minstrel/README.md

# Minstrel

A self-hosted music server that thinks for you. Smart shuffle, contextual likes, ListenBrainz-aware radio, and Lidarr automation — server-side, so every client (web, mobile, Subsonic third-party) gets the same intelligence.

> State and intelligence belong on the server, not the client.

<!-- TODO: screenshot of the home page -->

## Highlights

- **OpenSubsonic-compatible.** Existing Subsonic clients (DSub, Symfonium, play:Sub, etc.) connect with no special configuration.
- **Server-side smart shuffle.** Track-similarity vectors, dual-like model (general + contextual), and session memory keep mixes coherent across devices.
- **ListenBrainz radio.** Session-aware "more like this" pulls from ListenBrainz similarity data, not a static genre tag.
- **Lidarr integration.** Triggered scans, request-driven album imports, and a quarantine flow when something doesn't fit.
- **Built-in web SPA.** Full-feature library, search, queue, playlists, and admin — no separate frontend container to deploy.
- **Flutter mobile client in flight.** Tracking issue [#356](https://git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/minstrel/issues/356).

## Quickstart

```yaml
# compose.yaml
services:
  minstrel:
    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/minstrel:latest
    ports: ['4533:4533']
    volumes:
      - ./music:/music:ro
      - minstrel-data:/data
    environment:
      MINSTREL_DATABASE_URL: postgres://minstrel:minstrel@db:5432/minstrel?sslmode=disable
      MINSTREL_LIBRARY_SCAN_PATHS: /music
    depends_on: [db]

  db:
    image: postgres:17
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: minstrel
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: minstrel
      POSTGRES_DB: minstrel
    volumes: [pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data]

volumes:
  minstrel-data:
  pgdata:
```

```bash
docker compose up -d
```

After the stack is up, visit `http://localhost:4533/register` and create your admin account. The first user to register on a fresh instance is automatically marked as the administrator; subsequent users can register through the same form (or via invite tokens generated from the admin Users panel, depending on how you configure registration).

For the full configuration surface, see [`config.example.yaml`](./config.example.yaml).

## Configuration

Most operators only need the env vars in the quickstart above. A few extras worth knowing:

- `MINSTREL_BRANDING_APP_NAME` — rename the instance ("Family Jukebox", "Office Music"). Surfaces in the header, browser tab, and OG share previews.
- `MINSTREL_STORAGE_DATA_DIR` — defaults to `./data`. Holds playlist cover collages and other generated artefacts.
- `MINSTREL_LIBRARY_SCAN_PATHS` — colon-separated list of music library roots to scan. Supports multiple roots (`/music:/podcasts`).

ListenBrainz integration (per-user scrobble + similarity tokens) and Lidarr integration (URL + API key) are configured through the admin Settings UI rather than env vars or yaml — per Minstrel's "config in UI" rule, integration settings live where operators can edit them without restarting.

Most operational keys have a `MINSTREL_<SECTION>_<FIELD>` env override. Recommendation and events tuning are yaml-only. See [`config.example.yaml`](./config.example.yaml) for the authoritative surface.

## Updating

- `:main` — rolling, follows the dev branch's tested tip. Recommended only for the operator who's running an upstream-watching deployment.
- `:v1.0.x` — pinned releases. Recommended default. Database migrations run automatically at startup; rollbacks require restoring a Postgres dump.

## Specs

Authoritative scope lives under [`docs/`](./docs):

- [Server spec](./docs/smart-music-server-spec.md) — current implementation focus.
- [Client spec](./docs/smart-music-client-spec.md) — Flutter companion app.

## Development

Two concurrent dev processes:

1. **Backend:** `docker compose up` — Postgres + Minstrel on `:4533`.
2. **Frontend:** `cd web && npm install && npm run dev` — Vite dev server on `:5173` with HMR. The Vite server proxies `/api/*` and `/rest/*` to `:4533` so session cookies work.

### Testing

- Unit + race (no DB): `make test-short`.
- Full suite incl. integration tests: `make test-integration`. This runs
  against a dedicated `minstrel_test` database so a test run never
  truncates your dev `minstrel` data (admin user, library, likes). It
  brings up the compose Postgres and creates the test DB if missing.
- CI runs both: a fast `go test -short -race` gate plus an integration
  job with its own ephemeral Postgres (`.gitea/workflows/test-go.yml`).

### Production build

`docker build -t minstrel .` runs the SvelteKit build inside a `node` stage, copies the output into the `golang` stage, and `//go:embed`s it into the final binary. The container serves the SPA from `/` alongside the API surfaces; no separate static-file server is required.

### Branches

- Day-to-day work happens on `dev` (or feature branches merged into `dev`).
- `main` is **protected** — changes land via PR from `dev`.
- Releases are cut by tagging `v*` off `main`; the release workflow builds and pushes the container image to the Gitea registry.

Task and milestone tracking: Fable (`Minstrel` project, id 12).

## License

See [LICENSE](./LICENSE).