Vuio

Driving a VuIO media server

VuIO indexes a local media library and can push playback to devices on the same network. The tools are the whole interface; this file is the part the schemas cannot tell you — which order to call things in, and what the answers mean.

Two facts that shape everything

renderer_id is stable; friendly_name is not. People rename their TVs, and two speakers in a house are often called the same thing. Always resolve a name to an id with list_renderers first, and pass the id everywhere. When the user says "the living room TV", match it against friendly_name yourself and say which device you picked.

file_id is how media is addressed. Every listing and search result carries one, along with a stream_url that plays in a browser. When the user wants a link rather than playback, give them the stream_url.

Finding something

Start with get_server_stats if you have no idea what the library holds — it answers "how much of what" in one call.

Then pick the right tool for the question:

search_media is ranked full-text across filenames, tags and any synopsis fetched from a metadata provider. It matches every word, and the last word also matches as a prefix — so beethov sym finds Beethoven symphonies. Punctuation is ignored, so search for AC/DC exactly as written.

list_music_categories and find_music match tag values exactly. Use list_music_categories first to learn the spelling, then find_music with it. Going straight to find_music with a guessed spelling usually returns nothing.

browse_folder needs a real path. Never invent one: call list_library_roots, then follow the path of each folder in the result. Paths outside the configured roots are refused.

Casting

The sequence is always: discover → resolve → cast → verify.

1. list_renderers — devices are discovered on the network, so this can be empty or slow the first time. If it comes back empty, say so plainly: the device may be off, on another network segment, or not yet announced. Do not retry in a loop.
2. Resolve the file or playlist to an id.
3. cast_media_to_renderer, cast_playlist_to_renderer or cast_folder_to_renderer.
4. get_playback_status to confirm it actually started. A cast that returns successfully has been accepted; it has not necessarily begun.

control_renderer takes play, pause and stop only. There is no seek and no volume — say so rather than pretending otherwise.

Casting a playlist or a folder advances automatically as each track finishes; the server keeps the queue moving without further calls.

Casting is real-world action. It starts something playing on a device in someone's home, possibly a room they are not in. Confirm the device before casting when the user was vague about which one, and never cast speculatively to "see if it works".