Tomify

A self-hosted family music service built around our own CD collection.

The aim is simple: rip the CDs once, keep a lossless master library at home, stream it anywhere, and provide a polished installable web app for Tom and Anna with separate accounts and offline music.

Goals

• Rip CDs to FLAC as the archival/master format.
• Keep one canonical music library on a small Linux media server.
• Use Navidrome as the initial music server and streaming engine.
• Give Tom and Anna separate user accounts, favourites, playlists and listening history.
• Build a custom PWA front end rather than being tied permanently to Navidrome's supplied UI.
• Allow tracks, albums and playlists to be downloaded to a phone for offline playback.
• Support configurable offline quality so the server can keep FLAC masters while phones store smaller copies.
• Keep the whole system self-hosted, simple to back up, and recoverable without re-ripping the CD collection.

Proposed shape

CDs
 │
 ▼
Secure ripping / tagging
 │
 ▼
FLAC master library
 │
 ▼
Small Linux server
 ├── Navidrome
 ├── Transcoding
 ├── Metadata / artwork
 └── Backup
        │
        ▼
      HTTPS
        │
        ▼
Custom Tomify PWA
 ├── Tom account
 ├── Anna account
 ├── Streaming
 ├── Playlists / favourites
 ├── Offline downloads
 └── Lock-screen / media controls

Initial technology choices

These are working choices, not sacred cows.

Area	Initial choice
Master audio	FLAC
CD ripping	Exact Audio Copy or equivalent secure ripper
Metadata	MusicBrainz-compatible tagging workflow
Server OS	Linux
Deployment	Docker Compose
Music backend	Navidrome
Client API	OpenSubsonic/Subsonic-compatible API
Front end	Custom responsive PWA
Remote access	HTTPS, with deployment choice documented before exposure
Offline storage	Browser/PWA managed local storage
Backups	Separate backup of music masters plus application data

Principles

1. The FLAC library is the asset. Everything else can be rebuilt.
2. Do not couple the music files to the UI. Navidrome and Tomify should be replaceable independently.
3. Streaming and offline playback should use the same library and metadata.
4. Offline copies are disposable caches. The server remains the source of truth.
5. Start useful, then get sexy. Navidrome's own UI gets us listening quickly; the custom PWA can replace it incrementally.
6. No cloud dependency for core playback. If the internet is down at home, local playback should still work.
7. Back up before scale. We do not rip hundreds of CDs twice because we forgot the boring bit.

MVP

The first usable version is intentionally small:

• Linux host running Docker.
• Navidrome running against a read-only mounted FLAC library.
• Tom and Anna accounts.
• Remote access over HTTPS.
• Reliable ripping/tagging workflow.
• Tested backup and restore.
• Playback from desktop and mobile browsers.

Once that works, the custom Tomify PWA becomes the main development focus.

Custom PWA target

The PWA should eventually provide:

• Home / recently played / recently added.
• Artists, albums and tracks.
• Search.
• Favourites.
• Personal and shared playlists.
• Persistent player bar.
• Queue management.
• Media Session API integration for lock-screen/headset controls.
• Installable PWA behaviour on supported phones.
• Offline tracks, albums and playlists.
• Download quality selection.
• Offline storage management.
• Clear online/offline state.
• Graceful fallback when the home server is unreachable.

Offline playback

A user should be able to tap Download on a track, album or playlist.

The PWA will request either the original file or a transcoded copy from the server, store the audio plus required metadata/artwork locally, and make it available from an Offline / Downloads section with no network connection.

Planned qualities:

• Original / FLAC
• High quality
• Normal quality
• Space saver

Exact codecs/bitrates will be chosen during implementation based on browser support.

A later Keep downloaded mode should keep selected playlists or albums synchronised when the device next has a suitable connection.

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the proposed system design and docs/ROADMAP.md for the staged build plan.

Non-goals for the first version

• Spotify-style social network.
• Public music sharing.
• Recommendation algorithms.
• Reimplementing a music server before we know we need to.
• DRM.
• Native iOS/Android apps before the PWA has proven insufficient.

Future ideas

Once the core is solid:

• Smart playlists.
• Shared family playlists.
• Lyrics.
• Artist/album biographies.
• ReplayGain.
• Ratings.
• Listening statistics.
• Chromecast / AirPlay where practical.
• Android Auto / CarPlay options.
• Sonos / Home Assistant integration.
• Automatic library ingest.
• Assisted MusicBrainz tagging and artwork review.
• A dedicated CD ripping queue/workflow.
• Family presence such as “Anna is playing…”.

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Working title: Tomify. Because apparently cancelling Spotify is how software projects are born.