ChannelFlow-Server

Simulated live TV for Jellyfin. This repository is ChannelFlow-Server — a .NET 10 app with a red Jellyfin-style Web UI, PostgreSQL, local library playback, WeatherStar, and news.

Home: github.com/FlowMeadow01/ChannelFlow

The Jellyfin plugin (GUID f4e8a2b1-3c5d-4e6f-9a8b-7c6d5e4f3a2b) syncs library metadata/paths/chapters, registers Live TV M3U + XMLTV, and runs blackframe chapter detection.

What runs where

ChannelFlow-Server (this repo)	ChannelFlow Plugin
Channels, lineups, playout, FFmpeg MPEG-TS	Server URL + API key
Commercials / CommercialBrainz	Catalog metadata sync (IDs, tags, duration, path, chapters)
EBS, logos, AI lineups	Live TV tuner + XMLTV registration
WeatherStar 4000/3000 (native compositor, vendored ws4kp/ws3kp)	Blackframe scan + optional write chapters
News RSS + TTS channel
Web UI (username/password)

Playback reads local files. Configure path remaps in Settings (Jellyfin prefix → ChannelFlow-Server prefix), for example /data/media → /media.

Requirements

• .NET 10 SDK to build, or a self-contained publish from scripts/publish-native.sh
• PostgreSQL (your own instance)
• FFmpeg on PATH (or set FFMPEG_PATH)
• Jellyfin 12 + the ChannelFlow plugin
• The same media paths readable by Jellyfin and ChannelFlow-Server

Run

cp .env.example .env
# set POSTGRES_* and JELLYFIN_URL for your host
dotnet publish src/ChannelFlow.Server/ChannelFlow.Server.csproj -c Release
# or: bash scripts/publish-native.sh linux-x64

Load the .env values into the process environment, then run ChannelFlow.Server (from bin/.../publish or artifacts/native/linux-x64). Listen port is PORT (default 8097). Config, logos, weather, and news files live under CHANNELFLOW_CONFIG (default config next to the app).

Then:

1. Open http://<host>:8097 and create the admin username and password on first launch
2. Copy the plugin API key from General (created automatically on first boot)
3. Add path remaps under General (Jellyfin prefix → the local path ChannelFlow-Server can read)
4. Install the ChannelFlow plugin, set Server URL + API key, run ChannelFlow Catalog Sync

Items removed from Jellyfin, or whose remapped local file is gone, are marked missing, then deleted by Tasks → Catalog cleanup after the grace period (default 7 days). Scan Local Files checks each catalog path after remap.

Set FFMPEG_HWACCEL=vaapi and pass /dev/dri access for Intel VAAPI encode/decode.

The plugin registers the Live TV tuner and XMLTV guide automatically when you set the ChannelFlow-Server URL and API key.

Reverse proxy

ChannelFlow expects to sit behind Nginx Proxy Manager, SWAG, Caddy, or Traefik on a hostname such as https://channelflow.example.duckdns.org. Forward X-Forwarded-Proto, X-Forwarded-Host, and X-Forwarded-For. Leave live MPEG-TS unbuffered (proxy_buffering off / Caddy flush_interval -1) and raise the read timeout (an hour is enough).

Optional env vars:

• CHANNELFLOW_PUBLIC_URL — public origin used in M3U/XMLTV when Jellyfin fetches them from another host (example: https://channelflow.example.duckdns.org)
• CHANNELFLOW_PATH_BASE — only if the UI is served under a subpath such as /channelflow

Legacy FINTV_* names for those same variables still work.

You can also set Public base URL on the General tab. Login cookies stay valid across restarts (keys live in the config folder under dataprotection).

Nginx:

location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8097;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
    proxy_buffering off;
    proxy_request_buffering off;
    proxy_read_timeout 3600s;
    proxy_send_timeout 3600s;
}

Caddy:

channelflow.example.duckdns.org {
    reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8097 {
        flush_interval -1
    }
}

Weather and news

WeatherStar graphics are vendored from ws4kp and ws3kp (MIT) and rendered by the native compositor, then encoded to MPEG-TS with optional Jellyfin music as a bed.

News is a 24/7 channel: RSS feeds from the News page, optional TTS, FFmpeg overlay, and bed music.

License

ChannelFlow-Server code follows this repository's license. WeatherStar vendors keep their upstream MIT licenses.