API5

The Ampache API Provides methods for pulling out it's meta data in the form of simple XML (and JSON!) documents. This was originally created for use by Amarok, but there is no reason it couldn't be used to create other front-ends to the Ampache data.

Access to the API is controlled by the Internal Access Control Lists. Currently all requests are limited to a maximum of 5000 results for performance reasons. To get additional results pass offset as an additional parameter.

If you have any questions or requests for this API please submit a Feature Request. All dates in the API calls should be passed as ISO 8601 dates.

API Changelog

Take a look at the API Changelog to keep an eye on changes between versions

Before you begin

Ampache 5.2.0+ supports multiple API versions. This means that you can send your handshake with a specific version (e.g. 390001, 440001 or 5.2.0) you will be sent API3, API4 and API5 responses in return.

To change from API3 to API5 you can send a ping with a new version parameter to update your session (or send goodbye to log off and start again.)

API3 is not recommended for use outside of running old applications and it is recommended that you turn off API versions you don't use.

Sending Handshake Request

Multiple authentication methods are available, described in the next sections.

User / Password

The handshake is a combination of the following three things

Encoded Passphrase
Timestamp
Username

The key that must be passed to Ampache is SHA256(TIME+KEY) where KEY is SHA256('PASSWORD'). Below is a PHP example

$time = time();
$key = hash('sha256', 'mypassword');
$passphrase = hash('sha256', $time . $key);

Once you've generated the encoded passphrase, you can call the following URL (localhost/ampache is the location of your Ampache installation)

http://localhost/ampache/server/xml.server.php?action=handshake&auth=PASSPHRASE&timestamp=TIME&version=5.5.3&user=USER

Api Key

The key that must be passed to Ampache is the API Key generated for a specific user (none by default, only the administrator can generate one). Then call the following URL (localhost/ampache is the location of your Ampache installation):

http://localhost/ampache/server/xml.server.php?action=handshake&auth=API_KEY&version=5.5.3

If you are using Ampache 4.0.0 and higher; the key can be passed to Ampache using SHA256(USER+KEY) where KEY is SHA256('APIKEY'). Below is a PHP example

$user = 'username';
$key = hash('sha256', 'myapikey');
$passphrase = hash('sha256', $user . $key);

HTTP Header Authentication

Ampache supports sending your auth parameter to the server using a Bearer Token.

GET https://demo.ampache.dev/server/json.server.php?action=handshake&version=6.0.0 HTTP/1.1
Authorization: Bearer 000111112233334444455556667777788888899aaaaabbbbcccccdddeeeeeeff

Ampache scheme

To standardize how to transfer Ampache connection information, the following Ampache scheme is defined.

ampache://authentication@hostname[:port]/subdirectory[#parameters]

for example:

ampache://myuser:mypwd@localhost/ampache
ampache://yourapikey@localhost:993/ampache#ssl=true

Application Name

By default Ampache uses USER_AGENT as application name but this could also be defined through http query string. Add &client=YourAppName to override the application name. This parameter also works on stream sessions.

Geolocation

Latitude
Longitude
Place name

Optionally, you can also provide geolocation information &geo_latitude=$latitude&geo_longitude=$longitude, with an optional place name if you already know coordinates match &geo_name=$placename.

Result

If your authenticated User and IP match a row in the Access List the following will be returned.

For XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<root>
    <auth><%AUTHENTICATION TOKEN%></auth>
    <api><%APIVERSION%></api>
    <session_expire><![CDATA[2019-12-03T09:36:46+10:00]]></session_expire>
    <update><![CDATA[2019-11-26T16:35:05+10:00]]></update>
    <add><![CDATA[2019-12-03T06:42:55+10:00]]></add>
    <clean><![CDATA[2019-12-03T06:41:02+10:00]]></clean>
    <songs><![CDATA[268302]]></songs>
    <albums><![CDATA[25686]]></albums>
    <artists><![CDATA[11055]]></artists>
    <playlists><![CDATA[20]]></playlists>
    <videos><![CDATA[0]]></videos>
    <catalogs><![CDATA[4]]></catalogs>
</root>

For JSON

{
    "auth": "%AUTHENTICATION TOKEN%",
    "api": "%APIVERSION%",
    "session_expire": "2020-01-28T13:59:24+10:00",
    "update": "2020-01-24T19:29:35+10:00",
    "add": "2020-01-28T04:49:18+10:00",
    "clean": "2020-01-28T04:47:28+10:00",
    "songs": "274209",
    "albums": "26275",
    "artists": "11275",
    "playlists": 31,
    "videos": "0",
    "catalogs": "4"
}

All future interactions with the Ampache API must include the AUTHENTICATION_TOKEN as a GET variable named auth.

