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# Google Cast (Chromecast)

If your media device can be Cast to using this button on your phone/computer then multi-scrobbler can monitor it in order to scrobble music you play.

note

Google Cast support is experimental. You may experience crashes and errors while using this Source. Please open an issue if you experience problems and include all information detailed in the issue template to help debug your issue.

note

This source relies on common, basic music data provided by the cast device which will always be less exhaustive than data parsed from full source integrations. If there is an existing Source it is recommended to configure for it and blacklist the app on Google Cast, rather than relying solely on Google Cast for scrobbling.

#### Connecting Devices​

Cast devices can be manually configured using file-based configuration OR automatically discovered using mDNS.

###### mDNS Discovery​

The host machine running multi-scrobbler must be configured to allow mDNS traffic on port 5353/UDP.

OS Specific Instructions

- Linux
- Windows

Docker

The host machine must have avahi-daemon running to circumvent limitations with DNS resolution due to musl in Alpine. Most major linux distributions package avahi and many have it built-in. Once avahi is running you must pass D-Bus and the avahi daemon socket to your container like so:

    docker run ... -v /var/run/dbus:/var/run/dbus -v  	/var/run/avahi-daemon/socket:/var/run/avahi-daemon/socket ... foxxmd/multi-scrobbler

Flatpak/Nodejs

No additional steps are required.

Docker

Unsupported at this time.

Nodejs

No additional steps are required.

#### What Media Does MS Scrobble?​

Cast devices report what type of media the current activity is (see `metadata` property here). The reported type is dependent on the application playing the media to correctly report it, the cast device does not magically know what the media is. If an application does not report a type it is always classified as `unknown`.

By default, MS will only track media that is reported as `MusicTrack`.

##### Allow Unknown Media Type​

Media with an Unknown (`Generic`) media type can be explicitly allowed by setting `"allowUnknownMedia": true` in the file-based configuration. This can also be configured to only allow unknown media types for specific applications by using a list of application names.

Example
chromecast.json

    [
      {
        "name": "MyCast",
        "type": "chromecast",
        "data": {
          // only allow unknown if app name contains any of these phrases
          "allowUnknownMedia": ["smarttube", "default media receiver"]
        },
      }
    ]

##### Forcing Media Tracking​

MS can be forced to track media from an application regardless of media type. This is useful if an application incorrectly reports a media type you are sure should be music. Set `"forceMediaRecognitionOn"` in the file-based configuration to a list of application names that should always be tracked.

Example
chromecast.json

    [
      {
        "name": "MyCast",
        "type": "chromecast",
        "data": {
          // media from applications that contains these phrases will always be tracked, regardless of media type reported
          "forceMediaRecognitionOn": ["smarttube", "default media receiver"]
        },
      }
    ]

#### Cast Troubleshooting​

Please include any/all logs with raw output if there are any errors encountered as this is critical to diagnosing issues.

To diagnose bad/incomplete track information or strange MS player behavior please turn on payload logging and include log output of the source running to help diagnose this issue. Either enable in config using the below example OR enable Debug Mode.

Example
chromecast.json

    [
      {
        "name": "MyCast",
        "type": "chromecast",
        "data": {
          //...
        },
        "options": {
          "logPayload": true
        }
      }
    ]

## Configuration​

- ENV
- File
- AIO

Configuration Type

This is configuration for the ENV Config Type.

note

Manually configuring cast device connections is only available through file-based config.

Environmental Variable | Type | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
`CC_ID` | string |  | A globally unique ID EX `myComponentId`
`CC_NAME` | string | Value of `CC_ID` | A vanity name EX `My Cool Component`
`CC_ENABLE` | boolean | true | Should this component be used?
`CC_BLACKLIST_DEVICES` | string |  | DO NOT scrobble from any cast devices on this comma-delimited list that START WITH these values
`CC_WHITELIST_DEVICES` | string |  | ONLY scrobble from any cast device on this comma-delimited list that START WITH these values
`CC_BLACKLIST_APPS` | string |  | DO NOT scrobble from any application on this comma-delimited list that START WITH these values
`CC_WHITELIST_APPS` | string |  | ONLY scrobble from any application on this comma-delimited list that START WITH these values

Bold/Italic = Required

Config Structure

This displays the structure of the File Configuration for a chromecast type Source with all possible properties, their shape, and descriptions/types. Use this to understand how to write a valid config.

Loading ...
Config Example

This displays an example config file of a chromecast Source File Configuration that adheres to the shown Config Structure.

- text mode lets you edit the JSON directly.
- tree mode gives you a guided point-and-click editing experience that always keeps the JSON syntax valid.

Both modes validate that the configuration is correct. Any errors show up as squiggly lines.

important

Only source chromecast configs will validate correctly in the editor but both source and client chromecast configs are allowed in the real `CONFIG/chromecast.json`

After you finish editing, switch to text and then copy all text to get a completed config.

Config Example Mobile Experience

This displays an example config file of a chromecast Source File Configuration that adheres to the shown Config Structure.

The example config file editor is meant for a larger screen experience so only the read-only example is shown. Please use this site on a tablet/laptop/desktop to enable file editor features.

CONFIG/chromecast.json

    [
      {
        "name": "My Cast",
        "id": "myCast",
        "data": {
          "blacklistedDevices": [],
          "whitelistedDevices": [],
          "blacklistedApps": [],
          "whitelistedApps": []
        }
      }
    ]

Config Structure

This displays the structure of the all-in-one (`config.json`) configuration with all possible properties, their shape, and descriptions/types. Use this to understand how to write a valid config.

Select the chromecast type from the respective `sources` node below, then expand it.

Loading ...
Config Example

This displays an example config file of a all-in-one (`config.json`) configuration that includes a chromecast Source that adheres to the shown Config Structure.

- text mode lets you edit the JSON directly.
- tree mode gives you a guided point-and-click editing experience that always keeps the JSON syntax valid.

Both modes validate that the configuraion is correct. Any errors show up as squiggly lines.

After you finish editing, switch to text and then copy all text to get a completed config.

Config Example Mobile Experience

This displays an example config file of a all-in-one (`config.json`) configuration that includes a chromecast Source that adheres to the shown Config Structure.

The example config file editor is meant for a larger screen experience so only the read-only example is shown. Please use this site on a tablet/laptop/desktop to enable file editor features.

CONFIG/config.json

    {
      "sources": [
        {
          "name": "My Cast",
          "id": "myCast",
          "data": {
            "blacklistedDevices": [],
            "whitelistedDevices": [],
            "blacklistedApps": [],
            "whitelistedApps": []
          },
          "type": "chromecast"
        }
      ]
    }