SyncPulse

Pre-release: this project is under active development. The Linux release is provided for evaluation and has not yet been validated in clean Fedora, Bazzite, or Ubuntu virtual machines. Review the setup plan before approving any system package installation.

Try the Linux release (x86-64)

On Linux with GTK 3 and WebKitGTK 4.1 runtime libraries installed, download, verify, and launch the latest release with:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/opt/syncpulse" && cd "$HOME/.local/opt/syncpulse" && \
curl -fLO https://github.com/S4ntyC1t/SyncPulse/releases/download/v0.1.0-pre.2/syncpulse-linux-x86_64.tar.gz && \
curl -fLO https://github.com/S4ntyC1t/SyncPulse/releases/download/v0.1.0-pre.2/syncpulse-linux-x86_64.tar.gz.sha256 && \
sha256sum -c syncpulse-linux-x86_64.tar.gz.sha256 && \
tar -xzf syncpulse-linux-x86_64.tar.gz && ./syncpulse

The archive contains a release-mode Linux x86-64 executable, not a universal static binary. It uses the host's GTK/WebKitGTK libraries and will not run on macOS or Windows. No system package changes are made just by launching SyncPulse; the first-run wizard can separately offer system dependencies, and authorization must be approved in the desktop's Polkit dialog.

To build from source, see Build and test.

SyncPulse is a local desktop manager for installing and operating open-source services. It currently manages Navidrome and a Docker Compose or Podman Compose deployment of Invidious; network, archive, and process operations run outside the UI thread. The desktop interface is written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and runs in Tauri's native system WebView (WebKitGTK on Linux, WebView2 on Windows). It does not bundle Electron or Chromium.

Current features

• Install the latest Navidrome release for Linux or Windows on x86-64 or ARM64. SyncPulse runs the binary's version check, starts the service on a fresh install, and waits for Navidrome's /ping endpoint before reporting success.
• Generate a Navidrome configuration using the configured music/data folders and local port; start and stop only the Navidrome binary installed in the configured binary folder.
• Check Navidrome through its /ping endpoint and Invidious through its documented /api/v1/stats identity. Navidrome's status distinguishes a responding external instance from a SyncPulse-managed binary/process; an installation elsewhere is not reported as missing without that qualification.
• Deploy Invidious with the official container images, PostgreSQL, and the required companion service using Docker Compose or Podman Compose. Deployment secrets are generated locally and the web port is bound to localhost.
• Edit and validate the actual Invidious Compose YAML in Settings. The file includes the app's INVIDIOUS_CONFIG YAML block and generated secrets; it is stored with user-only permissions. The selected engine's Compose provider validates the file before you start it. Common domain, reverse-proxy, HTTPS-only, registration, and public-statistics options are also available as described form controls that update only their corresponding YAML keys.
• Optionally run Navidrome during configured daily local-time hours. The app must remain open for the schedule to be enforced; equal start and stop times keep the service stopped.
• Download tracks or playlists with yt-dlp into the Navidrome music folder, embedding available audio metadata and artwork, tagging the YouTube channel as artist, keeping real playlists grouped by playlist name, assigning standalone tracks their own album title, avoiding filename overwrites, and requesting a library rescan. SyncPulse installs its own yt-dlp and FFmpeg on first use, so no system installation is required.
• Configure the SyncPulse-adapted Discord Rich Presence integration using the upstream-supported environment variables. Navidrome credentials are stored in a local user-only settings file and are passed to the child process as environment variables, not placed in URLs or the obsolete unsupported TOML format. Arbitrary GitHub repositories are not treated as compatible extensions or executed.
• Open reachable Navidrome and Invidious in separate native system-WebView windows, or choose to open them in the system browser. Each service window runs as a separate lightweight process with its own Linux/Wayland application ID, so KDE can match it to its own desktop entry and icon.
• Use separate SyncPulse, Navidrome, and Invidious icons. Linux packages include matching desktop entries and hicolor icons for the launcher and taskbar.
• On a fresh profile with no existing services, a Welcome to SyncPulse wizard offers quick or advanced setup, optional Navidrome/Invidious/Discord RPC installation, folder selection, and optional Tailscale/Cloudflare artwork tunnel guidance. Tunnel setup is always explicit: SyncPulse does not expose local ports or create public tunnels automatically. Existing configuration files are migrated as already set up, so updates do not interrupt existing users. The First setup page remains available afterward.

