# Selfhosting music
A guide on how to selfhost music, from start to finish, trying to be as easy to understand!
# Step 0: Prerequisites
For this guide, I will use Navidrome (since it is what I use currently). I will guide you through how to set it up as a server rather than an app, as this is also how I use it, but also because, installing it as an app, especially on Windows, shouldn't be hard.
You'll need a server. This can be anything that can run Linux on it. Old PC, laptop, SBC, anything really.
Navidrome is available for: amd64, armv6, armv7 and arm64. If you don't understand what these mean, you probably have an amd64 device. If it is a very old device, like 10-15+ years old, it might be i686, and Navidrome probably won't work. The device doesn't need to be very powerful, it can even run on a [Pi Zero](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero/).
Your server will also have to have remote access set up. A guide on how to setup and secure SSH is coming!
You will have to install Docker on your server. Since I don't know which Linux distribution you are running, I can't help with specific commands to run, but [here](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/) is the Docker documentation on how to install it. (explain what docker is?)
You will also need to install [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/linux/#install-using-the-repository), which is a way to define and run multiple containers using a single configuration file.
Optionally, if you want remote access (i.e. access outside of your network), you will also need:
- a domain name
- nginx, as reverse proxy
- certbot, to handle ssl certificates
You will also need patience and/or motivation if you aren't familiar with selfhosting. Selfhosting isn't easy but very much worth it!
# Step 1: Running Navidrome
As mentionned before, I am going to explain how to run Navidrome using Docker Compose. If you have trouble following some steps, I will link to short videos showing how to do them.
Start by creating a folder named `navidrome` (or naything you like!) and cd into it. [video](https://ascii.seres.eu.org/a/8NZM3pGWWO24fdtDrSnls15I9)
Edit a file named `docker-compose.yml` and paste in this inside:
```yml
services:
navidrome:
image: deluan/navidrome:latest
user: 1000:1000
ports:
- "4533:4533" # change it to `127.0.0.1:4533:4533` after you've set up the reverse proxy, if you plan on setting one up
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
ND_SCANSCHEDULE: 1h # at what frequency navidrome should scan for new content. set to 0 to disable
ND_LOGLEVEL: info
ND_SESSIONTIMEOUT: 24h
ND_BASEURL: "https://music.example.com" # change this to the url you want navidrome to be accessible at. remove this line if no remote access is planned
volumes:
- "./data:/data" # where navidrome's config etc. will be stored
- "../music:/music:ro" # where we will put our music. `ro` means read-only so navidrome cannot edit/remove files
```
[video](https://ascii.seres.eu.org/a/FFj7ZkVxp11ruTEP5Dxxb22HK)
There are many, many more configuration options that you can find [here](https://www.navidrome.org/docs/usage/configuration-options/).
Don't forget to create the folder you plan on putting your music in before starting Navidrome or you will have issues.
After that, run `sudo docker compose up -d` and `sudo docker compose logs -f`. The first command start the containers required for navidrome (which is just navidrome in this case) and the second one prints the containers logs in the terminal, `-f` meaning *follow*, so keep printing new logs as they arrive. [video](https://ascii.seres.eu.org/a/pdz1U1G4aHYmEGPB5F8HNbC3o)
If everything went correctly, Navidrome should now be accessible at `http://:4533`! If not, read the logs and troubleshoot yourself! (jk, I will add some troubleshooting steps!)
It should ask you to create an admin user, enter a username and password (a strong one if you plan on having remote access!) and confirm.
You should now be on Navidrome's home page, which is recently added albums.
# Step 2: Remote access
If you don't care about remote access, you can skip that part.
# Step 3: Adding music
We need to place our music in the directory we specified in the `docker-compose.yml` file, in our case `../music`, which is most likely `~/music`. If you have the music you want to upload on the device you are accessing your server with, you can log out of SSH, and then run something like this: `scp -r @:~/music`
`scp` (secure copy protocol) transfers files through ssh, `-r` means *recursive* and is required to transfer directories. `` is the folder on the local device you want to transfer to your server. `` is the remote username, `` is the remote ip, the same one you use to connect to your server with ssh. `:~/music` means transfer the local files to the `~/music` folder.
Depending on the size of your library, this might take a while...
After the transfer is finished, you can click on the [](https://wiki.seres.eu.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-10/gYwL4o2hWZCGrlHB-image-1760802208129.png) icon in the top right,
and then on either of these icons [](https://wiki.seres.eu.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-10/4FiS4JSH7rAkcNBb-image-1760802236106.png) (left one is quick scan, right one is full scan). Music should now have appeared and you can click on play on any of these and it should just work!™
# Step 4: Choosing a client
Now to listen to music, you can either directly listen to it through the website, or better, through clients. There are many, *many*, clients available and chosing one is dependent on personal preferences.
The clients I use are:
- [Symfonium](https://symfonium.app/) for Android (paid, ~5$ one time payment. one of the best apps I ever purchased)
- [Feishin](https://github.com/jeffvli/feishin) for Desktop, be it windows or linux.
To connect these clients to your server, either you input the url of the server or `:4533` and input your username and password. And playback should just work!™