JiggaBlend - Blender Render Farm

A distributed Blender render farm system built with Go. The system consists of a manager server that handles job submission, file storage, and runner coordination, and runner clients that execute Blender renders on Linux amd64 systems.

Architecture

• Manager: Central server with REST API, embedded web UI, SQLite database, and local file storage
• Runner: Linux amd64 client that connects to manager, receives jobs, executes Blender renders, and reports back

Both manager and runner are part of a single binary (jiggablend) with subcommands.

Features

• Authentication: OAuth (Google and Discord) and local authentication with user management
• Web UI: Modern React-based interface for job submission and monitoring
• Distributed Rendering: Scale across multiple runners with automatic job distribution
• Real-time Updates: WebSocket-based progress tracking and job status updates
• Video Encoding: Automatic video encoding from EXR/PNG sequences with multiple codec support:
  • H.264 (MP4) - SDR and HDR support
  • AV1 (MP4) - With alpha channel support
  • VP9 (WebM) - With alpha channel and HDR support
• Output Formats: PNG, JPEG, EXR, and video formats (MP4, WebM)
• Blender Version Management: Support for multiple Blender versions with automatic detection
• Metadata Extraction: Automatic extraction of scene metadata from Blender files
• Admin Panel: User and runner management interface
• Runner Management: API key-based authentication for runners with health monitoring
• HDR Support: Preserve HDR range in video encoding with HLG transfer function
• Alpha Channel: Preserve alpha channel in video encoding (AV1 and VP9)

Prerequisites

Manager

• Go 1.25.4 or later
• SQLite (via Go driver)
• Blender installed and in PATH (for metadata extraction)
• ImageMagick installed (for EXR preview conversion)

Runner

• Linux amd64
• Blender installed (can use bundled versions from storage)
• FFmpeg installed (required for video encoding)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd jiggablend

2. Install dependencies:

go mod download

Configuration

Manager

Configuration is managed through the CLI using jiggablend manager config commands. The configuration is stored in the SQLite database.

Initial Setup

For testing, use the Makefile helper:

make init-test

This will:

• Enable local authentication
• Set a fixed API key for testing
• Create a test admin user (test@example.com / testpassword)

Manual Configuration

# Enable local authentication
jiggablend manager config enable localauth

# Add a user
jiggablend manager config add user <email> <password> --admin

# Generate an API key for runners
jiggablend manager config add apikey <name> --scope manager

# Set OAuth credentials
jiggablend manager config set google-oauth <client-id> <client-secret> --redirect-url <url>
jiggablend manager config set discord-oauth <client-id> <client-secret> --redirect-url <url>

# View current configuration
jiggablend manager config show

# List users and API keys
jiggablend manager config list users
jiggablend manager config list apikeys

Environment Variables

You can also use environment variables with the JIGGABLEND_ prefix:

• JIGGABLEND_PORT - Server port (default: 8080)
• JIGGABLEND_DB - Database path (default: jiggablend.db)
• JIGGABLEND_STORAGE - Storage path (default: ./jiggablend-storage)
• JIGGABLEND_LOG_FILE - Log file path
• JIGGABLEND_LOG_LEVEL - Log level (debug, info, warn, error)
• JIGGABLEND_VERBOSE - Enable verbose logging

Runner

The runner requires an API key to connect to the manager. The runner will auto-detect hostname and IP.

Usage

Building

# Build the unified binary (includes embedded web UI)
make build

# Or build directly
go build -o bin/jiggablend ./cmd/jiggablend

# Build web UI separately
make build-web

Running the Manager

# Using make (includes test setup)
make run-manager

# Or directly
bin/jiggablend manager

# With custom options
bin/jiggablend manager --port 8080 --db jiggablend.db --storage ./jiggablend-storage --log-file manager.log

# Using environment variables
JIGGABLEND_PORT=8080 JIGGABLEND_DB=jiggablend.db bin/jiggablend manager

The manager will start on http://localhost:8080 by default.

Running a Runner

# Using make (uses test API key)
make run-runner

# Or directly (requires API key)
bin/jiggablend runner --api-key <your-api-key>

# With custom options
bin/jiggablend runner --manager http://localhost:8080 --name my-runner --api-key <key> --log-file runner.log

# Using environment variables
JIGGABLEND_MANAGER=http://localhost:8080 JIGGABLEND_API_KEY=<key> bin/jiggablend runner

Running Both (for Testing)

# Run manager and runner in parallel
make run

This will start both the manager and a test runner with a fixed API key.

