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On Linux, rockboxd registers itself on the session bus as org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.rockbox. This makes media keys, Now Playing applets, KDE/GNOME notifications and tools like playerctl Just Work.
Rockbox MPRIS integration

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Capabilities

The MPRIS interface is implemented in crates/mpris/ and exposes:
  • Player interface — Play, Pause, PlayPause, Stop, Next, Previous, Seek, SetPosition, Metadata, PlaybackStatus, LoopStatus, Shuffle, Volume
  • Root interface — Identity, DesktopEntry, SupportedUriSchemes, SupportedMimeTypes
  • TrackList interface — partial (track-level queue introspection)

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Quick test

playerctl --player rockbox play-pause
playerctl --player rockbox metadata
playerctl --player rockbox position 90

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Wiring up media keys

GNOME and KDE pick up MPRIS players automatically — no setup needed. For sway / Hyprland / dwm: 
# sway
bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec playerctl --player rockbox play-pause
bindsym XF86AudioNext exec playerctl --player rockbox next
bindsym XF86AudioPrev exec playerctl --player rockbox previous

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Now Playing applet

GNOME Shell, KDE’s Media Player widget, polybar’s mpris-tail, waybar’s mpris module — all consume MPRIS metadata directly.

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macOS

macOS has its own Now Playing system. Rockbox publishes to it through the MPNowPlayingInfoCenter API; you don’t need MPRIS on Mac. Media keys work out of the box.