2. Getting Started

Setting up Explo via Docker or binary

Installation Guide

Prerequisites

• A self-hosted music system like Emby, Jellyfin, MPD, Plex, or any Subsonic-API compatible system (e.g., Navidrome, Airsonic).
• ListenBrainz scrobbling set up
• Optionally a YouTube Data API key.

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Docker Installation

1. Download docker-compose.yaml file to your system and configure volume mappings
2. Make a .env file in the directory defined in docker-compose and configure it (refer to sample.env for options or check out Configuration Reference)
3. Launch the container with docker compose up -d

Volume Mappings

Host Path	Container Path	Description
/path/to/.env	/opt/explo/.env	Environment file with configuration parameters.
/path/to/musiclibrary/explo	/data/	Directory where Explo stores downloaded music. Must match your music system's library path. It's recommended to create an explo subdirectory under your main music library.
/path/to/slskd/downloads	/slskd/	Path where slskd downloads songs (used if slskd is setup and MIGRATE_DOWNLOADS is set to true in .env)
/path/to/mpd/playlists	/path/to/mpd/playlists	(MPD only) Path to .m3u playlist directory. Set the same path in both the container and your MPD config.

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Binary Installation

Binary Prerequisities

• ffmpeg and yt_dlp must be installed and available in your $PATH
  (you can also define their paths in the .env file)
• Either:
  • A YouTube Data API key set in .env, or
  • Python ≥3.10 with ytmusicapi installed

Steps

1. Download the latest release and ensure it's executable
2. Make a .env file in the same directory as the binary and configure it (refer to sample.env for options or check out Configuration Reference)
3. Add a Cron job to run Explo weekly:

crontab -e

Insert this to the last line to execute Explo every tuesday at 00:15 (ListenBrainz updates its discovery database on Mondays)

15 0 * * 2 cd /path/to/explo && ./explo-linux-amd64