Your counter. Your business. Your point of sale.

Step 1

Install it and open your first shop

It is a normal RobOS app. You can also run it on any computer with Node.js, with no account and no internet connection.

1. Open it. Launch RobOS Point of Sale from the App Launcher, or run cd packages/point-of-sale && npm install && npm start.
2. Pick a starting point. On first launch choose Retail store, Coffee shop or Bar to get a ready-made menu, stock, taxes and team. You can edit everything afterwards, or replace it with another sample from Settings.
3. Sign in with a PIN. The samples use owner 1111, manager 2222 and cashier 3333. Add your own team in Team & API and retire the sample PINs before real use.
4. Open the drawer. Go to Cash, count your starting cash, type it on the number pad and press Open drawer. Card sales do not need the drawer; cash sales do.
5. Ring a sale. On the Register tap items (or scan them with a scanner or the camera), press Pay, choose cash or card. The receipt appears with any change due.

Your data lives in one file, ~/.config/robos/point-of-sale/store.json, readable only by you. Back it up by copying it.

Step 2

Who can do what

Every team member signs in with a 4 to 8 digit PIN. Lower roles can borrow a manager for a single action without switching users.

When a cashier taps something that needs a manager (a refund, a comp, a 40% discount), a PIN pad appears. The manager types their PIN, the action goes through, and the approval is recorded in the audit log next to the cashier's name. Five wrong PINs in a row lock the sign-in screen for a minute.

Step 3

The screens

Each screen is built for fingers: large buttons, an on-screen number pad for PINs, cash and quantities, and no tiny controls. Text fields such as item names use the device's own on-screen keyboard.

Step 4

Setting up cash payments

Managers and admins decide how cash behaves. Open Cash and scroll to Cash payment settings.

End of shift: Cash → Count & close drawer, tap the bills and coins, press Close drawer. The Z-report shows expected, counted and over or short, plus the day's sales.

Step 5

Self-checkout and customer displays

Self-checkout is a customer-facing page that only does one thing: build a basket and pay. It cannot see staff data, prices of hidden items, or other customers' orders.

• Open it from RobOS Point of Sale → Open self-checkout window, or browse to /kiosk. For a dedicated screen, start the app with --kiosk.
• A tablet on the shop network. Run node serve.js --host 0.0.0.0 on the till computer and open http://<till-ip>:3410/kiosk on the tablet. There is no encryption on this connection, so use a network you trust.
• Retail: a scan box accepts a barcode scanner that types into a field, and a camera button reads barcodes and QR codes from a webcam. Food: big icon tiles, required choices, tips.
• Paying. Card is shown only when the card provider can run unattended (a gateway, not a standalone terminal where a worker types the approval code). Pay at the counter gives the customer a number; the cashier finds it under Tabs and takes cash.
• Safety. Age-restricted items are never offered, and the server rejects them even if someone calls the API directly. Baskets nobody paid for are cleared after 30 minutes. Switch self-checkout off, or turn off pay-at-the-counter, in Settings.
• Order-ready board. Put /ready on a second screen; it shows pick-up numbers as the kitchen marks them ready.

Retail and anywhere with a shelf

Barcodes, QR codes and the webcam

Plug in any barcode gun or use a webcam. The camera reads the classic UPC and EAN barcodes and the newer 2D codes: QR codes (including GS1 Digital Link, which carries a product number as a web address), Data Matrix and Aztec. However a code was printed, the register works out which product it means.

Three ways to scan

1. Barcode gun (USB or Bluetooth). Most scanners act like a keyboard: they type the code and press Enter. Click the scan box on the Register (it is focused for you in a retail shop) and scan. No setup.
2. Webcam. Press the camera button. Choose the camera if you have more than one, hold the barcode or QR code in front of it, and wait for the beep. A code held in view counts once; take it away and show it again to add another.
3. Self-checkout. The same two options, for shoppers: the scan box for a gun, or the camera button.
4. Adding products. On Menu & Catalog → Add item, press the camera button next to the barcode field and scan the package. A Digital Link QR is saved as the plain product number.

Cameras only work on localhost or an https:// address, and the desktop app asks for video access only. A tablet opening the till over plain http:// on the shop network should use a barcode gun instead.

What you can scan

Seen in the app

Each picture below is a real screenshot from the automated tests: a generated code is played into a test webcam and the register reads it. (Cameras for the pictures are simulated; the decoding and the register are real.)

Every business

The cash drawer and cash settings

Cash is handled the way a till is: a counted float at the start, paid-in and paid-out entries with a reason, a blind count by bill and coin at the end, and a Z-report that shows over or short. Managers decide whether cash is accepted at all, whether prices round to the nearest 5 cents, what the quick-tender buttons are, and how much over/short a cashier may close without a manager. Use the business tutorials above to try a sample sale, then follow the drawer setup below.

For developers

The open checkout API

Websites, apps and agents can create a checkout session, update it, and complete it with a payment token. The shape follows the open Agentic Commerce Protocol checkout flow; amounts are whole cents and retries are safe with an Idempotency-Key. Card payments go through a plug-in provider, so the register never touches card numbers. The OpenAPI document is served at /api/openapi.json.

Endpoints

Status moves not_ready_for_payment → ready_for_payment → completed (or canceled). Totals come back as a list of items_base_amount, subtotal, tax and total in cents. Age-restricted items are refused at completion. Send Authorization: Bearer <key>; create keys in Team & API. This follows the shape of the Agentic Commerce Protocol checkout flow but is not a certified implementation, so test an agent against it before relying on it.

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3410/api/v1/checkout_sessions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POS_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"items":[{"id":"<item id, SKU or barcode>","quantity":2}],"fulfillment_option_id":"takeout"}'

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3410/api/v1/checkout_sessions/<id>/complete \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POS_KEY" -H "Idempotency-Key: order-1001" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"payment_data":{"token":"tok_visa","provider":"mock"}}'

Good to know

What it does not do yet

Being honest about the edges saves surprises on opening day.

• Card processing. The built-in card options are a standalone terminal (you key in its approval code) and a demo gateway that approves any card, which must never be used for real sales. To take cards online or unattended, add a provider for your processor; the README shows the small interface.
• Tax. A flat rate per item, either added on top or already included in prices. There is no address-based lookup, so confirm your local rules.
• Hardware. Barcode scanners that type into a text box work, and so does a webcam. The browser only allows camera use on localhost or an https:// address, so a tablet that opens the till over plain http:// on the shop network cannot use its camera; give it a hardware scanner or put the till behind HTTPS. Receipts print through the system print dialog and are also available as plain text for ESC/POS printers. There are no direct cash-drawer or printer drivers yet.
• Not included yet: gift cards, loyalty, several locations syncing together, staff time clocks.
• Backups. One shop file on one computer. Copy it regularly.