MediaStationGo

A lightweight, polished, NAS-friendly private media center

Docker-first setup · Multi-user management · Media library · Metadata · Downloads · Emby-protocol clients · Cloud playback

中文 · Quick Start · Docker Compose · FAQ · Live Demo

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What is it?

MediaStationGo is a self-hosted media center for personal libraries, home NAS, and home-theater users.

It helps you:

• Manage movies, TV shows, anime, variety shows, music, and adult libraries.
• Create multiple user accounts for family members, friends, or different devices.
• Scan files and enrich posters, summaries, years, seasons, and episodes.
• Play in the web UI, or log in with a MediaStationGo account from Emby-protocol apps such as Infuse, VidHub, SenPlayer, and Emby clients.
• Connect qBittorrent for search, subscriptions, downloads, and post-download organization.
• Connect OpenList, CloudDrive2, WebDAV, and other storage backends with STRMURL or 302 redirect playback.
• Run on NAS, mini PCs, VPS, Linux, Windows Docker Desktop, or any Docker-friendly host.

The project is moving fast. Keep a backup of the data directory before upgrades.

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Key Highlights

• One server, many clients: deploy MediaStationGo once; you do not need to run a separate Emby server.
• Emby-protocol compatibility: add the server in third-party players as an Emby/Jellyfin-compatible server, then log in with your MediaStationGo username and password.
• Multi-user management: supports admins, regular users, account enable/disable, expiry dates, device management, Bot registration, and redeem codes.
• Local + cloud media in one place: manage local disks, download folders, OpenList, CloudDrive2, WebDAV, and other storage backends from one panel.
• Download-to-library workflow: connect qBittorrent for search, subscriptions, download completion organization, and metadata matching.
• NAS-friendly: simple Docker Compose deployment, important data stored under data/, suitable for low-power NAS and mini PCs.

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Who is it for?

• Beginners who want to edit one docker-compose.yml and start the service.
• NAS users who want a low-resource media center for local disks and cloud storage.
• PT/download users who want downloads, organization, metadata, and playback in one panel.
• External-player users who want to log in to Emby-protocol third-party apps with one MediaStationGo account.
• Family-sharing users who want separate user accounts without deploying a separate media server for each person.
• Developers who want to study or extend a Go + React self-hosted media app.

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Live Demo

• URL: https://mgo.3jzs.com
• Username: admin
• Password: admin123

The demo is for feature preview only. Do not save private API keys, tracker cookies, or personal data there.

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Quick Start

Docker Compose is the recommended path. Beginners do not need .env, bare-metal binaries, or source builds.

mkdir -p MediaStationGo
cd MediaStationGo
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ShukeBta/MediaStationGo/main/docker-compose.yml -o docker-compose.yml

Edit docker-compose.yml:

vi docker-compose.yml

Start:

docker compose up -d

Open:

http://SERVER_IP:18080

Default login:

Username: admin
Password: admin123

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Docker Compose Recommended

The repository docker-compose.yml is intentionally simple and does not require .env.

Focus on this part:

volumes:
  - ./data:/data
  - ./cache:/cache
  - ./media:/media:ro
  - ./downloads:/downloads

Meaning:

Host path	Container path	Purpose
./data	/data	Database, users, settings; back this up
./cache	/cache	Cache; safe to clean when needed
./media	/media	Media libraries; use /media/... in the web UI
./downloads	/downloads	Download directory and organization source

If your NAS paths are:

/vol1/1000/Media
/vol1/1000/Downloads

change the compose file to:

volumes:
  - ./data:/data
  - ./cache:/cache
  - /vol1/1000/Media:/media:ro
  - /vol1/1000/Downloads:/downloads

environment:
  MEDIASTATION_MEDIA_DIR: /vol1/1000/Media
  MEDIASTATION_DOWNLOAD_DIR: /vol1/1000/Downloads

Rules:

• The left side of volumes is the real path on your host/NAS.
• The right side is the container path. Keep /media and /downloads unless you know why you are changing them.
• In the web UI, create libraries with container paths such as /media/Movies or /media/TV.
• Do not write NAS absolute paths as ./vol1/...; ./ means a folder under the current compose directory.
• On Windows Docker Desktop, paths like D:/Media:/media:ro and D:/Downloads:/downloads are fine.

Minimal compose example

The root docker-compose.yml follows this style:

services:
  mediastation-go:
    image: ghcr.io/shukebta/mediastation-go:latest
    container_name: mediastation-go
    restart: unless-stopped
    init: true

    # Browser: http://SERVER_IP:18080
    ports:
      - "18080:8080"

    # Let the container reach qBittorrent running on the host:
    # qB URL example: http://host.docker.internal:8085
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"

    volumes:
      # Application data. Back this up before upgrades.
      - ./data:/data
      - ./cache:/cache

      # Beginners can keep ./media and ./downloads.
      # NAS users should replace the left side with real absolute paths.
      - ./media:/media:ro
      - ./downloads:/downloads

    environment:
      TZ: Asia/Shanghai
      PUID: "1000"
      PGID: "1000"

