Nicolas
db815df7d5
Installed .NET 8 SDK (per-user, winget needed admin elevation this
machine doesn't have) and restored the real MediaBrowser.Server.Core /
MediaBrowser.Common packages, then fixed everything the compiler and
a bit of reflection surfaced:
- PlaybackProgressEventArgs/PlaybackStopEventArgs are in
MediaBrowser.Controller.Library, not ...Session
- IAuthorizationContext/AuthorizationInfo are in MediaBrowser.Controller.Net
- Item/user/session ids (SessionInfo.Id/UserId, BaseItemDto.Id) are plain
string on this SDK version, not Guid - Party/PartyMember updated
accordingly (Party.Id stays a Guid; it's minted by this plugin, not Emby)
- Reading the calling user needed an extra step:
IAuthorizationContext.GetAuthorizationInfo(Request).UserId is a `long`
(internal row id); .User.Id is the one matching SessionInfo.UserId,
but it's a Guid so it's reformatted with .ToString("N")
docs/architecture.md's "Assumptions to verify" now reflects what was
actually confirmed vs. what's still only compile-checked (HTTP status
codes, content-type headers, the JS auth header format, the dashboard
config page) pending a run against a real server.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
|
||
|---|---|---|
| .github/workflows | ||
| docs | ||
| src/WatchParty | ||
| web/control-panel | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| LICENSE | ||
| README.md | ||
Watch Party for Emby
An Emby Server plugin that lets a group of users on the same server watch the same title together. Nobody switches players: everyone keeps using their normal Emby app (web, mobile, TV, whatever), and the plugin nudges playback back in sync using the same remote-control commands Emby already uses for casting / "play on another device".
See docs/architecture.md for the full design, including which parts are solidly confirmed against Emby's SDK docs and which still need verification against your exact server build.
How it's meant to work
- You start playing a title in your normal Emby app.
- You open the Watch Party control panel (a small web page the plugin serves) and start a party. You get a 6-character join code.
- Friends open the control panel, sign in with their own Emby account, start playing the same title in their own Emby app, and enter the code to join.
- The server treats one member (the host, by default) as the reference position, and periodically nudges everyone else's session back in sync (seek correction, and mirroring pause/unpause) — see docs/architecture.md.
The control panel is a companion page, not a video player — it never touches the actual video stream.
Status
Builds clean (0 errors, 0 warnings) against the real MediaBrowser.Server.Core
/ MediaBrowser.Common 4.9.1.90 assemblies from NuGet. Not yet installed or
run against an actual Emby Server — a few things (auth header format, HTTP
status codes, the dashboard settings page rendering) are only compile-checked
so far, not runtime-verified. See
docs/architecture.md for
exactly what was wrong on the first guess, what was fixed, and what's still
open.
Requirements
- Emby Server (developed against 4.9.5.0; should work on nearby 4.9.x/4.8.x builds, but the plugin ABI does shift between versions)
- .NET SDK 8.0 to build (installed
per-user under
%USERPROFILE%\.dotnetin this environment, since the machine-wide winget install needed admin elevation that wasn't available — see git history if you need to redo this on another machine)
Project layout
src/WatchParty/ the plugin itself (C#, netstandard2.0)
Plugin.cs plugin registration + admin settings page
Configuration/ plugin settings + the dashboard config page HTML
Parties/ Party / PartyMember model + in-memory PartyManager
Sync/ the drift-correction background loop
Api/ REST endpoints + serving the control panel's static files
web/control-panel/ the user-facing page (plain HTML/JS/CSS, no build step)
docs/architecture.md full design doc
Building
dotnet build src/WatchParty/WatchParty.csproj
To have a build drop the DLL straight into a local Emby Server's plugin
folder, set EMBY_PLUGINS_DIR before building, e.g.:
EMBY_PLUGINS_DIR="C:/ProgramData/Emby-Server/programdata/plugins" dotnet build src/WatchParty/WatchParty.csproj
Adjust the path for however your server is installed (Windows service vs. portable install vs. Docker volume).
Roadmap
- Design doc + scaffold
- Build against the real SDK, fix whatever the
TODO(verify)spots got wrong - Try it against a real Emby Server + two clients
- Live (WebSocket) updates in the control panel instead of polling
- Optional text chat, reusing the same realtime channel
- Per-party override of sync settings instead of only server-wide defaults
License
MIT — see LICENSE.