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OwnTone smart home integration, free and open source

OwnTone integration for Gladys Assistant

OwnTone music server: player, AirPlay and Chromecast outputs, playlists, volume per room.

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This integration drives an OwnTone server (formerly forked-daapd) from Gladys: the player (play, pause, next, volume, what plays) and each output, the AirPlay and Chromecast speakers or the local audio, which you switch on and off and whose volume you set room by room. It talks to OwnTone over the local network, through its JSON API, and follows every change live through its WebSocket. No cloud, no account.

Tested against a real OwnTone 29.3 in Docker, without AirPlay or Chromecast speakers: feedback welcome. Playback, volumes, output selection, notifications and the restart of OwnTone were exercised for real, on its local and fifo outputs.

Requirements​

  • Gladys Assistant 5.1 or later.
  • An OwnTone server (version 28 or later) reachable from Gladys on the port of its web interface, 3689 by default, and on its WebSocket port (websocket_port in owntone.conf, 3688 by default).
  • Gladys in the trusted_networks of owntone.conf, or the admin_password of OwnTone typed in the configuration.

Configuration​

  1. Server address: the IP address or host name of the machine that runs OwnTone, as for its web interface. Add :port if it is not 3689 (http://192.168.1.20:3689 is accepted too).
  2. Port: 3689 unless you changed port in the library section of owntone.conf.
  3. Admin password (optional): only when Gladys is outside the trusted_networks of OwnTone. By default OwnTone trusts the local network (lan) and wants no password.
  4. Language: the language of the feature names and of the texts the integration writes. Feature names are set when a device is added.

Then open the Discover tab and add the player and the outputs you want.

Devices​

Player​

The OwnTone player, one per server:

  • Volume (0 to 100): the master volume. OwnTone scales every selected output with it.
  • Playback state: playing or not.
  • Play, Pause, Previous, Next: buttons.
  • Now playing: title and artist, with the state when it is paused or stopped.

These features belong to the Gladys Music category: the Music box of the dashboard drives the player.

Outputs​

One device per OwnTone output: AirPlay or Chromecast speaker, local audio (ALSA, PulseAudio), fifo.

  • Selected: on, OwnTone plays to this output; off, it does not. Switching a speaker on while music plays adds it to the group at once.
  • Volume (0 to 100): the volume of this output.

An output that leaves OwnTone (speaker switched off, off the network) shows as not selected and keeps its device in Gladys; it comes back on its own.

Dashboard widget​

OwnTone: what plays (title, artist, album), the state and the volume of the player, the outputs with their volume (or "Off"), and four buttons: play or pause, next, volume down, volume up (5 by 5).

Scene triggers​

  • Playback started: OwnTone starts playing. Variables: title, artist, album.
  • Playback stopped: OwnTone stops playing, paused or stopped, for 5 seconds at least (OwnTone says "paused" for a moment at every track change). Filter: paused, stopped, or both. Variables: title, artist, album.
  • Output disappeared: an output leaves OwnTone. Filter: an output, or any. Variable: the output name.
  • Output appeared: an output comes (back) to OwnTone. Filter: an output, or any. Variable: the output name.

Scene actions​

  • Play a playlist: replaces the queue with an OwnTone playlist and plays it. Type its name (case and accents ignored; part of the name is enough when only one playlist matches) or a URI (library:playlist:8, spotify:playlist:…, the address of an internet radio). With up to three outputs chosen, only they play; with none, the outputs stay as they are. Output: the name of the playlist played.
  • Set the volume: of one output (a room), or of the player (every selected output follows).
  • Stop everything: stops playback; or stops it and turns every output off, which frees the AirPlay speakers for other apps.

Scene examples​

  • Wake-up music: at 7:00 on weekdays, "Play a playlist" Morning on the bedroom speaker, then "Set the volume" of that output to 25.
  • Leaving home: when the house becomes empty, "Stop everything" with every output off.
  • Lights follow the music: on "Playback started" after sunset, dim the living room lights; on "Playback stopped", bring them back.

Troubleshooting​

  • "The OwnTone server does not answer": check the address and the port, then that the web interface opens from another device on the network.
  • "OwnTone refused the password": type the admin_password of owntone.conf. OwnTone expects it for any address outside its trusted_networks.
  • "OwnTone refuses Gladys": OwnTone has no admin_password and does not trust the network of Gladys: set one, or add that network to trusted_networks.
  • States arrive every 5 seconds only: the WebSocket port of OwnTone (3688) cannot be reached, or websocket_port is 0. The integration then reads OwnTone every 5 seconds. The logs say so at the connection.
  • "OwnTone could not use this output": the speaker is off, busy with another source, or asks for a password or a pairing code: pair it once from the OwnTone web interface.
  • "The OwnTone queue is empty": Play needs something in the queue: start a playlist first.

Limits​

  • One OwnTone server per integration, typed by hand (the Gladys sandbox carries no mDNS of its own).
  • No pairing of AirPlay speakers that ask for a code, and no output password: do it once in the OwnTone web interface.
  • A playlist is chosen by name or URI: no browsing of the library, albums or artists.
  • Developed without AirPlay or Chromecast speakers: their behavior comes from the OwnTone API, not from a test with the hardware. Feedback welcome.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings OwnTone asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Connect your OwnTone serversectionNoType the address of the machine that runs OwnTone (formerly forked-daapd), as for its web interface. The integration uses its JSON API (port 3689) and follows every change live through its WebSocket (port 3688 by default). The player becomes a device, each output (AirPlay or Chromecast speaker, local audio) too.
Server addressstringYesIP address or host name of OwnTone. Add :port if its web interface is not on port 3689.
PortnumberNoPort of the web interface and JSON API (port in the library section of owntone.conf).
Admin password (optional)secretNoOnly when Gladys is outside the trusted_networks of owntone.conf: its admin_password.
OptionssectionNoLanguage of the names and texts the integration creates (feature names are set when a device is added).
LanguageselectNo

How to install OwnTone in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: OwnTone appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-owntone:1.0.0), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-owntone.

OwnTone requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

OwnTone is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.

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