifier (e.g., com.example.myapp).
    • name: A human-readable name.
    • description: A description of your app.
    • webhookURL: The URL where AugmentOS Cloud will send session start requests.
    • logoURL: (Optional) URL to your app's logo.
    • apiKey: A secret key for authenticating your app with the cloud.
    • appType: The type of app (e.g., standard, background, system).

    This registration process is currently handled manually, but will eventually be managed through a developer portal.

  2. Session Request (Webhook): When a user starts your app on their smart glasses, AugmentOS Cloud sends an HTTP POST request to your app's webhookURL. This request includes:

    • type: "session_request"
    • sessionId: A unique identifier for this session.
    • userId: The ID of the user who started the app.
    • timestamp: When the request was sent.

    Your app server should listen for these POST requests on the configured webhookPath (default: /webhook).

  3. WebSocket Connection: Upon receiving the session_request, your app establishes a WebSocket connection to AugmentOS Cloud. The TpaServer class in the SDK handles this for you automatically. You provide the cloud's WebSocket URL in the TpaServerConfig:

    const server = new TpaServer({
      packageName: PACKAGE_NAME,
      apiKey: API_KEY,
      port: PORT,
      augmentOSWebsocketUrl: `ws://localhost:${CLOUD_PORT}/tpa-ws`, // Or your cloud URL
      webhookPath: '/webhook',
    });

  4. Connection Initialization: After connecting, your app sends a tpa_connection_init message to the cloud. This message includes:

    • type: "tpa_connection_init"
    • sessionId: The session ID from the webhook request.
    • packageName: Your app's package name.
    • apiKey: Your app's API key.

    The TpaSession class handles sending this message automatically.

  5. Subscription: Your app subscribes to the data streams it needs (e.g., transcription, head position) using the subscribe() method or the events object (see Events for details). This informs AugmentOS Cloud which data to send to your app.

  6. Event Handling: Your app receives real-time events from AugmentOS Cloud via the WebSocket connection. You handle these events using event listeners (e.g., session.events.onTranscription()).

  7. Display Updates: Your app sends display requests to AugmentOS Cloud to control what is shown on the glasses' display. You use the LayoutManager (accessible through session.layouts) to create and send these requests.

  8. Session Termination: The session ends when:

    • The user stops the app on their glasses.
    • The glasses disconnect from the cloud.
    • Your app explicitly disconnects.
    • An error occurs that terminates the session.

    AugmentOS Cloud will send a stop_request webhook to your app when a session ends. You can override the onStop method in your TpaServer to handle any necessary cleanup. The TpaSession also emits a disconnected event.

Important Implementation Details​

IMPORTANT: After making changes to your app code or restarting your server, you must restart your app inside the AugmentOS phone app.

This restart is necessary because the AugmentOS phone app maintains a connection to your cloud app. When you make code changes or restart your server, you need to establish a fresh connection.

Example Lifecycle Flow​

App Lifecycle Flow Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant Glasses
    participant Cloud
    participant App

    User->>Glasses: Starts app
    Glasses->>Cloud: Request to start app
    Cloud->>App: Webhook: session_request
    activate App
    App->>Cloud: WebSocket Connection
    App->>Cloud: tpa_connection_init
    Cloud->>App: tpa_connection_ack
    App->>Cloud: subscription_update
    loop Real-time Interaction
        Glasses->>Cloud: Sensor data, voice, etc.
        Cloud->>App: Data streams (transcription, etc.)
        App->>Cloud: Display requests
        Cloud->>Glasses: Display updates
    end
    User->>Glasses: Stops app
    Glasses->>Cloud: Stop app request
    Cloud->>App: Webhook: stop_request
    App->>Cloud: Close WebSocket connection
    deactivate App
    Cloud->>Glasses: Clear display