What athletes and meet organizers usually ask before their first competition.
Referee Lights is a free referee light system for Powerlifting competitions that follows IPF rules. Three referees vote from their own phones (GOOD LIFT or NO LIFT) and the lights appear in real time on the venue display — no physical light panels and no app install required.
Yes, Referee Lights is free, with no sign-up, no session limit, and no premium tier. The source code is public on GitHub and free to use for athletes, clubs, federations, and non-profits; only commercial use (reselling it or offering it as a paid service) requires the author’s permission.
No. Everything runs in the browser: the organizer creates a session at refereelights.app and referees join by scanning a QR Code with their phone camera. There is no app download, no registration, and no setup.
Yes. Besides the online version, there is a portable Windows package that runs the whole system on the local Wi-Fi network with no internet — just extract the ZIP and run it. It is the recommended option for venues with unreliable connections.
It works on any phone, tablet, or computer with a modern browser (such as Chrome, Edge, or Firefox). For the offline package, you need a PC running Windows 10 or later (64-bit) and a Wi-Fi network to connect the referees’ devices.
Following IPF rules, each of the three referees votes GOOD LIFT (white light) or NO LIFT (red light), and the three lights are only revealed on the display once everyone has voted. The system also includes IPF penalty cards (yellow, red, and red+yellow) and the official 1-minute attempt clock.
Yes. The three-referee, white-and-red light convention is used by most powerlifting federations, so the system works for any event that follows it. The penalty cards specifically follow the IPF rulebook.
Each session connects the three referee consoles (left, center, right) plus the supporting screens: the admin panel, the main display, the timer, and the broadcast overlay. All of them share the same state in real time over WebSocket — a vote shows up instantly on every screen.
The system implements the full IPF refereeing flow: three referees, lights, penalty cards, and official timing. Equipment approval for sanctioned championships is up to each federation, though — check with your event’s organizers before using it.
The Legend/Chroma Key screen shows the lights and the clock over a solid-color background, ready to be captured in OBS Studio or any streaming software. Add the page as a browser source (or capture the window) and apply a chroma key filter to overlay the decisions on your stream.
Open an issue in the project’s GitHub repository (github.com/jeanribas/referee-lights) describing the problem or the idea. The code is public, so suggestions and contributions are welcome.
Yes. Referee Lights is an installable web app: from the browser menu, use "Add to Home Screen" (Android/iPhone) or "Install" (Chrome/Edge on desktop) and it opens in its own window, like a native app, with an icon on your home screen. It is not in the app stores and still needs a connection to the server — over the internet, or over the local network in Windows mode.
Referee Lights is free, runs directly in the browser with no app install, requires no account, and its code is public on GitHub. It bundles the lights, IPF penalty cards, timer, offline Windows mode, and chroma key broadcast overlay into a single platform — no dedicated hardware and no subscription.