CQC is a software based automation system for home automation or commercial automation, based on the Windows operating system - Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 and above. It can control lights, thermostats, sprinkler systems, security systems, home theater equipment, manage your media, and much more. It makes those controlled devices available in various ways, such as touch screens, hpones, tablets, voice control, remote controls, spoken announcements, e-mails, wall panels, etc... It can react to changes in the state of your devices, and carry out activities on a scheduled basis.
CQC is not a plug and play product. It is oriented towards giving you as much flexibility as possible. It provides very powerful tools for you to build custom automation solutions that work the way you want.
CQC is composed of a number of cooperating programs, some of which run in the background and provide continuous monitoring of devices and user interactions. Others are administrative tools used to configure CQC and create customized content. Some are for the end user of the final custom solution created.
You can install these CQC components on one or multiple computers in your network. One of them (the first one installed) must be the Master Server, which must be available at all times because it acts as the central coordinator for all other CQC enabled devices.
CQC is Open Source
CQC is an open source product. It, and the CIDLib code base it is built on, are both available on GitHub, at the links below. You can build it yourself and/or create your own personal variation of it that meets some specific need you have.
CIDLib GitHub Repository CQC GitHub RepositoryCQC is available under the MIT license, which is available here:
MIT Open Source LicenseWe provide a pre-built installer for the latest stable version and for potential beta releases. These are 'use at your discretion' and we take no responsibility for their use. We make a reasonable effort to insure that they are bug free and safe, but we can never guarantee that absolutely. If you want complete control, examine the code and build the system yourself.
Major Features
CQC provides the following components. Some are required, others are optional. Some are only installable on the Master Server and some may be installed on multiple systems throughout the network to distribute load or limit access.
| Name | Description |
| Admin Tools: | Configure, customize, monitor, and manage your CQC network and devices. Only available to CQC Admins and Power Users, install where desired. |
| Control Devices: | Obviously a key feature is the capability to install drivers for various devices. Install on systems as required. |
| Windows Client: | Flagship Windows touch screen client. For end user interaction with CQC on Windows devices. |
| Web Client: | Browser based portable touch screen client. Accessible via our Web Server. |
| Event Server: | Have CQC do things on a schedule or in response to changes in devices under its control. Master Server only. |
| Web Server: | Create your own HTTP/WebSockets based clients based on our web server. Required on the Master Server to serve up help locally. |
| Tray Monitor: | Monitor CQC background services, iTunes Control, and control applications. |
| Logic Server: | Combine existing device values to create new, composite values, graph values, etc... Master Server only. |
| XML Gateway: | Create custom clients using an XML over Sockets interface. Install where desired. |
| Driver Tools: | Develop CQC device drivers in our PDL and CML languages. Install on administrative/development systems. |
Support
Support is solely through our forum, a link to which is at the bottom of this page. Support is best effort at our discretion and there is no guarantee of any particular response time or successful problem resolution.
There is an ever growing set of videos available, which cover many topics. And there is also extensive written documentation. Links to both are also available at the bottom of this page.
Getting started with CQC involves the following basic steps:
Documentation
Extensive documentation is shipped with CQC, but we also make it available via the Documentation link at the bottom of this page. This will guide you through the process of installing, configuring, and customizing CQC. We also provide provide an extensive set of videos (hosted on Youtube), arranged into a number of useful playlists. Each playlist covers different aspects of the product, or different paths you might want to take as you move forward.
The written documentation and the videos are designed to be used in tandem. Watch the videos for the overview, then turn to the written documentation for more details once you are ready to dig in. Don't just sit and read until you have confused yourself. Start with the videos, which will help you get CQC installed and basically configured pretty quickly.
To access the help locally, which is always more responsive and sure to be correct for your version, open the Administrative Interface from the Charmed Quark Section of the Windows Start Menu. In the tree browser on the left, expand the Help section, then the Docs section. You can double click on any of the quick links in there to open the help. Use the Help Home link to start at the beginning. This will open your default browser (pointed to our web server on your CQC Master Server machine.)
Some of the video playlists are oriented towards installation, some towards getting started quickly with a basic setup, some towards moving forward with learning how to fully customize CQC for your own needs, and some are very targeted videos that address a particular feature or technique.
Note that, for learning purposes, you can use some of our simulator drivers instead of drivers for your actual hardware, to make it easy to evaluate CQC in a standalone sort of way. The tutorial videos do it this way to be sure everyone can follow along exactly the same if desired. These simulators don't actually connect to real hardware devices, so they can easily be used for learning on a laptop and so forth.
Download the Installer
Use the link below to download the current CQC installer. It is a self-extracting program. When you run it, it will extract out a basic self-extractor, which will in turn extract out the actual installer which it will then run. You will likely get a prompt when the actual installer runs because of course it needs administrative privileges in order to install CQC.
Click to download the CQC Installer
If you would like to make a contribution in return for your use of CQC, use the button below. Enter whatever amount you want to contribute.
