CLI reference

rockbox and rockboxd — the two binaries you’ll interact with.

There are two binaries:

• rockbox — user-facing wrapper. Starts the server, scans the library, opens the web UI, manages the systemd service, runs JS/TS scripts, and acts as a Bluetooth client on Linux.
• rockboxd — the daemon itself. Linked by Zig from the C firmware
  • Rust crates + SDL2. Lives at zig/zig-out/bin/rockboxd after a build, or /usr/local/bin/rockboxd after install.

Most users only ever invoke rockbox; rockboxd is the underlying process it spawns.

rockbox

rockbox [--rebuild] [SUBCOMMAND]

Running rockbox with no subcommand starts the server. The subcommands below are dispatched in cli/src/main.rs.

Global flags

Flag	Description
--rebuild, -r	Rebuild the Typesense search index after scan
-h, --help	Print help
-V, --version	Print the version

Subcommands

Subcommand	Aliases	Description
(none)		Start the server
start [-r]		Start the server
scan [-d PATH] [-r]		Scan a library directory; -r rebuilds the search index
webui	web	Open the web UI in your browser
tui		Start the terminal UI
repl	shell	Start the Rockbox REPL
run <FILE>	x	Run a JS/TS script via Deno against the local rockboxd
open <PATH_OR_URL>		Play a local file or HTTP URL directly
clear		Clear the current playlist
service install		Install + enable the systemd unit
service uninstall		Disable + remove the systemd unit
service status		Show the unit status
login <handle>	auth	Log in to Rocksky (BlueSky handle)
whoami	me	Show the currently logged-in user
community		Open the Discord invite
setup		Install host dependencies (SDL2, etc.)
bluetooth scan [--timeout S]		Linux only — scan for Bluetooth devices
bluetooth devices		Linux only — list known devices
bluetooth connect <ADDR>		Linux only — connect to a device
bluetooth disconnect <ADDR>		Linux only — disconnect a device

Examples

# Start the daemon
rockbox start

# Scan the default music_dir, rebuild the search index
rockbox scan -r

# Scan a specific path
rockbox scan -d "/Volumes/Music/Recently Added"

# Play a URL
rockbox open "https://stream.example.com/jazz.mp3"

# Install as a systemd user service
rockbox service install
rockbox service status

# Run a small script against a local rockboxd
rockbox run scripts/scrobble.ts

# Bluetooth (Linux)
rockbox bluetooth scan --timeout 15
rockbox bluetooth connect AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

rockboxd

The daemon. Usually you don’t run it directly — rockbox start or the systemd unit handles it. When you do invoke it manually, it takes no subcommands; behaviour is driven by environment variables and ~/.config/rockbox.org/settings.toml.

rockboxd

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
RUST_LOG	info	Tracing filter (per-crate supported)
ROCKBOX_TCP_PORT	6063	HTTP REST bind port
ROCKBOX_GRAPHQL_PORT	6062	GraphQL bind port
ROCKBOX_RPC_PORT	6061	gRPC bind port
ROCKBOX_MPD_PORT	6600	MPD bind port
ROCKBOX_LIBRARY	$HOME/Music	Default music library path
ROCKBOX_ADDR	(auto-detected LAN IP)	Address advertised to external players
ROCKBOX_UPDATE_LIBRARY	unset	When 1, rebuild Typesense on startup
HOME	(system)	Used to derive config and library paths

Stdout / stderr

• Stderr — tracing log output. Always safe to redirect or filter.
• Stdout — normally empty, except when audio_output = "fifo" with fifo_path = "-", in which case stdout is raw S16LE 44.1 kHz PCM.

rockboxd | ffplay -f s16le -ar 44100 -ac 2 -

Logging

RUST_LOG=debug rockboxd
RUST_LOG=rockbox_airplay=debug,rockbox_slim=debug,info rockboxd

Never use eprintln! / println! from inside the codebase — they bypass the structured filter and pollute stdout (which breaks FIFO mode). Use tracing::{debug,info,warn,error}! in Rust code.

Files

Path	Purpose
~/.config/rockbox.org/settings.toml	Persistent configuration
~/.config/rockbox.org/library.db	SQLite library + listening stats
~/.config/rockbox.org/playlists/	Saved playlists
~/.config/systemd/user/rockboxd.service	systemd unit (after service install)