The open standard for immersive experience
Not another show controller. A language for what guests should feel.
▏
OpenXP turns the brief into the build. One readable experience file captures creative intent, drives the lights, sound, media and AI that deliver it, and prices every change before opening night. Not on it.
The market
The fastest-growing corner of entertainment is being built one unrepeatable prototype at a time.
CAGR — immersive location-based experience, the fastest-growing corner of entertainment
Analysts name fragmentation and lack of standards as the market's biggest brake
of marketers say the cost of delivering live experiences has risen
can't reliably measure the ROI of the experiences they build
The problem
Between the vision you sold and the show you shipped, the intent gets lost.
// hard to capture. hard to cost. hard to repeat.
- A warm amber glow welcomes them the moment they tap in.
- The environment breathes with the crowd's collective energy.
- Capture and deliver a personalised film of their experience.
- The exact moment of the drop — sound and light erupt in unison.
The drift
No one decides to lose the vision. It drifts.
// each change reasonable. the cost invisible — until opening night.
Projection budget100%
The narrative holds. awe · Z3 = 0.90
The 'immersion' perception needs new source mapping. Three touchpoints to reconfigure.
Every 'calm' annotation lights up. Five states need new targets.
Now the brief is the build. The cost to the experience surfaces immediately — not on opening night. Every change seen for what it is, while there's still time to decide.
One file, every venue
One immutable blueprint. Nothing lost in translation.
// capture. cost. deliver. repeat.
experience "Immersive Gallery" { // one blueprint — the whole guest story, start to finish
intent: "A guest walks a responsive gallery that reads how they feel and shapes the room around them"
spec: "openxp/1.0"
version: "1.0"
locale: "en-GB"
realm: physical
accessibility { // access needs ship inside the experience (R225-R230)
navigational { wheelchair: true, step.free: true }
perceptual { audio.description: true, warning.photosensitive: false }
}
touchpoints {
// Sense the guest
entry: sensor.beacon { zone: "entrance" }
bio: sensor.biometric {
type: "heart.rate"
processing {
mode: transient // read in the moment, never stored
purpose: "Read excitement in the moment to pace the scene"
lawful.basis: consent // consent travels with the data
classification {
confidentiality: confidential
integrity: high
availability: medium
}
}
}
// Shape the room
spatial: output.audio { zones: 3 }
ceiling: output.led { pixels: 2400 }
lights: output.lighting { universe: 1 }
// Name the feelings the room can hold
warmth: perception.warmth { intent: "welcome", source: lights, range: [0.0, 1.0] }
wonder: perception.wonder { intent: "awe", source: ceiling, range: [0.0, 1.0] }
calm: perception.calm { intent: "reflect", source: spatial, range: [0.0, 1.0] }
// A human in the loop
guide: actor.guide { role: "facilitator", intent: "Improvise, but never break the spell" }
// A mind that adapts within the rules
curator: agent.deliberative { model: "claude", latency_sla: "5s", fallback: "advisory" }
}
journey "visitor" { // the emotional shape of one visit: welcome, awe, then stillness
intent: "Carry one guest along an arc that rises into wonder, then settles into calm"
initial: arrive
phase "arrival" {
arc.phase: "arrival" // the room greets them
moment "welcome" {
perception.targets { warmth { min: 0.3, max: 0.6, ramp: "gentle" } }
state arrive {
on.enter { do: lights.cue("warm_amber_rise") }
on entry.detect -> immerse { do: output.scene(name: "welcome_glow") }
}
}
}
phase "immersion" {
arc.phase: "rising" // the room opens up, wonder builds
moment "the-reveal" {
perception.targets { wonder { min: 0.6, max: 0.9, ramp: "swell" } }
state immerse {
on.enter { do: ceiling.cue("constellation_bloom") }
on wonder.peak -> reflect { do: output.scene(name: "starfield") }
}
}
}
phase "reflection" {
arc.phase: "resolve" // the room quiets; the guest keeps the feeling
moment "stillness" {
perception.targets { calm { min: 0.5, max: 0.8, ramp: "settle" } }
state reflect {
on.enter { do: spatial.cue("low_room_tone") }
on calm.hold -> farewell { do: lights.cue("soft_fade") }
}
state farewell { }
}
}
}
safety { // guardrails the AI can never cross
comfort_first {
when: "bio.reading > 0.9" // if a guest is overwhelmed
ensure: warmth.reading < 0.6 // the room pulls back
response: stop
}
}
}
Read the full spec → Open standard, no lock-in
No hidden logic. No loops, no variables, no surprises. What you read is what runs.