Methods

All methods must be passed as action=METHODNAME. All methods except the handshake can take an optional offset=XXX and limit=XXX. The limit determines the maximum number of results returned. The offset will tell Ampache where to start in the result set. For example if there are 100 total results and you set the offset to 50, and the limit to 50 Ampache will return results between 50 and 100. The default limit is 5000. The default offset is 0.

You can also pass it limit=none to overcome the limit limitation and return all the matching elements.

For more in depth information regarding the different api servers you can view the following documentation pages.

Auth Methods

All Auth methods return HTTP 200 responses

handshake
ping
goodbye Api4+

Non-Data Methods

All Non-Data methods return HTTP 200 responses

system_update Api5+
users Api4+
user_preferences Api5+
bookmarks Api5+

Data Methods

All Data methods return HTTP 200 responses

advanced_search
stats
get_indexes Api4+
get_similar Api4+
get_bookmark Api5+
artists
artist
artist_songs
artist_albums
albums
album
album_songs
songs
song
song_delete Api5+
url_to_song
genres
genre
genre_artists
genre_albums
genre_songs
playlists
playlist
playlist_songs
playlist_create
playlist_edit Api4+
playlist_delete
playlist_add_song
playlist_remove_song
playlist_generate Api4+
shares Api4+
share Api4+
share_create Api4+
share_edit Api4+
share_delete Api4+
search_songs
videos
video
podcasts Api4+
podcast Api4+
podcast_create Api4+
podcast_edit Api4+
podcast_delete Api4+
podcast_episodes Api4+
podcast_episode Api4+
podcast_episode_delete Api4+
catalogs Api4+
catalog Api4+
catalog_action Api4+
catalog_file Api4+
licenses
license
license_songs
labels Api5+
label Api5+
label_artists Api5+
live_streams Api5+
live_stream Api5+
rate
flag Api4+
record_play Api4+
scrobble Api4+
followers
following
toggle_follow
last_shouts
timeline
friends_timeline
update_from_tags Api4+
update_artist_info Api4+
update_art Api4+
update_podcast Api4+
user
user_create Api4+
user_update Api4+
user_delete Api4+
user_preference Api5+
system_preferences Api5+
system_preference Api5+
preference_create Api5+
preference_edit Api5+
preference_delete Api5+
bookmark_create Api5+
bookmark_edit Api5+
bookmark_delete Api5+
deleted_songs Api5+
deleted_podcast_episodes Api5+
deleted_videos Api5+

Binary Data Methods

All binary methods will not return XML/JSON responses. they will either return the requested file/data or an HTTP error code.

@return (HTTP 200 OK)

@throws (HTTP 400 Bad Request)

@throws (HTTP 404 Not Found)

stream Api4+
download Api4+
get_art Api4+

Control Methods

All Control methods return HTTP 200 responses

localplay
localplay_songs Api5+
democratic

Access Levels

Some methods have a user access level requirement. Access goes from 0-100 and is split into the following types.

5: Guest
25: User
50: Content Manager
75: Catalog Manager
100: Admin

Request URL Examples

For the purpose of this example the Ampache host is 'localhost' and the path to Ampache is /ampache

Requesting all genres whose name starts with Rock

XML

http://localhost/ampache/server/xml.server.php?action=tags&auth=1234567890123456789012345678901&filter=Rock

JSON

http://localhost/ampache/server/json.server.php?action=tags&auth=1234567890123456789012345678901&filter=Rock

Requesting all song titles, with an offset of 5000

XML

http://localhost/ampache/server/xml.server.php?action=songs&auth=12345678901234567890123456789012&offset=5000