SNAPSERVER(1)

📦
version 0.35.0 · 4 versions
, in alpine 3.24, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ SNAPSERVER(1) — the general commands manual, but make it a vibe ✨

okay bestie, pull up a chair, we're reading the snapserver man page together and honestly? it's giving main character energy. this is the General Commands Manual entry for snapserver, and by the end you're gonna know her like she's your roommate. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

snapserver — the Snapcast server. that's it. that's the girl. 👑

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

snapserver [OPTION]...

literally just run her with whatever options you want. no cap.

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so. Snapcast is a multiroom client-server audio player, and the whole slay is that every client is time synchronized with the server so they all play perfectly synced audio. 🔥 like, not "close enough" synced, not "eh it's fine" synced — perfectly.

important though: it's not a standalone player. she's not out here playing your music for you. she's an extension that turns whatever audio player you already have into a Sonos-like multiroom solution. it's giving glow-up. 💅

the server's audio input is a named pipe at /tmp/snapfifo. everything you feed into that file gets sent out to all the connected clients. iconic behavior honestly.

and the most generic way to use Snapcast? pair her up with the music player daemon or Mopidy, both of which can be configured to use a named pipe as their audio output. iykyk. 🦋

✨ Allowed options: ✨

  • -h, --help — produces the help message. and ooh, plot twist: use -hh if you want to see the options from the config file too. double the help, double the fun. 🍓
  • -v, --version — shows the version number. tiny but mighty.
  • -d, --daemon [=arg(=0)] — daemonize her, with an optional process priority of [-20..19]. 👑
  • -c, --config arg (=/etc/snapserver.conf) — path to the configuration file. defaults to /etc/snapserver.conf if you don't say otherwise.

🧚 FILES 🧚

  • /tmp/snapfifo — the PCM input fifo file. this is the pipe you feed your audio into. 🎶
  • /etc/default/snapserver — the daemon default configuration file.
  • /etc/snapserver.conf — the snapserver configuration file.
  • ~/.config/snapcast/server.json — the persistent server data file. or, if $HOME is not set, she uses /var/lib/snapcast/server.json instead. she always has a backup plan, periodt. 💜

Copyright (C) 2014-2025 Johannes Pohl (snapcast@badaix.de). License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.

this is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. and listen — There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. so like, no take-backsies, bestie. 😭

💀 SEE ALSO 💀

  • snapclient(1) — go read her sister's page too, they're a package deal. 🫶

and that's the whole page!! written September 2025, this is the SNAPSERVER(1) entry, and honestly she ate. go sync some audio, bestie. 🌟💅✨

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