Quickstart

Get a menu on a screen in under 15 minutes.

Updated May 18, 2026·6 min read

Overview

MenuPi runs on any TV with an HDMI input. You sign up, design a menu in Studio, publish it to a playlist, and pair a player device. The player streams from our CDN with a 72-hour offline cache, so menus keep displaying even when the internet drops.

The fastest path: pick a template, swap in your prices, plug in a Fire TV stick, scan the pair code with your phone.

Step 1 — Create an account

  1. Go to menupi.com/signup and create a workspace. Your first screen is free forever (with a small MenuPi watermark) — no card, no trial clock.
  2. Verify your email. You will land on the dashboard with a sample workspace already populated so you can poke at the editor before you publish.
  3. Invite teammates from Settings → Team. Roles are Owner, Admin, Editor, and Viewer. RBAC details live in the Security page.

Step 2 — Design your first menu

Open Studio from the left rail. Pick a template that matches your aspect ratio (16:9 landscape for wall-mounted, 9:16 portrait for doorway screens). Replace prices, photos, and headers inline.

Studio is canvas-based: every item is a draggable widget. Hit ⌘D to duplicate a section, ⌘Z to undo.

Keep it scannable
Customers read a menu board for 4-7 seconds. Use no more than 9 items per column and at least 28px body text.

Step 3 — Publish to a playlist

Click Publish in the top right. Pick or create a playlist, choose a duration per scene (8–15 seconds is typical), and save.

Playlists are what players subscribe to. One playlist can feed many screens; one screen plays one playlist at a time.

Step 4 — Pair a player

  1. Install the MenuPi player app on your device (Fire TV / Android TV / Chromebox / Tizen / webOS). The Player page lists every install method.
  2. Launch the app. A 6-character pair code appears on the screen.
  3. In the dashboard go to Screens → Pair new, enter the code, pick the playlist, and assign a location.
  4. The menu loads within 10 seconds. Future updates push instantly while online and on cold-start when offline.

What to do next

  • Connect your POS so prices update automatically — see POS Setup.
  • Schedule dayparts so breakfast switches to lunch at 10:30am — see Scheduling.
  • Add a second screen and run it on the same or a different playlist.