API5.1

Compatible Versions:

5.1.0-release
5.0.0-release

Ampache Provides an API for pulling out it's meta data in the form of simple XML 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. The KEY defined in the ACL is the passphrase that must be used to establish an API session. 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

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=510001&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=510001

In API4 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><![CDATA[5.1.0]]></api>
  <session_expire><![CDATA[2021-10-25T15:16:51+11:00]]></session_expire>
  <update><![CDATA[2021-07-21T12:51:36+10:00]]></update>
  <add><![CDATA[2021-08-03T10:04:14+10:00]]></add>
  <clean><![CDATA[2021-08-03T10:05:54+10:00]]></clean>
  <songs><![CDATA[75]]></songs>
  <albums><![CDATA[9]]></albums>
  <artists><![CDATA[17]]></artists>
  <genres><![CDATA[7]]></genres>
  <playlists><![CDATA[2]]></playlists>
  <searches><![CDATA[17]]></searches>
  <playlists_searches><![CDATA[2]]></playlists_searches>
  <users><![CDATA[8]]></users>
  <catalogs><![CDATA[4]]></catalogs>
  <videos><![CDATA[2]]></videos>
  <podcasts><![CDATA[2]]></podcasts>
  <podcast_episodes><![CDATA[13]]></podcast_episodes>
  <shares><![CDATA[2]]></shares>
  <licenses><![CDATA[14]]></licenses>
  <live_streams><![CDATA[3]]></live_streams>
  <labels><![CDATA[3]]></labels>
</root>

For JSON

{
    "auth": "%AUTHENTICATION TOKEN%",
    "api": "5.1.0",
    "session_expire": "2021-10-25T15:16:43+11:00",
    "update": "2021-07-21T12:51:36+10:00",
    "add": "2021-08-03T10:04:14+10:00",
    "clean": "2021-08-03T10:05:54+10:00",
    "songs": 75,
    "albums": 9,
    "artists": 17,
    "genres": 7,
    "playlists": 2,
    "searches": 17,
    "playlists_searches": 2,
    "users": 8,
    "catalogs": 4,
    "videos": 2,
    "podcasts": 2,
    "podcast_episodes": 13,
    "shares": 2,
    "licenses": 14,
    "live_streams": 3,
    "labels": 3
}

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

Non-Data Methods

All Non-Data methods return HTTP 200 responses

system_update
users
user_preferences
bookmarks

Data Methods

All Data methods return HTTP 200 responses

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

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
download
get_art

Control Methods

All Control methods return HTTP 200 responses

localplay
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

JSON

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

API Changelog​

Sending Handshake Request​

User / Password​

Api Key​

HTTP Header Authentication​

Other handshake-related stuff​

Ampache scheme​

Application Name​

Geolocation​

Result​

Methods​

Auth Methods​

Non-Data Methods​

Data Methods​

Binary Data Methods​

Control Methods​

Access Levels​

Request URL Examples​

Requesting all genres whose name starts with Rock​

Requesting all song titles, with an offset of 5000​