      MEDIASTATION_APP_HOST: 0.0.0.0
      MEDIASTATION_APP_PORT: 8080
      MEDIASTATION_APP_WEB_DIR: /app/web/dist
      MEDIASTATION_APP_DATA_DIR: /data
      MEDIASTATION_DATABASE_DB_PATH: /data/mediastation.db
      MEDIASTATION_CACHE_CACHE_DIR: /cache

      # If you changed ./media or ./downloads above,
      # set these to the same real host paths.
      MEDIASTATION_MEDIA_DIR: ./media
      MEDIASTATION_MEDIA_CONTAINER_DIR: /media
      MEDIASTATION_DOWNLOAD_DIR: ./downloads
      MEDIASTATION_DOWNLOAD_CONTAINER_DIR: /downloads

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First-time Setup

1. Create a library

   • Go to the library page.
   • Use a container path such as /media/Movies.
   • Start a scan.

2. Connect qBittorrent

   • Go to download client settings.
   • If qBittorrent runs on the host, try http://host.docker.internal:8085.

3. Configure metadata providers

   • Go to system settings / external APIs.
   • Add TMDb, Bangumi, TheTVDB, Fanart, Douban, or other providers when needed.

4. Use external players

   • Add the server as an Emby/Jellyfin-compatible server.
   • Server URL: http://SERVER_IP:18080.
   • Use the username and password created in MediaStationGo. No separate Emby server is required.
   • Admins can create regular users in the web UI or Bot so each person can log in with their own account.

5. Use cloud playback

   • Configure OpenList, CloudDrive2, WebDAV, or another provider in storage settings.
   • Choose STRMURL or 302 redirect playback in the admin settings.
   • The enabled option takes priority. If both are disabled, playback falls back to the normal server playback path.

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Update, Backup, Logs

Update

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Logs

docker logs -f mediastation-go

Backup

Back up:

data/

It contains the database, users, settings, and runtime state. cache/ is usually not important.

Stop

docker compose down

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FAQ

1. The web page does not open

Check the container:

docker ps
docker logs --tail=100 mediastation-go

Then open:

http://SERVER_IP:18080

2. The library cannot find files

Most cases are path mistakes.

• Docker maps media to /media.
• In the web UI, use /media/Movies, not the original NAS path.
• Docker maps downloads to /downloads; use /downloads as the organization source when possible.

3. qBittorrent cannot connect

If qBittorrent is on the host, try:

http://host.docker.internal:8085

If qBittorrent is on another machine, use that machine's LAN IP.

4. NAS CPU usage is high

Suggested settings:

• Set ffprobe.max_concurrent to 1.
• Enable automatic organization, scrape-after-scan, and boot cloud scan only when you really need them.
• Avoid frequent full-library scans on large libraries. Prefer manual scan or scheduled night sync.

5. Should I use .env?

Beginners should not. Editing docker-compose.yml directly is easier to understand.

.env is useful only for advanced users who reuse the same compose file on multiple machines. The repository keeps docker-compose.simple.env.example, but it is not the main path.

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Features

Area	Features
Libraries	Movies, TV shows, anime, variety, music, adult content
Metadata	NFO, local artwork, TMDb, TheTVDB, Bangumi, Douban, Fanart, JavBus/JavDB
Playback	Web playback, HTTP Range, HLS transcoding, direct links, STRMURL, 302 redirect
External clients	Emby-protocol compatible APIs; MediaStationGo accounts can log in to third-party players
User management	Multi-user accounts, admin/regular users, expiry dates, device management, Bot registration and redeem codes
Downloads	qBittorrent, site search, subscriptions, post-download organization
File manager	Browse, organize, copy, move, hardlink, symlink
Operations	Task queue, recycle bin, duplicate files, notifications, logs
AI	OpenAI-compatible API, AI search, recommendations, assistant

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Screenshots

Preview

Login	Home

Libraries	Player

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Development

Regular users should use Docker. Developers can run:

go run ./cmd/server

Frontend:

cd web
npm install
npm run dev

Tests:

go test ./...
cd web && npm run build

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Community and Friends

• Telegram group: https://t.me/MediaStationGo
• NodeSeek: https://www.nodeseek.com/
• LINUX DO: https://linux.do/

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Donation

If MediaStationGo saves you time, feel free to buy the author a bowl of noodles.

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Star History

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License and Non-Commercial Statement

This project uses GPL-3.0 as its base license. See LICENSE.

The maintainers also state and request:

• The project is intended for personal learning, home NAS, self-hosted media, non-commercial research, and community collaboration.
• Without explicit written permission from the author, do not use this project or derivative versions for commercial resale, paid hosting, paid SaaS, pre-installed commercial devices, closed-source redistribution, or other profit-oriented commercial use.
• For commercial cooperation, enterprise deployment, custom development, integrated redistribution, or commercial authorization, contact the author first.
• If there is any interpretive difference between this README and the formal GPL-3.0 license text, the code license is governed by LICENSE; commercial usage should additionally obtain author permission.

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Made with ❤️ by ShukeBta