MBXHub

by HALRAD Research

MBXHub + Lyrion (LMS): MusicBee on Every Squeezebox, with AutoQ Picking What Plays Next

Rendered from lms-dstm-prompt.md • back to worked examples

Example LMS plugin source files result of the prompt below here: musicbee-mbxhub-lms-dstm.zip

A prompt-style worked example (like the playlist charm): everything an AI coding agent needs to build a Lyrion Music Server plugin against a running MBXHub. Two pieces, one plugin:

  1. A music source — browse, search, and stream the MusicBee library on every Squeezebox / squeezelite player in the house.
  2. The hero: a "Don't Stop the Music" provider — pick one of your saved AutoQ stations on the player and go: when the queue runs dry, AutoQ decides what plays next, programmed by the engine running inside MusicBee. Stations are exposed read-only; you build and train them in MBXHub.

The plugin contains no MusicBee code and no mood math. MBXHub already solved the hard parts; the LMS plugin is a thin REST client.

Getting MBXHub

Everything on this page assumes a running MBXHub — a plugin for MusicBee (3.5 or later, Windows). Get it from the download page. Setup is a couple of minutes:

  1. Download-install MusicBee 3.7 recomended.

    1. Get 3.6 Downloads
    2. 3.7 patch https://getmusicbee.com/patches/MusicBee37_Patched.zip

  2. Download & unzip** the latest bundle.

  3. https://mbxhub.com/downloads/rc/MBX-bundle-latest.zip

  4. Copy the DLL and EXE files to your MusicBee Plugins\ folder (default: C:\Program Files (x86)\MusicBee\Plugins\).

    (portable MusicBee\Plugins)

  5. Start MusicBee — MBXHub loads automatically.

  6. Allow network access: open Tools → MBXHub Settings and use the Firewall section, or open the port in Windows Firewall yourself.

  7. Enjoy: browse to http://localhost:8080 for the dashboard, or http://localhost:8080/llms.txt for the API reference this page builds on.

You also need a running Lyrion Music Server (the community continuation of Logitech Media Server) with at least one player — Squeezebox hardware or squeezelite software.

The architecture

Squeezebox players ──► LMS (Perl plugin) ──► MBXHub REST ──► MusicBee library
                            │                       │
                            └── DSTM hook ──► AutoQ engine (moods, stations,
                                              reactions, candidate filter)

One deliberate boundary: transport state is never bridged. MusicBee stays the curator and brain; LMS players own their own play queues. The plugin only ever reads library data, streams audio, and asks AutoQ for picks.

The endpoint map — same base set as the MCP example, plus stations

Plugin concernMBXHub endpoint
Browse albums / drill downGET /library/albums, GET /library/files?album=…&people=…
Search (full query DSL)GET /search?q=artist:Miles%20Davis&types=tracks&dsl=true
Stream a trackGET /stream/{URL-encoded absolute path} (HTTP range supported — seeking works)
ArtworkGET /library/file/{URL-encoded absolute path}/artwork (binary)
Playlists (list / contents)GET /playlists, GET /playlists/{url}/files
Saved stations (read-only list)GET /autoq/stations
Station detail (seeds + flow)GET /autoq/stations/{id}
DSTM picks for the chosen stationPOST /autoq/radio/generate with {"seedUrls": <station seeds>, "flow": <station flow>, "count":10} — stateless, never touches MusicBee's queue or radio

Stations are exposed, not edited: the plugin lists them, you pick one on the player, and that's it. When LMS asks for more music, the plugin fetches the chosen station's seeds and calls /autoq/radio/generate — AutoQ's funnel, taste model, quotas, and the operator's candidate filter all apply server-side, and the plugin just forwards /stream/… URLs. Creating, renaming, and training stations stays in MusicBee/MBXHub where it belongs.

Journeys don't need plugin code at all: build a journey in MBXHub (browse tray or the AutoQ Workbench), Save as playlist — it appears in the plugin's Playlists menu and plays on any Squeezebox like any other playlist.

Build it with one prompt

Paste this to Claude (or any coding agent that can fetch a URL):

Read https://mbxhub.com/llms.txt — it is the complete API reference for MBXHub, a REST layer over a MusicBee library.

Build a basic Lyrion Music Server (LMS, formerly Logitech Media Server) plugin in Perl called MBXHub. Crib the plugin skeleton, install.xml, and repository conventions from a current open-source LMS source plugin. Keep it to the base REST calls plus read-only stations:

  1. A browse/search/stream music source: top-level menu "MBXHub Library" with Albums (GET /library/albums), Artists drilldown, Search wired to GET /search?q=…&types=tracks&dsl=true, and Playlists (GET /playlists, tracks via GET /playlists/{url}/files). Every track plays via GET /stream/{URL-encoded absolute file path} on the Hub (range requests are supported, so seeking works). Show artwork via the artwork endpoint.

  2. A "Stations" menu + a "Don't Stop the Music" provider named "AutoQ (MBXHub)": list saved stations from GET /autoq/stations (READ-ONLY — no create, rename, or delete from the plugin). The user picks a station; when LMS asks for more tracks, fetch that station's record from GET /autoq/stations/{id} and POST its seedUrls + flow to /autoq/radio/generate as {"seedUrls":[…], "flow":"…", "count":10}, returning the picks as stream URLs. If no station is picked, do nothing gracefully.

Plugin settings page: MBXHub host and port (no discovery — manual entry), optional HTTP Basic Auth username/password applied to every request. All calls are LAN HTTP with short timeouts and graceful failure (log and return empty rather than hanging the player). Do not attempt to control MusicBee playback or mirror LMS transport state back to the Hub — this plugin is read/stream/ask-only. No journey features: journeys are built in MBXHub and saved as playlists, which this plugin already plays.

What you get

Notes