OAuth Setup

Google OAuth

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project or select existing
3. Enable Google+ API
4. Create OAuth 2.0 credentials
5. Add authorized redirect URI: http://localhost:8080/api/auth/google/callback
6. Configure using CLI:

   jiggablend manager config set google-oauth <client-id> <client-secret> --redirect-url http://localhost:8080/api/auth/google/callback
   

Discord OAuth

1. Go to Discord Developer Portal
2. Create a new application
3. Go to OAuth2 section
4. Add redirect URI: http://localhost:8080/api/auth/discord/callback
5. Configure using CLI:

   jiggablend manager config set discord-oauth <client-id> <client-secret> --redirect-url http://localhost:8080/api/auth/discord/callback
   

Project Structure

jiggablend/
├── cmd/
│   └── jiggablend/       # Unified CLI application
│       ├── cmd/          # Cobra command definitions
│       └── main.go       # Entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── auth/             # Authentication (OAuth, local, sessions)
│   ├── config/           # Configuration management
│   ├── database/         # SQLite database models and migrations
│   ├── logger/           # Logging utilities
│   ├── manager/          # Manager server logic
│   ├── runner/           # Runner client logic
│   │   ├── api/          # Manager API client
│   │   ├── blender/      # Blender version detection
│   │   ├── encoding/     # Video encoding (H.264, AV1, VP9)
│   │   ├── tasks/        # Task execution (render, encode, process)
│   │   └── workspace/    # Workspace management
│   └── storage/          # File storage operations
├── pkg/
│   ├── executils/        # Execution utilities
│   ├── scripts/          # Python scripts for Blender
│   └── types/             # Shared types and models
├── web/                   # React web UI
│   ├── src/              # Source files
│   └── dist/             # Built files (embedded in binary)
├── go.mod
└── Makefile

API Endpoints

Authentication

• GET /api/auth/google/login - Initiate Google OAuth
• GET /api/auth/google/callback - Google OAuth callback
• GET /api/auth/discord/login - Initiate Discord OAuth
• GET /api/auth/discord/callback - Discord OAuth callback
• POST /api/auth/login - Local authentication login
• POST /api/auth/register - User registration (if enabled)
• POST /api/auth/logout - Logout
• GET /api/auth/me - Get current user
• POST /api/auth/password/change - Change password

Jobs

• POST /api/jobs - Create a new job
• GET /api/jobs - List user's jobs
• GET /api/jobs/{id} - Get job details
• DELETE /api/jobs/{id} - Cancel a job
• POST /api/jobs/{id}/upload - Upload job file (Blender file)
• GET /api/jobs/{id}/files - List job files
• GET /api/jobs/{id}/files/{fileId}/download - Download job file
• GET /api/jobs/{id}/metadata - Extract metadata from uploaded file
• GET /api/jobs/{id}/outputs - List job output files

Blender

• GET /api/blender/versions - List available Blender versions

Runners (Internal API)

• POST /api/runner/register - Register a runner (uses API key)
• POST /api/runner/heartbeat - Update runner heartbeat
• GET /api/runner/tasks - Get pending tasks for runner
• POST /api/runner/tasks/{id}/complete - Mark task as complete
• GET /api/runner/files/{jobId}/{fileName} - Download file for runner
• POST /api/runner/files/{jobId}/upload - Upload file from runner

Admin (Admin Only)

• GET /api/admin/runners - List all runners
• GET /api/admin/jobs - List all jobs
• GET /api/admin/users - List all users
• GET /api/admin/stats - System statistics

WebSocket

• WS /api/ws - WebSocket connection for real-time updates
  • Subscribe to job channels: job:{jobId}
  • Receive job status updates, progress, and logs

Output Formats

The system supports the following output formats:

Image Formats

• PNG - Standard PNG output
• JPEG - JPEG output
• EXR - OpenEXR format (HDR)

Video Formats

• EXR_264_MP4 - H.264 encoded MP4 from EXR sequence (SDR or HDR)
• EXR_AV1_MP4 - AV1 encoded MP4 from EXR sequence (with alpha channel support)
• EXR_VP9_WEBM - VP9 encoded WebM from EXR sequence (with alpha channel and HDR support)

Video encoding features:

• 2-pass encoding for optimal quality
• HDR preservation using HLG transfer function
• Alpha channel preservation (AV1 and VP9 only)
• Automatic detection of source format (EXR or PNG)
• Software encoding (libx264, libaom-av1, libvpx-vp9)

Storage Structure

The manager uses a local storage directory (default: ./jiggablend-storage) with the following structure:

jiggablend-storage/
├── blender-versions/     # Bundled Blender versions
│   └── <version>/
├── jobs/                 # Job context files
│   └── <job-id>/
│       └── context.tar
├── outputs/              # Rendered outputs
│   └── <job-id>/
├── temp/                 # Temporary files
└── uploads/              # Uploaded files

Development

Running Tests

make test
# Or directly
go test ./... -timeout 30s

Web UI Development

The web UI is built with React and Vite. To develop the UI:

cd web
npm install
npm run dev  # Development server
npm run build  # Build for production

The built files are embedded in the Go binary using embed.FS.

License

MIT