On supported CachyOS/Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, and Fedora systems, the setup wizard checks for package managers and Polkit and can show a concrete rootless Podman package plan before requesting authorization in the desktop's system dialog. SyncPulse never receives or stores the system password and does not add users to the Docker group. Tailscale installation is a separate opt-in and installs the client when missing, then enables and starts its daemon; signing in remains an explicit user step. Starting the daemon does not enable Funnel.

Phone access is separately configured as This computer only (default), Home Wi-Fi / LAN, or Private Tailscale network. LAN mode binds SyncPulse-managed Navidrome and Invidious to all interfaces; use only on a trusted network and account for firewall rules. Tailscale mode binds them only to the machine's private Tailscale IP and requires the device to be signed in. Neither mode enables Tailscale Funnel, Cloudflare Tunnel, or public access. Changing the mode updates managed config/Compose files; SyncPulse refuses to change a running managed service and never stops it implicitly. Stop the service explicitly, save the new mode, and start it again to apply the binding. User-managed deployments are not modified.

Invidious installation requires either Docker Engine with Compose v2, or Podman with a working Compose provider. Select the engine in Settings before installing; changing engines does not migrate containers, volumes, or database data between runtimes. It downloads the official Invidious source archive for the database initialization files and pulls the upstream containers; the initial deployment can require substantial disk space and bandwidth. Stopping Invidious keeps its database volume. SyncPulse does not currently remove deployments or perform explicit version pinning/upgrades.

Discord Rich Presence and cover art

The adapted upstream integration requires a Navidrome username and password. Set them in Settings, save the integration settings, enable Discord Rich Presence, and use Apply & restart integration. The credentials are written to navidrome-discord-rpc.toml with mode 0600 on Linux. The upstream program receives its supported NAVIDROME_*, COVER_MODE, POLL_INTERVAL, and optional DISCORD_CLIENT_ID variables at launch.

While SyncPulse is open, its background supervisor starts the integration independently of Discord or Navidrome windows, restarts it if it exits, and restarts the bridge when Discord's IPC socket is recreated. Closing Discord or Navidrome does not stop the SyncPulse-owned RPC process; it exits when SyncPulse exits.

On Linux the supervisor also resolves ownership conflicts by itself. An unmanaged copy (a stale autostart entry, a leftover systemd service, a debug build started in a terminal) is stopped with SIGTERM, then SIGKILL if it ignores that, so the managed copy can start without manual cleanup. A copy that belongs to another, still-running SyncPulse instance is left untouched, since that instance already owns Rich Presence; opening Discord Rich Presence from a second instance simply waits. Zombie helpers left behind by older runs are reaped automatically instead of lingering as <defunct> processes.

Album art defaults to Off. Discord fetches images from its own servers and cannot reach localhost:

• Navidrome mode is only for a Navidrome server that is already publicly reachable. Set its public HTTPS origin.
• Private cover server mode starts upstream serve-covers, which binds only to loopback and publishes artwork rather than Navidrome's login/API. Configure a public HTTPS origin, then expose that local port using Tailscale Funnel or a reverse proxy. In Settings, the Enable Funnel & fill URL button can configure Tailscale Funnel after an explicit confirmation. It publishes the entire selected HTTPS port, so review existing Funnel/Serve routes before proceeding. Cloudflare Tunnel still requires configuring the tunnel and public hostname in Cloudflare.

