> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://rockboxzig.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# FAQ

> Common questions about Rockbox Daemon.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What's the difference between Rockbox and Rockbox Daemon?">
    [Rockbox](https://www.rockbox.org) is firmware for portable audio
    players. Rockbox Daemon wraps that same C audio engine in Rust and Zig
    services, exposing it on a desktop/server as a single `rockboxd` binary
    with gRPC, GraphQL, HTTP and MPD APIs and multi-room output sinks.
    The DSP, codecs and tag database come straight from upstream Rockbox.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does it really run on a Raspberry Pi?">
    Yes. Linux ARM64 builds are on the
    [Releases page](https://github.com/tsirysndr/rockboxd/releases). It
    runs comfortably on a Pi 4; on a Pi 3 expect Typesense indexing to be
    slower on first scan but playback is fine.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which audio formats are supported?">
    MP3, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, AAC, ALAC, Opus, Musepack, WMA, APE,
    Wavpack, Speex, AIFF, AC3, SID and several more — 20+ codecs total. The
    codec list comes from upstream Rockbox; see
    [`AUDIO_EXTENSIONS`](https://github.com/tsirysndr/rockboxd/blob/master/crates/server/src/lib.rs)
    for what is auto-scanned into the library.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I stream from YouTube / Spotify / Tidal?">
    Not yet. Generic HTTP(S) stream URLs work — you can queue them and
    playback works through the netstream layer in `crates/netstream/`. Rich
    provider integrations (YouTube, Spotify, Tidal) are on the roadmap.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why not just use mpd / Mopidy / Volumio / Snapcast directly?">
    You can — they're great projects. Rockbox Daemon differs in that the
    audio engine, DSP, parametric EQ and crossfade are the upstream Rockbox
    implementation rather than ALSA's defaults. If you specifically want
    Rockbox's sound (dithering, PBE, Haas surround, ReplayGain pipeline, the
    EQ presets) on a desktop or server, this is one way to get it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Multi-room: AirPlay vs Snapcast vs Squeezelite — which one?">
    * **AirPlay** — pick this if you have Apple TVs / HomePods / shairport-sync
      receivers. Built-in fan-out, \~8 ms tight sync.
    * **Snapcast** — best when you have or are willing to deploy snapserver and
      multiple snapclients. Works on every platform, very tight sync.
    * **Squeezelite** — pick this if you already run squeezelite or
      Logitech-style hardware. One rockboxd serves any number of squeezelite
      clients with per-client cursors into a 4 MB shared buffer.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does it work with my MPD client?">
    Probably. Rockbox runs an MPD-compatible server on port 6600. `mpc`,
    `ncmpcpp`, MALP, M.A.L.P. and Cantata are all tested. If your client
    breaks on something Rockbox-specific, please open an issue.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I run rockboxd headless / as a service?">
    Yes — `rockbox service install` registers a user-level systemd unit. See
    [Installation](/installation#run-as-a-systemd-service).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where are the listening stats stored?">
    SQLite, in `~/.config/rockbox.org/library.db`. The
    [smart playlist rules](/sdks/typescript) read from this database.
    You can record `played` / `skipped` events manually from any SDK or via
    the REST endpoints `POST /track-stats/{id}/played` and
    `POST /track-stats/{id}/skipped`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why a single binary?">
    Simpler to deploy, simpler to debug, and the firmware/Rust boundary is
    already complex enough that adding IPC on top would be a step backward.
    The C audio engine and the Rust services share memory through static
    libraries linked by Zig — see [Architecture](/architecture/overview).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does it support Bluetooth?">
    On Linux, yes — pairing/connecting is exposed through the REST and
    GraphQL APIs (and SDKs). On macOS and Windows, no first-party
    integration; use the OS-level Bluetooth stack and route the built-in
    CPAL output to the BT device.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I write a plugin?">
    Yes. Every SDK ships a Jellyfin-style plugin lifecycle:

    ```ts theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"min-dark"}}
    const SleepTimer = (minutes: number): RockboxPlugin => ({
      name: 'sleep-timer',
      version: '1.0.0',
      install({ events, query }) {
        setTimeout(() => query('mutation { hardStop }'), minutes * 60_000);
      },
    });

    await client.use(SleepTimer(30));
    ```

    Wasm extensions inside `rockboxd` itself are on the roadmap.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I contribute?">
    Read the [Contributing guide](https://github.com/tsirysndr/rockboxd/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md),
    hop into [Discord](https://discord.gg/tXPrgcPKSt), and open a PR. Build
    from source with the [build instructions](/architecture/build).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>