Skip to content

v0.5.1 — HTTP API and iPhone app

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@rath rath released this 09 Oct 20:22
· 24 commits to main since this release
v0.5.1
e832f0d

A server can serve its Library to apps over HTTP, and an iPhone app in ios/
plays that Library, its saved videos, and radio on the phone. YouTube imports
take time ranges, and the Library filters by kind.

Added

  • server start --api ADDR serves a JSON API for apps over plain HTTP:
    POST /api/rpc takes the local socket's request JSON, GET /api/server
    describes the server, and /api/library/ID/audio and /cover return a
    Library track's files with range requests and validators. Commands that name
    server paths, shutdown, and subscriptions stay on the local socket. There is
    no TLS or authentication; bind a private address such as a Tailscale one.
  • /api/library/ID/video serves a track's saved silent video sidecar as the
    Matroska file it is, with the same range requests and validators, so apps can
    show the picture without the server re-encoding anything.
  • server start --api tailscale detects the local Tailscale IPv4 address via
    tailscale ip -4 and serves the app API on port 8700. Failed lookups prevent
    startup; explicit --api IP:PORT addresses remain supported.
  • An iPhone app in ios/ for that API: it browses and searches the Library,
    shows the server's Queue, starts YouTube imports with optional time ranges,
    and plays Library files on the phone with its own queue, background audio,
    shuffle and repeat, and lock-screen controls. Radio channels play from their
    registered URLs with the server's reconnect rules. Its home-screen icon sets
    the V-meter's bars on dark gray. Built with Xcode and XcodeGen; installed
    with your own Apple ID.
  • The iPhone app shows a track's saved video in the player, in step with the
    audio: it demuxes the server's Matroska sidecar itself and hands the stored
    AV1, H.264, or HEVC samples to the phone's decoder, so nothing is re-encoded.
    A Cover / Video button keeps the choice, and the picture opens over the
    whole screen in landscape. VP9 sidecars decode in software with libvpx when
    the app is built with it.
  • YouTube time ranges: single-video imports take Start/End fields in the TUI
    download options and library add --start/--end in the CLI (whole seconds,
    M:SS, or H:MM:SS). Excerpts and full downloads coexist as separate tracks,
    Library, Queue, and import history show the range, and retries, video
    upgrades, deletion, and archives keep it.
  • Range downloads copy video packets without re-encoding, so the source codec
    is kept and boundaries fall on nearby source keyframes rather than exact
    frames. Imports show FFmpeg's progress while copying: media time copied,
    percentage, processing speed, and estimated time remaining.
  • A Library kind filter: f cycles all → video → radio in the TUI, shown in
    the panel title and cleared with the search by Esc; A queues only the
    kinds the view shows. The CLI takes library list --kind and
    library search --kind with audio, video, or radio.
  • Tracks carry video: true when their saved video sidecar exists, and Library
    and Queue rows show a · VIDEO suffix like the existing · LIVE. Scans,
    video publication, and archive restores keep the flag current.

Changed

  • Protocol 14 and database version 9: the catalog stores a kind column,
    backfilled from existing sidecars in the catalog and the saved queue, and
    imports are identified by video ID plus normalized range instead of video ID
    alone. Track IDs, metadata, queue, and sessions are preserved. server_info
    reports the HTTP API's api_url.
  • Archives are written as format 2, which carries source ranges. Format 1
    archives still restore.
  • Video fullscreen continues into the next track when it also has a saved
    video, including natural endings where the video stops just before its audio.

Fixed

  • On Linux, server start with --cast, --cast-http, or --api but without
    --headless started the server and then failed with a mode conflict. These
    options now start a headless server there, as server start alone does.
  • Opening the selected track's YouTube link names that track when it has no
    source link, and asks for a selection in the Library or Queue when nothing is
    selected.

Upgrade notes

  • Protocol is now 14, the database version 9, and the archive format
    2. Stop the running server with its current binary (vtamp server stop)
    before upgrading, then start the new binary and reattach TUIs; the new server
    migrates the database when it starts. Older binaries cannot open the migrated
    database or restore format 2 archives. Update both ends of a relay or a
    headless setup together.
  • The HTTP API is off unless the server starts with --api. It has no TLS or
    authentication; bind it only to a private address such as a Tailscale one.
  • The iPhone app is not a release asset: build it from ios/ with Xcode and
    XcodeGen and install it with your own Apple ID (ios/README.md).
  • Prebuilt downloads cover Apple Silicon macOS and ARM64 Linux tested on
    Ubuntu 24.04 (glibc 2.39+). Linux remains a headless server without device
    playback, relay, media keys, radio, or terminal video.

Install

brew install rath/tap/vtamp
# Existing installations: stop the running server with the old binary first.
vtamp server stop
brew update && brew upgrade vtamp

Or download the archive for your platform below. Verify it against SHA256SUMS
with shasum -a 256 -c --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS on macOS or
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS on Linux.

Both archives include the host binary, documentation, themes, Hello Panel,
and a prebuilt Pastel Transcript plugin. Examples are opt-in and are not
registered automatically. Python 3 is required only for Hello Panel.
The iPhone app is built from source; see ios/README.md.

Full changelog: v0.5.0...v0.5.1

Assets 5
Loading