gukebox 0.9.0

A Jukebox to play music on speakers using 'CD' with NFC tag

Jukebox [gukebox]

💿 Play music on speakers using NFC tags.

🚧 At the moment:

• NFC tags - CDs must be pre-populated in a JSON file (discstore included with jukebox may be of help to you)
• supports many music providers (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.), just add the URIs to the JSON file
• only works with Sonos speakers (there is a "dryrun" player for development), but code is designed to add new ones
• as soon as the NFC tag is removed, the music pauses, then resumes when the NFC tag is replaced

💡 Inspired by:

• https://github.com/hankhank10/vinylemulator
• https://github.com/zacharycohn/jukebox

📋 Table of contents:

• Install
• First steps
  • Discstore
• Usage
  • Readers
  • Players
• The library file
• Developer setup

Notes

Python 3.7 is supported by Jukebox up to version 0.4.1.

Python 3.8 is supported by Jukebox up to version 0.5.4.

The ui extension is only available for Python versions 3.10 and above.

Install

Install the package from PyPI.

[!WARNING] The package name is gukebox with g instead of a j (due to a name already taken).

[!NOTE] The nfc extra is optional but required for NFC reading, check compatibility.

Recommended installation

Use pip in a virtual environment.

1. If your Python version is 3.13 or newer and you want NFC support, install the system GPIO binding:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-lgpio

2. Create a virtual environment:

# Python < 3.13
python3 -m venv jukebox

# Python >= 3.13 for NFC: use the system Python and include system packages
python3 -m venv --system-site-packages jukebox

source jukebox/bin/activate

3. Install gukebox into the virtual environment:

pip install "gukebox[nfc]"

[!IMPORTANT] For NFC on Python 3.13+, use the system Python that comes with your OS. A separately installed Python 3.13+ from uv, pyenv, Homebrew, or similar may not be able to import the system lgpio package, even when using --system-site-packages. If you already upgraded to a non-system Python 3.13+, use the system Python instead or use Python 3.12 or lower.

Alternative installations

• pipx can be used with --system-site-packages.
• uvx / uv tool install are not recommended for NFC on Python 3.13+ because they may select a non-system interpreter.
• For non-system Python 3.13+, you can still install via pip/uv/poetry/etc. but you must build the lgpio package from source and it may require other system packages.
• All releases can be downloaded and installed from the GitHub releases page.

Developer setup

For development read the Developer setup section.

tl;dr:

git clone https://github.com/Gudsfile/jukebox.git
uv sync

First steps

Set the JUKEBOX_SONOS_HOST environment variable with the IP address of your Sonos Zone Player (see Available players and readers).

Initialize the library file with discstore or manually create it at ~/.jukebox/library.json.

Manage the library with the discstore

To associate an URI with an NFC tag:

discstore add tag_id --uri /path/to/media.mp3

or to pull the tag_id currently on the reader:

discstore add --from-current --uri /path/to/media.mp3

Other commands are available, use --help to see them.

To use the api and ui commands, additional packages are required. You can install the package[extra] syntax regardless of the package manager you use, for example:

# Python 3.9+ required
uv tool install gukebox[api]

# Python 3.10+ required, ui includes the api extra
uv tool install gukebox[ui]

When running from this repository with uv, include the extra on the command as well:

uv run --extra api discstore api
uv run --extra ui discstore ui

Manage the library manually

Complete your ~/.jukebox/library.json file with each tag id and the expected media URI. Take a look at library.example.json and the The library file section for more information.

Usage

Start the jukebox with the jukebox command (show help message with --help)

jukebox PLAYER_TO_USE READER_TO_USE

🎉 With choosing the sonos player and nfc reader, by approaching a NFC tag stored in the library.json file, you should hear the associated music begins.

Optional Parameters

Parameter	Description
--help	Show help message.
--library	Path to the library file, default: ~/.jukebox/library.json.
--pause-delay SECONDS	Grace period before pausing when the NFC tag is removed. Fractional values such as 0.5 or 0.2 are supported, with a minimum of 0.2 seconds to avoid pausing on brief missed reads. Default: 0.25 seconds.
--pause-duration SECONDS	Maximum duration of a pause before resetting the queue. Default: 900 seconds (15 minutes).
--verbose	Enable verbose logging.
--version	Show version.