For Tailscale Funnel, Settings offers a one-click setup and shows the equivalent command. The button explains the exposure and asks for confirmation first. Funnel publishes the selected port publicly, not just a URL path, and may replace an existing route on that port. Check your Tailscale access controls before proceeding. The public origin entered in SyncPulse must match the HTTPS address Discord can reach. The Public HTTPS origin for Discord field takes only the public base address (scheme, hostname, and optional port), with no path. For an existing public Navidrome deployment, use its public HTTPS address. For the private cover server, use the hostname created/configured for your tunnel: with Funnel, the machine's *.ts.net hostname and selected HTTPS port; with Cloudflare Tunnel, the public hostname assigned to the tunnel. The tunnel must route to the loopback cover listener shown in Settings (default 127.0.0.1:4534). Discord cannot fetch localhost or a Tailscale-only private address.

Navidrome and Invidious maintain their own service accounts. A shared SyncPulse login cannot make them share an identity without configuring a compatible SSO provider in both services; SyncPulse does not claim to provide that SSO today. The Accounts page opens each service's own account settings in a separate native WebView window by default, with an option to use the system browser.

On KDE and other Linux desktops, SyncPulse registers the SyncPulse, Navidrome, and Invidious desktop entries and hicolor icons on every launch, so each service window is matched to its own application ID and shown as a separate taskbar entry with its own icon, title, and Alt+Tab entry. AppImage launches register the original AppImage path rather than its temporary mount path. The helper script remains available and validates the entries where desktop-file-validate is present:

sh packaging/linux/install-desktop-integration.sh

Build and test

cargo run
cargo test

On Linux, building requires GTK 3 and WebKitGTK 4.1 development packages. The web/ directory contains the complete frontend; Rust commands provide the native service-management bridge.

SyncPulse uses GTK/WebKitGTK. On NVIDIA GPUs it sets __NV_DISABLE_EXPLICIT_SYNC=1 (unless already set) so the accelerated DMA-BUF renderer can stay enabled. It does not override the GTK backend: in a Wayland session WebKitGTK renders natively, which is the path the standalone service windows use as well. Forcing GDK_BACKEND=x11 routed the main window through XWayland and produced a blank window on NVIDIA/KWin, so it is not set automatically. On NVIDIA GPUs SyncPulse additionally disables WebKitGTK's GL video sink (WEBKIT_GST_DISABLE_GL_SINK=1) so video in the Invidious window is handled through system memory; the GL sink imports the decoded NV12 buffer as an EGLImage with a mismatched format and renders green frames (WebKit bugs #260654 and #261874). Set the variable yourself beforehand to override this. Do not set WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 for performance: it avoids some crashes but forces a slow shared-memory path that makes Navidrome/Invidious feel laggy. Only enable it when WebKit otherwise crashes, via SYNCPULSE_WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF=1.

Open window for Navidrome/Invidious always uses SyncPulse's own native system WebView (WebKitGTK on Linux, WebView2 on Windows), so no bundled or system Chromium/Electron is required. Open in browser always uses the normal system browser.

WebKitGTK service windows prevent their embedded page from publishing a native MediaSession integration to MPRIS. They do not intercept keyboard events: Fn/media shortcuts are handled by the keyboard firmware or desktop environment, and the Fn modifier is not reliably exposed to WebKit.

If WebKitGTK exits with Error 71 (Protocol error) dispatching to Wayland display even with __NV_DISABLE_EXPLICIT_SYNC=1, try X11 compatibility mode:

GDK_BACKEND=x11 cargo run

Forcing LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 can make WebKit-heavy pages lag further; use it only as a graphics-driver troubleshooting fallback.

Configuration is stored in the platform-specific application config directory. The Settings page lets you change the service ports, Docker/Podman engine, installation folders, startup behavior, Navidrome schedule, Invidious Compose file, and Discord integration. The responsive dashboard shows local service health and system metrics, with dedicated pages for downloads, extensions, and service configuration.

SyncPulse writes diagnostic logs to syncpulse.log in the same application configuration directory (the Settings page shows the full path). Download logs include the destination path, saved file sizes, yt-dlp warnings/errors, and whether Navidrome accepted an immediate library rescan. When reporting a missing download, retry one track and share the relevant log lines; do not share your Navidrome password or other secrets.