SIDE A

SIDE A is an open source web music player focused on lossless playback, synced lyrics, and a cleaner listening experience.

• what the project does
• what works today
• what is in progress
• how FLAC / lossless playback is handled in the current codebase
• how to run and contribute

Project Focus

The current product direction is:

• lossless-first streaming
• FLAC-oriented playback and quality visibility
• synced lyrics as a core feature
• clean player, queue, and library UX
• no ads
• fully free to use

Current Status

SIDE A is actively being built as a Next.js web app with PWA support.

What is implemented today:

• track, album, and artist search
• album pages
• playback queue with reordering
• fullscreen player and mobile mini player
• synced lyrics with plain-lyrics fallback
• library persistence and recently played tracking
• playlist creation / add-to-playlist flows
• auth and synced library state infrastructure
• installable PWA support
• cache-aware playback helpers and stats
• crossfade work in progress in the player stack

What is not complete yet:

• Spotify playlist sync
• YouTube Music playlist sync
• full playlist import / migration flow
• richer playlist detail pages
• broader offline and error-state polish

FLAC / Lossless Streaming

This is the part the repo is increasingly centered around.

Current implementation details:

• playback quality defaults to LOSSLESS in the queue / audio player state
• the API client requests stream URLs with an explicit quality parameter
• quality tokens and aliases are normalized in lib/api/utils.ts
• the player surfaces quality information through badges and the stats panel
• the stats panel maps LOSSLESS and HI_RES_LOSSLESS playback to FLAC-oriented output
• stream URLs are cached client-side for reuse

Important caveat:

• TIDAL-backed lossless playback is the path currently wired into streaming
• Qobuz search and metadata support exist in the repo
• Qobuz streaming is not implemented yet and currently throws in lib/api/index.ts

So the README should be read as: SIDE A is a lossless / FLAC-focused streaming project, with the implementation still expanding.

Screenshots

Home	Player	Lyrics

Tech Stack

• Next.js 16
• React 19
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS 4
• TanStack Query
• Prisma
• Better Auth
• @ducanh2912/next-pwa

Running Locally

1. Install dependencies.
2. Set up environment variables from .env.example.
3. Start the dev server.

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

Environment

The repo includes .env.example for:

• Postgres / Prisma
• Better Auth
• Google OAuth
• app base URLs
• library sync endpoint overrides

Roadmap

Near term:

• Spotify playlist sync
• YouTube Music playlist sync
• playlist detail pages
• better share flows
• stronger loading / error states
• more complete library and settings surfaces
• continued playback quality and crossfade polish

Medium term:

• better import and migration UX for external playlists
• deeper playback stats
• stronger offline / caching behavior
• broader provider support for lossless playback

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome.

Areas that currently need the most attention:

• FLAC / lossless playback improvements
• provider integration work
• playlist sync and migration
• player / queue / lyrics polish
• reliability, error handling, and offline support
• library and settings UX