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Sideloading installs the channel directly from your machine to a Roku device on the same network. You need to do this every time you want to test a new build.
Developer mode can be disabled by a Roku firmware update. If sideloading stops working after an automatic update, re-enable developer mode using the key sequence below.

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Prerequisites

  • Roku device and development machine on the same local network
  • make, zip, and curl installed
  • Source code checked out
make, zip, and curl are available through your system package manager or are pre-installed.

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Steps

1

Enable developer mode on the Roku

With the Roku remote, enter the following key sequence from the Home screen:
Home × 3   Up × 2   Right   Left   Right   Left   Right
The screen will display a Developer Settings dialog. Note the IP address shown — you will need it in step 3.
Each activation of developer mode generates a new developer password. The previous password is invalidated. Record the new password before dismissing the dialog.
2

Find the Roku's IP address

If you missed the IP shown during activation, find it at:Settings → Network → AboutThe IP address is listed under IP address.
3

Set the developer password

When the Developer Settings dialog appears, enter a password and click Enable Installer. This password is your ROKU_PASS for all Make targets.Store it somewhere accessible — you will use it repeatedly during development.
4

Run make install

From the project root, run:
make install ROKU_IP=192.168.x.x ROKU_PASS=yourpassword
This builds out/GlobalTV.zip first (via make zip), then POSTs it to the device.Full example:
make install ROKU_IP=192.168.1.42 ROKU_PASS=mydevpass
5

Check the install result

The Makefile prints the result string extracted from out/_install_response.html:
>>> [install] HTTP 200
>>> [install] Resultado: Install Success
>>> [install] Listo. Revisar el Roku.
If the command does not find a known result string, inspect the full response:
open out/_install_response.html   # macOS
# or
xdg-open out/_install_response.html  # Linux
An “Identical” result means the zip you uploaded is byte-for-byte the same as what is already installed. The channel is still running; no action is needed. This typically happens when source files have not changed since the last install.
6

Launch the channel on the device

The sideloaded channel appears under My Channels as dev channel (a plain purple tile). Select it to launch.You can also launch it from the Roku home screen by pressing Home, scrolling to My Channels, and selecting Dev.

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Troubleshooting

The device is unreachable. Verify:
  • Both devices are on the same network segment.
  • The IP address is correct (Settings → Network → About).
  • Developer mode is active (a firmware update may have disabled it).
The ROKU_PASS is wrong. Re-enable developer mode to reset the password, or use the password you set during the current activation.
The zip was rejected by the device. Common causes:
  • manifest is missing or malformed. Run make check to validate.
  • A required image file is missing from images/.
  • The zip contains nested directories. The Makefile packages from the project root to ensure manifest is at the top level.
Use Git Bash instead of Command Prompt or PowerShell, or install make via Chocolatey:
choco install make zip curl