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Crateforge Docs

Mobile

The Crateforge mobile client lets you browse and play your desktop library through the built-in API server. Even when not connected to the server, you can browse and play downloaded content.

Screenshots to be added

Connecting

Section titled “Connecting”

On the desktop side, enable “Expose on LAN” for the built-in API server. From mobile, connect in one of the following ways.

  • QR code — scan the QR of the connection URL shown in settings to connect.
  • Manual entry — type in the connection URL and token.

(Pairing is a feature for the Android TV client; the mobile app connects via QR / manual entry.)

Browsing

Section titled “Browsing”

While connected, you can browse the desktop library in the following units.

  • Tracks / playlists / albums / artists
  • Search and filtering by genre
  • Artwork display
  • When opening an album, the track order is disc number → track number
  • Opening an artist lists their albums, sorted by album artist
  • How artists are grouped can be switched in settings (album artist / artist)

On-device and background playback

Section titled “On-device and background playback”
  • Choosing “Play on this device” plays on the mobile device (background playback supported).
  • Streaming supports client-oriented parameters.
    • ?native=1 — formats the device can play are served without conversion (ALAC / FLAC, etc. stay lossless)
    • ?original=1 — always the original
    • ?fmt=aac&br=N — re-encode to AAC-LC (to save space for offline storage)

Remote

Section titled “Remote”

Switching to “Play on PC (remote)” lets you control desktop playback from mobile. You can do play / pause, previous/next, seek, volume, and shuffle / repeat, and the playing state stays in sync. Tapping the playing artist (and album) navigates to that page.

Offline download / browsing / playback

Section titled “Offline download / browsing / playback”

Once you download tracks, you can browse and play them even when not connected to the server.

  • Browse and play downloaded tracks / playlists / albums offline.
  • On download, album art is saved locally as webp (deduplicated per album), so jackets show even when not connected.
  • In the offline collection too, album rows show the artwork and album artist (mixed artists show as “Various Artists”).
  • The artist page is also reconstructed from downloads as an album view.