RMS - Raspberry Media Server

A lightweight, database-free media server that implements the Jellyfin API. Built for low-power devices like the Raspberry Pi.

Why

Jellyfin uses ~200 MB of RAM idle. RMS uses ~9 MB. Same libraries, same apps, 23x less memory.

	RMS	Jellyfin
Idle memory	~9 MB	~200 MB
Streaming memory	~16 MB	~250 MB
Disk writes	0 B	~2 GB
Database	None	SQLite
Startup time	Instant	~30s

Features

• Jellyfin-compatible API — works with Streamyfin, Kodi (Jellyfin plugin), and other Jellyfin clients
• Direct play with remux and transcode fallback (FFmpeg)
• Web UI — browse libraries, view metadata/artwork, play videos, manage subtitles (optional, toggleable)
• NFO + artwork — reads Kodi-standard NFO files, posters, backdrops, logos, episode thumbnails
• Subtitles — SRT to WebVTT conversion on the fly, multi-language support
• Per-user library access — each user sees only their assigned libraries
• No database — reads directly from the filesystem. Add or remove content and it appears instantly
• Environment variable support — use ${VAR} in config for Docker secrets
• Auto-scan — optional periodic job to fill in missing metadata, subtitles, and thumbnails

Architecture

Three binaries, one Docker image:

Binary	Purpose	Memory
rms	Media server (Jellyfin API + web UI)	~9 MB idle
metacrawler	Downloads NFO + artwork (TMDB, TVmaze, AniList)	Runs and exits
subcrawler	Downloads subtitles (OpenSubtitles)	Runs and exits

Crawlers run as separate processes — their code never loads into the server's memory.

Quick Start

Docker Compose

services:
rms:
image: pixelotes/rms:arm64container_name: raspberry-media-serverrestart: unless-stoppedports:
- "8082:8082"environment:
- "TZ=Europe/Madrid"volumes:
- "/path/to/media:/app/media"
- "/path/to/config:/app/config"

Configuration

Copy config/config.example.yml to your config directory and edit:

app:
port: 8082ui_enabled: trueui_password: "${RMS_PASSWORD}"jwt_secret: "${RMS_JWT_SECRET}"jellyfin_version: "10.10.7"player:
stream_strategy: ["direct", "remux", "transcode"]libraries:
- friendly_name: "Movies"path: "./media/Movies"metadata_lang: encontent_type: movies
- friendly_name: "TV Shows"path: "./media/TV"content_type: tvseries
- friendly_name: "Anime"path: "./media/Anime"content_type: anime# Optional: per-user library accessusers:
- username: "raul"password: "${RAUL_PASSWORD}"libraries: ["Movies", "Anime"]
- username: "maria"password: "${MARIA_PASSWORD}"libraries: ["Movies", "TV Shows"]# Optional: crawler settingscrawlers:
subtitles:
api_key: "${OPENSUBTITLES_API_KEY}"languages: ["en", "es"]metadata:
tmdb_api_key: "${TMDB_API_KEY}"auto_scan:
enabled: falseinterval_hours: 24metadata: truesubtitles: truethumbnails: false

If no users section is defined, a single user rms with ui_password has access to all libraries.

Connecting Clients

Streamyfin / Jellyfin Apps

• Server URL: http://your-device:8082
• Username: any configured user (or anything if using default)
• Password: the user's password (or ui_password)

Web UI

Navigate to http://your-device:8082 in a browser. Features include:

• Library browsing with poster art
• Metadata display (plot, rating, runtime, genres)
• Video playback with multi-language subtitles
• Buttons to download metadata, subtitles, and generate thumbnails

Crawlers

metacrawler

Downloads NFO files and artwork. Provider is auto-selected by content_type:

• movies → TMDB (requires API key)
• tvseries → TVmaze (no key needed)
• anime → AniList (no key needed)

# Process all libraries from config
docker exec raspberry-media-server ./metacrawler -config /app/config/config.yml
# Single directory
docker exec raspberry-media-server ./metacrawler --type movies --tmdb-key xxx --path "/app/media/Movies/Big Buck Bunny (2008)"# Generate thumbnails (extracts a frame from each video)
docker exec raspberry-media-server ./metacrawler --thumbnails -config /app/config/config.yml

subcrawler

Downloads subtitles from OpenSubtitles. Searches by file hash first, then by filename.

# Process all libraries from config
docker exec raspberry-media-server ./subcrawler -config /app/config/config.yml
# Single directory
docker exec raspberry-media-server ./subcrawler --api-key xxx --langs en,es --recursive --path "/app/media/Movies/"

Both crawlers skip content that already has metadata/subtitles.

Building from Source

# Server
go build -o rms ./cmd/rms
# Crawlers
go build -o metacrawler ./cmd/metacrawler
go build -o subcrawler ./cmd/subcrawler
# Cross-compile for Raspberry Pi
GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 go build -o rms ./cmd/rms

Expected Directory Structure

RMS reads standard Kodi/Jellyfin media layouts:

Movies/
Big Buck Bunny (2008)/
Big Buck Bunny (2008) [1080p].mp4
Big Buck Bunny (2008) [1080p].en.srt
Big Buck Bunny (2008) [1080p].es.srt
movie.nfo
poster.jpg
fanart.jpg
logo.png
TV Shows/
Sintel (2010)/
tvshow.nfo
poster.jpg / folder.jpg
fanart.jpg / backdrop.jpg
Season 1/
Sintel.S01E01.720p.mkv
Sintel.S01E01.720p.nfo
Sintel.S01E01.720p.en.srt
Sintel.S01E01.720p-thumb.jpg

Part of the Stack

RMS is designed to work alongside:

• Reel — media downloader, organizer, metadata fetcher
• Scarf — torrent indexer/searcher

License

MIT