Every protocol, one interface →Feelings are first-class
Warmth, wonder, calm and tension are programmable touchpoints — as real as an LED wall.
How perception works →Deterministic and auditable
Same state + same event = same transition. Always. Experiences you can reproduce, debug, and hand over.
See it in practice →Safety and privacy compiled in
Policies constrain what agents can do; consent and lawful basis ship inside the file. Safety trumps design.
How agents stay safe →Also compiled in
- Live actors, as first-class event sources
- AI agents, as governed touchpoints
- Repeatable by design — same file, same show
- Accessibility, shipped inside the file
Design for how humans feel.
// perception is a touchpoint
We design for what people should feel. Then build with tools that only speak in what machines should do.
XP Studio
Start with a word. End with a world.
// brief → journey → storyboard → pitch.pptx
XP Studio is our free AI authoring tool: talk through the experience, shape the emotional arc, see it as a storyboard, and walk out with a validated .xp file and a pitch deck, in about a minute. The standard, runtime and fabric are open source; XP Studio is free to use under the OpenXP licence. One way to write the experience file, never the only way.
1 BRIEF → 2 JOURNEY → 3 GENERATE → 4 VISUALISE → 5 PITCH
Featured project
A live hip-hop immersive — branching narrative, seamless LED canvas, a holographic reveal at its peak.
Whose problem is this?
// pick your door
Studios & agencies
Pitch with a storyboard and a deck in the room. Deliver the vision the budget was cut around. The creative survives the client's changes — visibly.
Start with XP Studio →Venues & operators
Run repeatable, auditable shows on the hardware you already own. Every night identical; every incident traceable; no vendor holding your show hostage.
Join to the consortium →Toolmakers & developers
An open spec, an open runtime, a connector fabric. Build once against the standard, run everywhere it runs.
Get started →OpenXP Consortium Partners
Questions, answered.
// what teams ask first
What's open source and what isn't?
The format specification, runtime and connector fabric are open source: install, run, extend, build connectors. XP Studio, our AI authoring tool, is free to use under the OpenXP licence but is not part of the open core. Nothing about your experiences is locked to us. See what’s open →
Does it work with our existing rig?
OpenXP orchestrates the protocols your hardware already speaks: DMX/sACN, OSC, MIDI/MSC, media pipelines and more via connectors. It replaces the glue code and the drawer full of briefing docs, not your kit.
Do creatives have to code?
No. Intent, journeys and perception targets read like a brief. That is the point of a common language. XP Studio writes the experience file conversationally; technical directors get the same file with full technical depth.
What stops the AI from ruining the show?
Safety policies are part of the file, and safety trumps design: agents act only inside declared constraints, every decision is audited, and deterministic rules mean same state + same event = same transition. Always.
How is guest data handled?
Privacy is declared in the blueprint: three modes — transient, scoped, retained — each with an explicit purpose and lawful basis, so consent and compliance ship with the experience instead of trailing it. Our direction of travel is guest-owned data: memories an experience creates, delivered into a personal data store the guest keeps. How OpenXP uses Solid →
How mature is the standard?
The spec is versioned (openxp/1.0), running in real productions, and being shaped by a consortium of venues, studios and toolmakers. Early enough to influence; real enough to ship.
The smallest projects. The biggest projects.
A smart-home activation or an immersive world tour — the language is the same.