08About
Three statements and a manual page. Philosophy, licence, contributing — then the questions, answered in the order they get asked.
01Philosophy
Phlix is a media server you run yourself. Your library never leaves your hardware unless you say so, and the parts that talk to the outside world — the hub relay, the metadata providers — are optional and named.
The design follows from that: an explicit plugin contract instead of a plugin store, a documented HTTP API instead of a private one, and native clients for the devices people already own rather than one app that must be everywhere.
The stack is the differentiator: PHP 8.3+ on Workerman, a versioned plugin contract, and a hub that reaches servers behind NAT without a third-party tunnel.
02License
Phlix Server and the Hub are MPL-2.0 — open source, and you can build on them commercially. If you modify a Phlix file, that file stays open; anything you add alongside it is yours. The shared libraries, plugins, and clients are MIT so you can build on them freely.
- phlix-server, phlix-hub
- MPL-2.0
- Shared libraries, plugins, clients
- MIT
03Contributing
Every repository lives in the detain GitHub organisation. Issues and pull requests are the whole process.
- Starter
- phlix-plugin-example
04Frequently asked questions
- Name
- phlix — self-hostable PHP media server
- Synopsis
-
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/detain/phlix-server/master/scripts/install.sh | sudo bash - Section
- Questions, in the order they get asked
- Q1Is Phlix like Plex / Jellyfin / Emby?
- Yes — same job, different stack. Phlix is built in PHP 8.3+ on Workerman, ships with a versioned plugin contract, and includes a hub for accessing remote servers behind NAT without a third-party tunnel.
- Q2Do I need to expose my server to the internet?
- No. Run Phlix on your LAN and use the Phlix Hub's reverse-tunnel relay to reach it from your phone or Roku at a friend's house. You can self-host the hub, or use the public one.
- Q3What formats are supported?
- Anything FFmpeg can read. Direct play when the client supports it; transcoded HLS otherwise. Per-device quality profiles pick the right bitrate automatically.
- Q4Is there a mobile app?
- Yes — React Native, available on iOS and Android. Currently in beta.
- Q5Can I write plugins?
- Yes. Implement LifecycleInterface, ship a manifest, drop it in the plugins directory. See phlix-plugin-example for the smallest working starter.
- Q6What's the license?
- Phlix Server and the Hub are MPL-2.0 — open source, and you can build on them commercially. If you modify a Phlix file, that file stays open; anything you add alongside it is yours. The shared libraries, plugins, and clients are MIT so you can build on them freely.
- See alsoCan I run this on my own hardware?
- Answered above — Q2: Do I need to expose my server to the internet?
- See alsoDo you invent features I don't need?
- Answered above — Q1: Is Phlix like Plex / Jellyfin / Emby?