If you’ve built plugins for the Elgato Stream Deck, you can bring them to the VSDinside Stream Dock N4 Pro with minimal changes. The N4 Pro uses an open, developer-friendly architecture designed to be highly compatible with Stream Deck plugins, while offering far more advanced hardware features such as dynamic backgrounds, a real Touch Bar, RGB encoder rings, and additional USB ports.

This guide explains how to migrate your Stream Deck plugin to Stream Dock N4 Pro in five clear steps.

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1. Stream Dock SDK Overview — Designed for Compatibility

The Stream Dock SDK is built on the same WebSocket event-driven model used by Elgato’s Stream Deck platform. This means most Stream Deck plugins can be ported with only small adjustments.

The SDK supports:

• Global and action-level events
• Key up / down events
• Encoder rotation / press events
• Touch Bar interactions
• Display updates (icons, animations)
• Dynamic background rendering

SDK and sample code:
👉 VSDinside Plugin SDK on GitHub

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2. Copy Your Stream Deck Plugin Structure

Your existing Stream Deck plugin folder typically contains:

• manifest.json
• plugin.js or main.py
• Assets (icons, images)
• Localization files

This structure is already compatible with the N4 Pro. Most developers only need to adjust:

• Manifest fields
• Action identifiers
• Encoder events (if used)
• New UI features (Touch Bar, dynamic background)

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3. Update the Manifest for Stream Dock

In the manifest.json, only a few values need updating:

• Plugin UUID (must be unique)
• Target device (“streamdock-n4-pro”)
• Action types (keys, encoders, Touch Bar)

Stream Dock uses the same event names where possible, so the learning curve is minimal.

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4. Map Encoder & Touch Bar Events

If your Stream Deck plugin uses dials, the N4 Pro will feel familiar — but more powerful thanks to high-resolution encoders and RGB rings.

Available events include:

• encoderRotate — clockwise / counter-clockwise
• encoderPress — single press
• encoderLongPress
• touchBarTap
• touchBarSlide

These enable richer controls than Stream Deck Plus can support.

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5. Add Optional Enhancements for the N4 Pro

Once your plugin is working, you can take advantage of several N4 Pro–exclusive APIs:

• Dynamic background layer — animated visuals, waveforms, themes
• Touch Bar UI widgets — buttons, sliders, visualizers
• RGB encoder ring effects
• Custom lighting themes

These features allow you to build far more impressive plugins than are possible with Stream Deck.

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6. Get Direct Support from Engineers

If your plugin requires adjustments, you can get real-time support from VSDinside engineers in the official Discord server.

Many developers have successfully ported Stream Deck plugins in a single afternoon.

Join the developer community:
👉 discord.vsdinside.com

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Conclusion — Porting Is Simple, and the N4 Pro Unlocks More Possibilities

Porting Stream Deck plugins to the N4 Pro is straightforward thanks to the compatible event model and open SDK. Once ported, your plugin can take advantage of features that do not exist on Stream Deck Plus, such as:

• Dynamic video backgrounds
• Touch Bar UI
• RGB encoder lighting
• Extra keys and adjustable angles
• Built-in USB expansion ports

For developers, the N4 Pro is both easy to migrate to and far more powerful to build on.

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Start Porting Your Plugin Today

👉 Download the SDK
👉 Join the Developer Discord
👉 Share your plugin

 

Get Stream Dock Products Now

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