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Share Libraries with Friends and Family ​

TL;DR ​

Hub sharing lets you grant access to your media library to friends and family through the hub. Create an invite link on /app/invite-links and send it to them. Recipients see your server under Shared With Me (/app/shared-with-me) in their hub account without needing to install anything or be on the same network.

There is no email invite, and permissions are not enforced

phlix-hub has no mailer of any kind — it cannot send an invite email. Sharing is link-based. And the two permission levels (read, read/write) are stored and displayed but not enforced by any code path. Both are described accurately below.

1. How Hub Sharing Works ​

The sharing model is simple:

  • You (library owner) create an invite link on /app/invite-links
  • Your friend opens the link
  • Your friend logs into the hub and sees your server under Shared With Me (/app/shared-with-me)
  • You retain control — you can revoke at any time

Two sharing scopes ​

Both are at library granularity. Folder-level and item-level sharing do not exist — a share carries a single library_id and there is no sub-library plumbing at all.

ScopeWhat the recipient sees
Whole serverEvery library on that server — leave Library unset on the invite link
One libraryOnly the library you selected

Two permission levels ​

PermissionStored value
Read onlyread (default)
Read / Writereadwrite

The level is recorded, not enforced

Nothing consults permission_level before permitting an action — the hub's canWrite() helpers have no production callers. There is also no download tier and no DLNA tier: neither concept exists in the sharing model, and no permission gates DLNA casting.

2. Granting Access via the Hub Web App ​

  1. Log into the hub at https://hub.phlix.app (or your self-hosted hub URL)
  2. Open Invite Links (/app/invite-links) from the top navigation
  3. Click New Invite
  4. Choose the server, and optionally a library (leave unset to share every library on that server)
  5. Select the permission level: Read only or Read / Write
  6. Set max uses and an expiry (7 days default, 30 days, 90 days, 1 year, Never)
  7. Copy the generated URL and send it to your friend however you like

Content filtering is not available per share ​

There is no "Restrict to G-rated content" option, and no rating filter of any kind attaches to a hub share. Content-rating caps are a media-server profile feature and have no wiring to hub sharing.

3. Granting Access ​

Library sharing is managed entirely from the Shares page (/app/shares) — there is no server-side CLI for sharing. Grant, list, change, and revoke access from the Shares page described in §2 above:

  • Grant — create an invite link on /app/invite-links (see §2).
  • List — the Shares page (/app/shares) lists every active share and its permission level.
  • Revoke — click Revoke on the row; it takes effect immediately.
  • Change — not available in the UI. Use PATCH /api/v1/me/shares/{id}.

Sharing state lives on the hub, not on the media server, so these actions are only available through the hub web app.

4. Accepting a Share Invite ​

There is one method: the shareable link. (The hub cannot send email.)

  1. Click the link — if you're not logged in, sign in or create a hub account
  2. The shared library is immediately accessible under Shared With Me (/app/shared-with-me)

5. Managing Shared Access ​

As a library owner, you can manage all active shares from the Shares page (/app/shares):

  • View all active shares and their permission levels
  • Revoke access at any time (immediate effect)

Changing a permission level is API-only, and expiry is set on the invite link rather than on an existing share.

As a recipient:

  • Shared libraries appear under Shared With Me (/app/shared-with-me)
  • You cannot re-share content you have been given access to
  • Your access can be revoked by the library owner at any time

6. What Can Go Wrong ​

1. An invite link is not tied to an email address ​

Treat an invite link as a bearer token

Earlier revisions of this page said the invite "is tied to the exact email address it was sent to". The opposite is true. Redeeming a link creates the share for whoever redeems it, using their own account email. A link is bounded only by its max uses and its expiry — not by identity.

Anyone who obtains the URL, by forwarding or interception, can redeem it. Send links over a channel you trust, set a low max-use count, and keep the expiry short.

Symptom: Someone other than the intended recipient now has access.

Fix: Revoke the share on /app/shares, and delete or expire the invite link so it cannot be redeemed again.

2. Shared library appears empty or doesn't appear ​

Symptom: Friend accepts the invite and logs in, but the shared server shows no libraries or an empty library.

Diagnosis:

bash
# On the server, check library status via the API:
curl -s http://localhost:8096/api/v1/libraries -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

# Check if a scan is currently running:
ps aux | grep -i "media_scanner\|phlix" | grep -v grep

# Manually trigger a rescan of a library (use the library id from the call above):
curl -X POST http://localhost:8096/api/v1/libraries/{id}/rescan \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Fix: Library sharing requires the library scan to be complete. If a scan is still in progress, wait for it to finish. If no scan is running, trigger one manually. The friend should refresh the hub page after the scan completes and verify the library contents.

3. Cannot cast to DLNA ​

Symptom: Friend logs in, browses the shared library, but pressing Cast or Play To on a DLNA device does nothing or shows an error.

This is not a permissions problem. No share permission gates DLNA casting — there is no download or cast tier, and permission_level is not enforced anywhere. Raising the permission level will not change the outcome. Investigate the DLNA setup on the media server instead; see DLNA.

7. Next Steps ​

BSD-3-Clause

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