Music Assistant

Music Assistant is a self-hosted music library manager and streaming server that aggregates local files and multiple streaming providers, catalogs them into a compact database, and streams audio to a wide range of supported players. It includes a Progressive Web App frontend and a Home Assistant integration for automation and voice control. (music-assistant.io)

Key Features

• Multi-provider support: import and link tracks from many streaming services (Spotify, YouTube Music, Tidal, Qobuz, and others) and local files. (music-assistant.io)
• Wide player support: play to AirPlay, Google Cast, Sonos, DLNA, Snapcast and other player providers. (music-assistant.io)
• Rich playback features: gapless playback, crossfade, volume normalization, synchronized playback and transfer between players. (music-assistant.io)
• Home Assistant integration: expose Music Assistant to Home Assistant for automations, media control and voice actions. (music-assistant.io)
• Server architecture: core server written in Python, designed around asyncio, distributed as a Docker image and as a Home Assistant add-on; depends on OS components like ffmpeg and other binaries. (github.com)

Use Cases

• Consolidate local music and multiple streaming subscriptions into a single searchable library and unified playback experience. (music-assistant.io)
• Stream music to heterogeneous speaker setups (multiroom, Sonos, Cast, AirPlay) and synchronize playback across devices. (music-assistant.io)
• Automate music playback and voice control via Home Assistant automations and the Music Assistant integration. (music-assistant.io)

Limitations and Considerations

• Not distributed as a simple pip package; installation is intended via Docker or the Home Assistant add-on because the server requires external OS-level binaries (for example ffmpeg) and custom components. (github.com)
• Designed to run on an always-on device (Raspberry Pi, NAS, Intel NUC or similar); resource needs vary with number of providers and concurrent streams. (music-assistant.io)

Music Assistant provides a modular, extensible server plus a Vue 3 PWA frontend to manage, search and stream music across local and cloud sources. It is actively developed and oriented toward integration with Home Assistant and self-hosted deployments. (music-assistant.io)