Readers

Dry run (dryrun) Read a text entry. Allows you to simulate reading an NFC tag by writting the tag id in the console. Expected syntax: tag_id or tag_id duration_seconds.

• tag_id: the full identifier of the tag, in the format required by the system
• duration_seconds: a non-negative number of seconds used to simulate how long the tag remains in place. Fractional values are allowed. Complete example: your:tag:uid 2.5

NFC (nfc) Read an NFC tag and get its UID. This project works with an NFC reader like the PN532 and NFC tags like the NTAG2xx. It is configured according to the Waveshare PN532 wiki. Don't forget to enable the SPI interface using the command sudo raspi-config, then go to: Interface Options > SPI > Enable > Yes.

Players

Dry run (dryrun) Displays the events that a real speaker would have performed (playing …, pause, etc.).

Sonos (sonos) Play music through a Sonos speaker. JUKEBOX_SONOS_HOST environment variable must be set with the IP address of your Sonos Zone Player. You could set the environment varible with export JUKEBOX_SONOS_HOST=192.168.0.??? to use this speaker through the jukebox command. Or set it in a .env file to use the uv run --env-file .env <command to run> version.

The library file

The library.json file is a JSON file that contains the artists, albums and tags. It is used by the jukebox command to find the corresponding metadata for each tag. And the discstore command help you to managed this file with a CLI, an interactive CLI, an API or an UI (see discstore --help).

By default, this file should be placed at ~/.jukebox/library.json. But you can use another path by creating a JUKEBOX_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable or with the --library argument.

{
  "discs": {
    "a:tag:uid": {
      "uri": "URI of a track, an album or a playlist on many providers",
      "option": { "shuffle": true }
    },
    "another:tag:uid": {
      "uri": "uri"
    },
    …
  }
}

The discs part is a dictionary containing NFC tag UIDs. Each UID is associated with an URI. URIs are the URIs of the music providers (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) and relate to tracks, albums, playlists, etc.

metadata is an optional section where the names of the artist, album, song, or playlist are entered:

    "a:tag:uid": {
      "uri": "uri",
      "metadata": { "artist": "artist" }
    }

It is also possible to use the shuffle key to play the album in shuffle mode:

    "a:tag:uid": {
      "uri": "uri",
      "option": { "shuffle": true }
    }

To summarize, for example, if you have the following ~/.jukebox/library.json file:

{
  "discs": {
    "ta:g1:id": {
      "uri": "uri1",
      "metadata": { "artist": "a", "album": "a" }
    },
    "ta:g2:id": {
      "uri": "uri2",
      "metadata": { "playlist": "b" },
      "option": { "shuffle": true }
    }
  }
}

Then, the jukebox will find the metadata for the tag ta:g2:id and will send the uri2 to the speaker so that it plays playlist "b" in random order.

Developer setup

Install

Install the project by cloning it and using uv to install the dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/Gudsfile/jukebox.git
uv sync

Add --all-extras to install dependencies for all extras (api and ui).

Set the JUKEBOX_SONOS_HOST environment variable with the IP address of your Sonos Zone Player (see Available players and readers). To do this you can use a .env file and uv run --env-file .env <command to run>. A .env.example file is available, you can copy it and modify it to use it.

Create a library.json file and complete it with the desired NFC tags and CDs. Take a look at library.example.json and the The library file section for more information.

Usage

Start the jukebox with uv and use --help to show help message

uv run jukebox PLAYER_TO_USE READER_TO_USE

Start the discstore uv and use --help to show help message

uv run discstore --help

For the server-backed commands, include the matching extra:

uv run --extra api discstore api
uv run --extra ui discstore ui

Other commands are available:

Command	Description
uv run ruff format	Format the code.
uv run ruff check	Check the code.
uv run ruff check --fix	Fix the code.
uv run pytest	Run the tests.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or a pull request.