Free digital menu board software for your TVs

Install the official plugin in your agent, put the Player (the free screenRIG app) on the TV and read its pairing code to your agent. Start has the steps. Then send your agent the menu and the hours, and it builds the board and checks a screenshot of the TV before it says it is done.

Harbor Cafe is a made-up cafe, so its menus are demo content. The recording is real: 26 October 2026, on screenRIG's test environment, with the pictures drawn by the Player in a browser window standing in for the TV. Your agent needs three things from you:

• The menu. Typed text, a photo of the printed menu, a PDF or a spreadsheet. Your agent reads it with its own access, so screenRIG never connects to your files.
• The hours. When breakfast, lunch and dinner run, and the TV's time zone.
• The look. A theme, or your own logo and photos.

Your agent picks the build that fits: a ready-made menu board for a menu that changes, finished images for a designed look, or slides for tables and measured layouts.

Each meal is its own menu board. Your agent gives the screen a schedule in the screen's own time zone, and the TV switches within about a minute of each boundary. The Player needs no update. Because each screen follows its own clock, stores in Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles each change at their own local time.

1. You

   We're out of the salmon rice bowl.

2. Agent

   Done. The salmon rice bowl is struck through and marked sold out on the lunch menu, and the board re-flowed into one column. The TV updated a few seconds after I changed it. I did not republish anything.

The menu is separate from the TV's playlist, so a sold-out mark or a new price reaches the screen in seconds, with no trip to the TV. Give each store its own menu board when menus differ. Screens that show the same board show the same menu. The whole session, three menus, the schedule and the sold-out change, took about 23 seconds of the agent's working time. The restaurants use case follows a sample chain that pulls a sold-out item from every Denver kiosk with one message.

The same board can carry a second job. The Happy hour app reads the clock in the screen's time zone. While a happy hour is on, it shows the time left and the specials at their happy prices, with the regular prices struck through. When none is on, it counts down to the next one. This one was recorded at 18:04 on a Monday in Honolulu.

1. You

   Harbor Cafe has a happy hour on weekdays from 4 to 7. Put it on the counter TV with the specials and their regular prices struck through, so the board counts down to the end of happy hour while it is on and to the next one when it is not.

2. Agent

   It's up. The board counts down to the end of happy hour at 7 PM, shows the weekday hours, 4 to 7 PM, and lists four specials with their regular prices struck through.

3. You

   The cold brew is $3 now.

4. Agent

   Changed. Cold brew shows $3.00, down from the struck-through $5.00. I did not touch the playlist.

The live previews at the top of this page show each of these.

Promo adds a big photo, the price on a tag, an ends-in countdown and a QR code for a featured offer. Fresh now shows freshly baked batches and the minutes since baking. Build your own lays out a meal as numbered choices with upcharges. Apps lists every one.

Almost any screen works:

• A TV or stick with Google TV or Android TV built in, an Amazon Signage Stick or a Fire TV Stick.
• A Raspberry Pi, a Linux PC, a Windows PC, a Mac or an Apple TV.
• A BrightSign player or a Samsung signage display.
• Any screen with a browser.

Boards come in landscape and portrait, so a menu can hang either way, and every Player keeps playing from its own storage when the network drops. Android TV and Players have the details.

screenRIG is free. Pay only if you want more: more than 50 screens, people to talk to, contract terms, custom work or a lot of storage. A menu library is small. The pricing page's own example is a cafe with 3 screens and a 20-slide menu, about 20 MB. Your screens show only your content: no screenRIG watermark or logo. Image generation is billed separately, by token, and the first 10,000 agent requests a month are free. See pricing.

Can the board show photos of dishes?

Yes. The Combo meals and Promo apps show a photo, and your agent uploads your photos first.

Can the board show allergens and calories?

Yes. The Allergen matrix shows the declarations and calories your staff supply, against the US, EU/UK or Canada allergen list. Each cell reads contains, may contain, not declared or unknown, and compact views direct guests to the team for complete details.

Does it take orders?

No. A menu board shows the menu. For a touch screen that visitors tap, see free kiosk software.

Does the board keep playing when the internet drops?

Yes. Each Player keeps what it downloaded and replays it from local storage, so a board of images and video keeps playing. Live web pages and connected apps can still need a network.

How do I run menu boards in many locations?

Tag screens by place, then address the tag. One request changes every screen with that tag, each screen reports its own result, and your agent captures a screenshot from each. Schedules follow each screen's own time zone.

Can a spreadsheet drive the menu?

Your agent reads the sheet with the access you approve and puts the rows on the board. The Google Sheets guide shows the pattern with a table.

Start free, pair a TV, send your agent your menu and ask for a screenshot before you walk away.