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YouTube Music Player smart home integration, free and open source

YouTube Music Player integration for Gladys Assistant

Control the YouTube Music desktop app from Gladys: playback, volume, queue and search.

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This integration lets Gladys drive the YouTube Music desktop app (th-ch/youtube-music) running on a computer of your home network: a PC, a Mac, or a Raspberry Pi plugged into your speakers. The music plays on that computer; Gladys shows what plays and controls it.

What you get in Gladys:

  • one music player device per computer: play, pause, previous, next, volume, mute, shuffle, repeat, position, title, artist, album and cover;
  • the music card of the dashboard: now playing, search in YouTube Music, the queue, and a "Recently played" folder;
  • a "YouTube Music" widget for the dashboard: what plays, the volume, play/pause, previous, next, and a button to play a song by its name;
  • scene triggers: a new track starts, playback starts or pauses, a player goes online or offline;
  • scene actions: play a song by its name (now, next, or at the end of the queue), like or dislike the current track.

Gladys 5.3 or newer is required.

1. Prepare the YouTube Music app​

  1. Install the YouTube Music desktop app from its releases page (Windows, macOS, Linux). Keep it up to date: recent versions send live updates to Gladys.
  2. Open the app and sign in to your YouTube Music account if you want your library.
  3. In the menu, open Plugins, then turn on API Server.
  4. In the options of API Server, keep:
    • Hostname: 0.0.0.0 (so the app answers on the network, not only on the computer);
    • Port: 26538;
    • Authorization strategy: "Authorize at first request" (recommended). "No authorization" also works, but then anyone on your network can control the app.
  5. If the computer has a firewall, allow incoming TCP connections on port 26538.
  6. Give the computer a fixed IP address in your router (DHCP reservation): Gladys finds the app by its address.

2. Configure the integration in Gladys​

  1. Open the configuration of the integration.

  2. In Players, list the computers, separated by commas, as Name=address[:port]:

    Living room=192.168.1.20, Office=192.168.1.30:26538

    The port is 26538 when you leave it out. The name is the name of the device in Gladys.

  3. Save. On each computer, YouTube Music shows a dialog asking to allow gladys-…: click Allow. You only do this once: the access is kept across restarts.

  4. Click Test the players: each player should answer "OK".

  5. Open Discovery and create the devices.

If you clicked Deny by mistake, use the Authorize a player button, then click Allow on the computer.

3. Use it​

  • Dashboard: add the "Music" box and choose the player, or add the YouTube Music widget (box "Integration widgets"). The widget shows the first player unless you choose one.
  • Search: in the music card, search a song or an artist and pick a track. It plays now, after the current track, or at the end of the queue.
  • Scenes:
    • trigger A new track starts gives title, artist, album and video_id to the next actions;
    • trigger Playback starts or pauses can be limited to "Playing" or "Paused" — for example, dim the lights when music starts in the evening;
    • trigger A player goes online or offline — for example, warn you when the PC of the living room turns off;
    • action Play a song by its name — for example, a wake-up radio: "Play jazz radio on Bedroom at 7:00". It returns found, title and artist;
    • action Like or dislike the current track, to rate a song from a wall button.
    • The usual "Control a device" action also works on the player features (volume, pause…).

Good to know​

  • The app can only queue single tracks: search shows songs and videos, not albums nor playlists.
  • "Stop" pauses: the app has no stop.
  • Recently played lists the tracks the integration saw since it started (50 per player).
  • The address and port identify a player. If you change them, Gladys sees a new device: delete the old one.
  • With an old version of the app (no live connection), Gladys reads the state every 5 seconds and the device shows an orange dot. Update the app to get live updates back.
  • The integration only talks to the app on your network (transport local). No cloud account, no API key.

Troubleshooting​

What you seeWhat to do
"No answer at 192.168.1.20:26538"Is the app open? Is API Server on, with hostname 0.0.0.0? Is port 26538 allowed?
"Access denied in the app"Use Authorize a player, then click Allow on the computer.
"Check the player list"An entry of Players cannot be read: write it as Name=192.168.1.20 or Name=host:port.
The device stays "unreachable"The computer is asleep or the app is closed. Gladys reconnects by itself when it comes back.
Nothing happens when I searchThe search uses your YouTube Music session in the app: check the app is signed in and online.

To see more in the logs, turn on Detailed logs in the configuration.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings YouTube Music Player asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Getting startedsectionNoThis integration drives the YouTube Music desktop app (th-ch/youtube-music) installed on a computer of your network. In the app, open Plugins, turn on "API Server" and keep its port (26538). Then list the computers below. The first time, the app asks you to allow Gladys: click Allow on the computer.
PlayersstringYesOne entry per computer running YouTube Music, separated by commas: Name=address[:port]. The port is 26538 when omitted.
Detailed logsbooleanNoLog every exchange with the apps (debug level), to diagnose a problem.

How to install YouTube Music Player in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: YouTube Music Player appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/prohand/gladys-youtubemusicplayer:0.0.1), 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/prohand/gladys-youtubemusicplayer.

YouTube Music Player requires Gladys >=5.3.0. 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​

YouTube Music Player 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 prohand, not by the Gladys core team.

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