---
type: concept
tags: [parking, printer, device, reliability]
sources: []
updated: 2026-06-14
---

# Printer roles & failover

A lane runs **more than one printer**, and the system knows each one's job so it can fail over
automatically. This is a reliability decision, not a threat-model one: an entry ticket must
still print when the outside dispenser jams or drops off the network.

## Roles

Each printer instance (a `devices` row, category `printer`) declares a **role** in its
config:

- **`entry-dispenser`** — outside, at the lane. Prints the entry ticket the driver takes.
- **`booth-receipt`** — inside the booth. Prints receipts at exit/payment, the booth till's
  Z-reports and vouchers, AND serves as the **backup** for entry tickets (and for wash slips).
- **`wash-desk`** — at the Car Wash desk (added 2026-09-06). Prints the wash till's slips:
  its Z-report and drawer vouchers (see [[shift]] §Tills). Nothing else ever prints here.

It also declares a **`failoverRank`** (higher = preferred within a role) to order multiple
printers of the same role deterministically (ties broken by id).

## Failover rule (asymmetric, on purpose)

For an **entry ticket** (`wantRole = entry-dispenser`): try the entry dispensers (best rank
first), then fall back to the **booth printer**. So a driver still gets a ticket when the
outside unit is offline — the operator hands it over from the booth.

The reverse is **deliberately not** done: a **receipt** never prints on the outside dispenser.
Receipts are a booth-only job; an entry dispenser falling back to print receipts makes no
physical sense.

For a **wash slip** (`wantRole = wash-desk`): the desk printers first, then the **booth
printer** — a site that has not bought a desk printer keeps printing the wash till's Z-report
and vouchers in the booth, exactly as it did before the role existed. Nothing falls back *to*
the wash desk: a booth receipt or an entry ticket never prints there. `ShiftService` resolves
the role from the till (`TILL_PRINTER_ROLE`: booth → `booth-receipt`, carwash → `wash-desk`)
and keeps one legacy fallback — a booth with a single printer that carries no booth role still
prints its slips on it. `printerRoleOf(config)` is the one reading of the saved `role` field,
so every loader (entry flow, booth receipts, shift slips) agrees on what a printer is; the
device footer shows a desk printer as "at wash desk".

## Where the logic lives

- The driver (`rongta`) is **role-agnostic** — role/rank are just config; the transport doesn't
  care. Keeps [[device-adapter-pattern|adapters]] swappable.
- Selection is pure logic in `packages/devices/printer-routing.ts`: `orderForRole()` ranks
  candidates; `printWithFailover()` attempts the print down the list and throws
  `NoPrinterAvailableError` only when every candidate fails.
- It **attempts the print directly** rather than racing a `healthCheck` first — the print is
  the real reachability test, and a health probe that passes can still be followed by a failed
  print.

## Open: the all-printers-down policy

When `printWithFailover` exhausts every candidate, what should entry do — raise the barrier
with no paper ticket (the plate/[[lpr-camera]] is the independent record), or hold? That policy
belongs to the **entry flow** ([[device-input-flow]], [[fail-state-safety]]), not the printer
layer, and is **not yet decided**. The signed event ([[append-only-event-chain]]) is created
regardless of whether paper prints.