SWAMP Controller

Interactive command-line controller for Crestron SWAMP media amplifier systems.

Features

• Interactive Shell: User-friendly command prompt with autocomplete
• TCP Server: Listens for connections from SWAMP devices
• State Management: Maintains local state synchronized with device
• Multi-zone Support: Commands automatically broadcast to all zones in a target
• Pluggable Protocol: Protocol handler designed for easy extension
• Home Assistant Integration: Native HA integration with media player entities

Home Assistant Integration

This project includes a Home Assistant integration that exposes your Crestron SWAMP system as media player entities in Home Assistant. Each target (room/zone) appears as a controllable media player with volume control, source selection, and power control.

Installation via HACS (Recommended)

Note: This is a custom HACS repository. You need to add it manually using the instructions below.

1. Ensure HACS is installed in your Home Assistant instance
2. Add this repository as a custom repository in HACS:
   • Open HACS in Home Assistant
   • Go to "Integrations"
   • Click the three dots menu (top right) and select "Custom repositories"
   • Add https://github.com/jaroy/swamp-controller as an Integration
   • Click "Add"
3. Find "Crestron SWAMP Controller" in HACS and click "Download"
4. Restart Home Assistant
5. Add the integration through Settings > Devices & Services > Add Integration

The crestron-swamp-controller package will be automatically installed from PyPI when you add the integration.

See HOMEASSISTANT.md for more detailed installation instructions and configuration options.

Features

• Media player entity for each target/zone
• Real-time state updates from SWAMP device
• Volume control (0-100%)
• Source selection from configured sources
• Power on/off control
• Device availability tracking

CLI Installation

1. Ensure Python 3.12+ is installed
2. Create and activate virtual environment:

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Linux/Mac
   # or
   .venv\Scripts\activate  # On Windows
   

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Configuration

Edit config/config.yaml to define your audio sources and target zones:

# Volume (0-100) a zone is set to when its player is turned on, so enabling a zone
# isn't silent. Optional (defaults to 40); can be overridden per target.
default-volume: 40

sources:
  - id: music-a
    name: Player A
    swamp-source-id: 4
    # Optional: the HA media_player that renders this source into the SWAMP input
    # (e.g. a Music Assistant player). Zones routed to this source proxy that
    # player's play/pause state, now-playing metadata, and transport controls.
    upstream-player: media_player.player_a

targets:
  - id: office-terrace
    name: Office Terrace
    default-volume: 30   # optional per-zone override
    swamp-zones:
      - unit: 3
        zone: 1

Proxying source playback state (upstream-player)

The SWAMP hardware only knows a zone's volume, selected source, and on/off state — it has no concept of play/pause, the current track, or a queue. That information lives on whatever HA media_player actually renders the audio into the SWAMP input (for example, the Music Assistant player feeding a source). Set upstream-player on a source to that entity_id, and any zone routed to that source will mirror the upstream player's transport state and now-playing metadata, and forward play/pause/stop/next/previous to it.

Because a SWAMP input is a single shared stream, every zone on the same source shows the same now-playing — which matches reality. The upstream player's queue itself isn't part of HA's media_player model; point a Music Assistant card at the upstream entity for full queue control.

On the SWAMP

We have to tell the SWAMP to connect to us instead of a Crestron processor. Use these TELNET commands:

adds 51 <IP address> 4 <port>
reboot

Note that you can see the currently configured controller with the ipt command:

$ telnet 192.168.1.89
Trying 192.168.1.89...
Connected to 192.168.1.89.
Escape character is '^]'.

SWAMP Control Console
Connected to Host: SWAMP-00107FE7C4CD

SWAMP>ipt
CIP_ID  Type    Status     DevID  Port   IP Address/SiteName
    51  GWAY    ONLINE        4   41794  010.194.005.251

Usage

Start the controller:

python -m swamp

Or with custom port:

python -m swamp --port 41794

Or with custom config:

python -m swamp --config /path/to/config.yaml

Available Commands

Once the shell is running, you can use these commands:

Route audio source to target

route <source-id> <target-id>

Example: route music-a office

Set volume

volume <target-id> <level>

Example: volume office 75

Adjust volume relatively

volume <target-id> +/-<delta>

Example: volume office +10 or volume office -5

Power control

power <target-id> on <source-id>
power <target-id> off

Power on requires a source (zones need a source to be "on"). Power off sets the source to 0.

Examples:

• power office on music-a - Power on office with music-a as source
• power office off - Power off office

Show status

status [target-id]

Example: status office or status (shows all)

Send WHOIS request

whois

Sends a WHOIS request (0f 00 01 02) to the connected SWAMP device. This is automatically sent when a device connects.

List sources or targets

list sources
list targets

Get help

help

Exit

quit

Architecture

The controller works by impersonating a Crestron processor gateway, e.g. a Crestron CP3. The client is the SWAMP and it connects to our server which then establishes the communication link.

User Shell (REPL)
       ↓
Controller (orchestration)
       ↓
State Manager (zone/source mapping)
       ↓
Protocol Handler (pluggable)
       ↓
TCP Server (asyncio)

Components

• Models: Data classes for configuration and state
• Core: Configuration loading, state management, orchestration
• Protocol: Abstract protocol handler with stub implementation
• Network: Asyncio TCP server for SWAMP device connections
• Shell: Command parser and interactive REPL

Protocol Implementation

The Protocol Handler partially implements the Crestron Internet Protocol (CIP), a proprietary protocol for communication between Crestron devices. Only the message types for basic control of the SWAMP system are implemented.

Message Format

All CIP messages follow this format:

• Byte 0: Message type
• Bytes 1-2: Remaining length (total bytes - 3) in big-endian
• Bytes 3+: Payload

Example: 0a 00 0a 00 51 a3 42 40 02 00 00 00 00

• Type: 0x0a (CLIENT_SIGNON)
• Length: 0x00 0x0a = 10 bytes remaining
• Payload: 00 51 a3 42 40 02 00 00 00 00 (10 bytes)
• Total: 1 + 2 + 10 = 13 bytes

Implemented Messages

• WHOIS (0f 00 01 02) - Sent automatically when client connects, also available via whois command
• PING (0d 00 02 00 00) - Automatically detected and triggers PONG response. Sent periodically in the background.
• PONG (0e 00 02 00 00) - Sent automatically in response to PING
• CLIENT_SIGNON (0a ...) - Sent by device on connect, triggers CONN_ACCEPTED response
• CONN_ACCEPTED (02 00 04 00 00 00 03) - Sent automatically in response to CLIENT_SIGNON
• JOIN (05 ...) - The actual control messages for setting and getting information about the SWAMP

Unknown Message Handling

Any message not recognized will be printed to the console in hex format, making it easy to discover and implement new message types.

Example output:

Unknown message type ff (4 bytes): ff aa bb cc
Recognized but unimplemented message type 0a (13 bytes): 0a 00 0a 00 51 a3 42 40 02 00 00 00 00

Adding New Message Types

To add support for a new message type, edit swamp/protocol/swamp_protocol.py:

1. Add the message type to decode_message() dispatcher
2. Create a _decode_message_type_XX() method
3. Implement encoding methods if needed:
   • encode_route_command() - Route audio source to zone
   • encode_volume_command() - Set zone volume
   • encode_power_command() - Control zone power

Development

Run tests:

pytest

The test suite uses dynamic port allocation (via get_free_port()) to avoid conflicts with running instances of the controller.

Enable debug logging:

python -m swamp --log-level DEBUG

Run on a different port:

python -m swamp --port 41795

License

Copyright © 2025