Stream music from multiple services to all your speakers at once
Imagine combining tracks from various music services into a single list and playing them simultaneously on different speakers throughout your home. Music Assistant is a free open-source media library manager that makes this possible. The server runs on a device that must remain powered on, centralizing the organization and control of your music data.
Why use it with Home Assistant
Music Assistant can be used standalone, but it is designed with the assumption that it will be used alongside Home Assistant. Because it was built with automation in mind, running it via the Home Assistant app is the officially recommended installation method. The server supports a wide range of speakers connected to music streaming services, allowing you to build an integrated music environment without complex configuration.
Installation methods and system requirements
The officially supported installation methods are the Home Assistant app and Docker containers. These two approaches bundle all the system dependencies required by the server. Although the main code for Music Assistant is written in Python, it relies on external OS components such as the latest ffmpeg (6.1 or higher), a specific set of codecs, and jemalloc or CIFS/NFS client libraries. For this reason, it is not published on PyPI, and direct installation via pip is not supported. To run it from source for development purposes, you need Python 3.14 or higher and ffmpeg 6.1 or higher.
Preparations for running the server
This server must run on a device that stays powered on at all times. Devices such as Raspberry Pi, NAS, and Intel NUC are suitable. For the server to function correctly, the hardware and software environment mentioned above must be met, with particular importance placed on the ffmpeg version and codec support. If you are already using Home Assistant, you can start immediately by installing the app; otherwise, you can run it independently via a Docker container.
Things to check before use
Music Assistant is a free open-source project, but it depends on specific hardware and software environments. In particular, ffmpeg 6.1 or higher and certain native libraries are essential, so you should first verify that your device meets these requirements. If you do not use Home Assistant and want to run it standalone, you must execute it via a Docker container, in which case you still need to ensure that system dependencies are properly included. Documentation and support are provided through the official website and issue tracker, so you should use these channels if problems arise.