Install the native binary

If you'd rather not use Docker - say, on a desktop machine or a small home server - AudioSilo ships as a single self-contained program for Linux, macOS and Windows.

Download a release

Releases are published on GitHub: github.com/KodeStar/audiosilo-server/releases.

Each release includes:

audiosilo_<version>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz for Linux and macOS, and a .zip for Windows (both amd64 and arm64).
.deb and .rpm packages for Linux, which also install a systemd service (see below).
checksums.txt, so you can verify your download.

Unpack the archive and you have one executable, audiosilo. The web player is built into the release binary, so /web works out of the box - no extra downloads or configuration.

ffmpeg and ffprobe

AudioSilo uses ffmpeg/ffprobe for durations, chapter extraction and on-the-fly transcoding. They are not bundled in the download (they're large and most machines already have them). Instead, the server sorts this out itself on startup:

It first looks for ffmpeg/ffprobe next to the audiosilo executable, then on your PATH.
If neither is found, it downloads a trusted static build once into tools/ inside your data directory (over HTTPS, and checked by running it before use) and reuses it from then on.
If you're offline or on a platform with no static build available, the server still runs - you just lose durations/chapters and transcoding until a tool is available. It retries on the next start.

In short: on the common path there is nothing to install, and if the download can't happen, nothing breaks.

Run it from a terminal

./audiosilo --data ./data

The very first start creates an admin account and prints the credentials once - save them. Then open https://localhost:8080 (the default is HTTPS with a self-signed certificate, so expect a browser warning). See First run for the full walkthrough.

Prefer a guided setup in the browser instead of a printed password? Start with the setup wizard:

./audiosilo --data ./data --setup

Instead of creating an admin for you, the server prints a one-time link to a browser wizard where you choose the admin password and point it at your books folder. Details in First run.

Useful flags:

Flag	What it does
`--data <dir>`	Where config, database and certificates live (default `./data`).
`--setup`	First run opens a browser setup wizard instead of printing generated credentials.
`--ffmpeg <path>`	Explicit path to ffmpeg; `""` disables transcoding.
`--ffprobe <path>`	Explicit path to ffprobe; `""` disables duration/chapter extraction.

Linux packages and systemd

The .deb/.rpm packages install the binary to /usr/bin/audiosilo, pull in your distribution's ffmpeg, and place a systemd unit. The package deliberately doesn't create a system user for you; do that once, then enable the service:

sudo useradd --system --home /var/lib/audiosilo --shell /usr/sbin/nologin audiosilo
sudo install -d -o audiosilo -g audiosilo /var/lib/audiosilo
sudo systemctl enable --now audiosilo

The service runs with its data directory at /var/lib/audiosilo, so the first-run credentials appear in its logs:

journalctl -u audiosilo

Building from source

If you have Go 1.25 or newer installed, you can build the server yourself:

git clone https://github.com/KodeStar/audiosilo-server.git
cd audiosilo-server
go build -o audiosilo ./cmd/audiosilo

note

A plain source build does not include the embedded web player - the admin console and the API work as normal, but /web stays off unless you point the server at a built player. The release downloads and the Docker image both include the player, so for everyday use prefer those. How the player gets bundled is covered in the developer docs.

tip

Running an always-on, multi-user or reverse-proxied setup? Docker is the recommended path there - the native binary is aimed at home users who want one download and no container runtime.