Set up your railroad.

Your layout is your railroad in DEJA. Every loco, device, turnout and automation belongs to it, and everyone you invite joins it — you set it up once.

WhereSign up → Get Started /onboarding

1. Sign up, then follow Get Started: Create Account → Name Layout → Install Server → Connected.
2. Give it a Layout Name (“My Railroad”) — the Layout ID fills itself in. Tap Continue.
3. Install the server, run deja login and Authorize in the browser, then deja start.
4. Every new layout already has your EX-CommandStation device (dccex), a starter loco (DEFAULT DCC #3) and the default sounds.

The DCC-EX EX-CommandStation is the box that puts DCC on your rails. Your DEJA Server talks to it over USB, so it’s the one device every layout has.

WhereDevices /devices

1. It’s already on your Devices page as dccex — you connect it, you don’t add it.
2. Open it, find the Connection row and pick its Serial port (tap Refresh ports if it’s missing), then Connect.
3. Turn on Auto connect so it reconnects every time the DEJA Server starts.
4. The same page has Track power, a DCC-EX Console, and the board’s pinout under IO.

Devices are the boards DEJA talks to. Beside your EX-CommandStation, DEJA IO boards run the rest of the layout — lights, servos, signals, relays and sensors — and WLED drives LED strips.

• EX-CommandStation

  DCC on your rails, over USB. Every layout has one.

• Arduino Mega

  USB. Lots of pins for turnouts, signals, lights and sensors.

• ESP32 (USB)

  USB, with room to go wireless later.

• ESP32 (WiFi)

  Anywhere on the layout, over MQTT or WebSocket.

• Pico W

  Small and wireless, for hard-to-reach scenes.

• WLED

  Addressable LED strips, with scenes saved on the device.

• DCC accessory decoder

  Drive turnouts and signals through your EX-CommandStation.

WhereDevices → Add device /devices

1. Tap Add device and pick a type: DEJA Arduino Mega USB, DEJA Arduino ESP32 USB or WIFI, DEJA Pico W WIFI, WLED, or a DCC Accessory Decoder.
2. Choose the Board, usb or wifi, and for WiFi boards the Transport — MQTT or WebSocket.
3. Give it an ID, leave Auto Connect on, and Submit.
4. Install its firmware from the device’s Firmware section: Browser (ESP32 WiFi and the Mega, in a browser with Web Serial, such as Chrome or Edge) or CLI with deja deploy <id>.

Your roster: every loco with its DCC address, photo, colours and functions, shared by every throttle in the room.

WhereRoster /locos

1. Use the Quick Add row: DCC Address and Name, then Add.
2. Next, add a Photo and let DejaBot Identify it — or open Details, or Skip.
3. DejaBot, Throttle’s AI, answers with suggestions right in the fields — address, name, roadname, colour and a full F0–F31 function map. Tap ✓ or ✕ on each, or Accept all.
4. The full editor has a Roadname (77 railroads), Color, Locomotive Type, Onboard Sound, details, and Functions F0–F31 with Latch or Push and favourites.
5. Edit any loco with the ✏️ pencil (or a long-press) — that’s also where EZ Consist lives.

Turnouts are your track switches. DEJA throws them through your EX-CommandStation, a servo on a DEJA IO board, a Kato snap-switch, or a DCC accessory decoder.

WhereTurnouts → ＋ /turnouts/new

1. Identity: Name and Index, plus an optional description, colour and tags.
2. Configuration: pick the Device (your EX-CommandStation by default) and the Type — Kato, Servo or DCC accessory decoder.
3. Set Straight and Divergent. Servos get Real-time Servo Config with a slider and test buttons; Kato gets Test Turnout once saved.
4. Optionally play an Effect when it throws, or add a Feedback sensor. Save.

Effects are the things you switch on and off around the layout: LEDs and building lights, street lights, relays for anything with its own power, frog juicers, power to a section of track, or a plain output pin.

WhereEffects → ＋ /effects/new

1. Name it, give it a Color and tags, and choose whether Guests can use this.
2. Pick the Effect Type: Light, LED, Street Light, Relay, Frog Juicer, Power or PIN.
3. Then the Device and the Pin it’s wired to. Save.

Lineside signals with red, yellow and green lamps — or a single searchlight head — wired to a DEJA IO board or driven over DCC.

WhereSignals → ＋ /signals/new

1. Signal Name and a Default Aspect.
2. Choose the Device and the Head Type: Discrete lamps or Searchlight.
3. Enter the Red Pin, Yellow Pin and Green Pin and the Wiring Type (common cathode or anode). Save.

Sensors tell DEJA what’s happening: an infrared beam or current detector sees a train in a block, a reed switch feels a magnet go by. Each sensor can drive one thing on its own.

WhereSensors → ＋ /sensors/new

1. Sensor Name, Index and Pin (a GPIO number, or A0–A15 on an Arduino).
2. The Device, Sensor Type and Input Type — infrared, current detection, reed switch, optical, pressure or custom.
3. Under When activated, pick one thing it drives: an Effect, Turnout, Signal or Throttle. Save.

A route lines up a whole path in one tap: a set of turnouts thrown in order to get a train from one point to another.

WhereRoutes → ＋ /routes/new

1. Name it and set Point 1 and Point 2.
2. Tap ＋ on Turnouts, choose them, then set each one Straight or Divergent and drag them into order.
3. Try it with Run — it throws for real without saving — then Save.

Automations are little programs for your layout — when this happens, do that — built from coloured blocks and run by your DEJA Server.

WhereAutomations → New /automations

1. Start from a template — Station stop, Shuttle between two sensors and more — or a Blank automation.
2. Tap the top block to set what Starts it and any Only if checks.
3. Tap Add step to throw turnouts, set signals, drive locos, wait, delay, branch or repeat. Done keeps each block.
4. Test run walks it on screen with nothing moving, then Save.

A drawing of your track plan that comes alive: turnouts and signals show their real state, and you can tap to throw them.

WhereTrack Diagrams → ＋ /track-diagrams/new

1. Enter a Diagram Name and tap Create & Edit.
2. Drag your turnouts from the palette onto the canvas and connect their handles to lay track.
3. Add stations, waypoints and labels, then Save. Turnouts and signals show live on the finished diagram.

Sound effects and ambience that play through your DEJA Server’s speakers — horns, bells, station announcements and your own uploads.

WhereSounds → My sounds /sounds/mine

1. Tap Upload: choose the audio file (MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, FLAC or AAC, up to 25 MB), a Name and Category, and One-shot or Loop.
2. Sounds play through your DEJA Server’s speakers.
3. Want visitors to play one? Use its ⋯ menu → Open to guests.