API Media Player

API Media Player is a web-first PWA for browsing Hydrus media and handing playback off to native apps instead of an in-browser player.

What works today

• Start the app with npm start and connect a Hydrus server from the web settings screen
• Use npm run dev when you want the live-reload development server
• Add one or more Hydrus clients from the Settings page or a local .env file
• Launch playback in native apps:
  • Windows and Linux desktop: mpv through mpv-handler://
  • Android: mpv-android through intent://
  • iPhone and iPad: VLC through vlc-x-callback://

Fast start

1. Install Node.js 20 or newer.
2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Start the app:

npm start

4. Open the local URL printed in the terminal. By default it starts on http://localhost:4173, but it will move to the next free port if that one is already in use.

On a fresh install the app opens the Hydrus server settings first. Add your host, port, and API key there, test the connection, then save the server before browsing the library. Playback itself is always external, so actual media launch still depends on the platform-specific player flow below.

npm start now builds the app and serves the production output, which is the safer default for devices like Raspberry Pi. Use npm run dev only when you specifically want the Vite development server and live reload.

Connect Hydrus (optional)

If you want real library data, duplicate .env.example as .env and fill in your Hydrus values:

VITE_HYDRUS_HOST=http://localhost
VITE_HYDRUS_PORT=45869
VITE_HYDRUS_API_KEY=
VITE_HYDRUS_SSL=false

You can also add or edit servers entirely from Settings inside the app. Nothing is preconfigured on first launch, so you enter the Hydrus connection details yourself.

Browsers cannot attach custom Hydrus API headers to direct media URLs. If your Hydrus setup requires header-based authentication for file access, put a trusted reverse proxy in front of it or provide playable URLs another way.

Playback setup by device

Windows desktop

1. Install mpv and optionally yt-dlp.
2. Open an elevated PowerShell or Windows Terminal.
3. From the repo root, run:

npm run setup:mpv-handler

The repo already includes the Windows mpv-handler binaries under scripts/, so the helper script can:

• reuse the bundled handler files
• detect mpv and yt-dlp from PATH when possible
• update scripts/config.toml
• register mpv-handler:// and mpv-handler-debug://

To remove the registration later:

npm run uninstall:mpv-handler

Linux desktop

Run this on the Linux desktop client that should receive mpv-handler:// links, not on the server that is merely hosting API Media Player.

1. Install mpv and optionally yt-dlp.
2. Download and extract the latest upstream Linux release:

https://github.com/akiirui/mpv-handler/releases/latest/download/mpv-handler-linux-amd64.zip

The upstream project currently publishes an official Linux release for amd64 only. On Raspberry Pi or other ARM Linux systems, build or obtain a compatible mpv-handler binary first, then point --root at that extracted folder instead.

3. Run the helper against the extracted folder:

npm run setup:mpv-handler -- --root /path/to/extracted/mpv-handler-linux-amd64

On Linux the helper copies the binary and desktop files into ~/.local, writes config.toml to ~/.config/mpv-handler/config.toml (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mpv-handler/config.toml), and runs xdg-mime for both protocol handlers.

Android

Install mpv-android (is.xyz.mpv). No extra handler setup is needed.

iPhone / iPad

Install VLC for iOS. The app sends playback to vlc-x-callback:// automatically.

macOS desktop

The app can still browse Hydrus and demo content on macOS, but this repo does not currently automate mpv-handler:// registration for desktop macOS. If you already have a compatible custom protocol handler installed, the desktop playback flow will use it. Otherwise, use another supported playback platform for now.

Optional userscript for direct media URLs

If you want direct file loads in the browser to jump into mpv before the page player starts, install the userscript served by this app:

/userscripts/api-media-player-open-in-mpv.user.js

Examples:

http://localhost:4173/userscripts/api-media-player-open-in-mpv.user.js
http://127.0.0.1:4173/userscripts/api-media-player-open-in-mpv.user.js

If preview chooses a different port because 4173 is busy, use that same port for the userscript URL too.

It only activates on localhost, loopback, RFC1918 LAN IPs, and .local or .lan hosts. On desktop it redirects to mpv-handler://...; on Android it redirects to the mpv app through intent://....

Useful commands

npm start
npm run dev
npm run build
npm run preview
npm run typecheck
npm run setup:mpv-handler -- --help

More detail

See scripts/README.md for the helper script behavior, flags, and the Windows/Linux manual fallbacks.