Audio Playback MCP Server

This repository provides an MCP server named audio-playback-server that exposes a single audio_playback tool. The tool lets an MCP client start, stop, and inspect playback of local audio files routed through a configurable virtual audio output device.

Features

• Play audio files from a configurable root directory using ffplay.

• Get audio file duration (in seconds) when playing files using ffprobe.

• Stop current playback.

• Pause playback (saves position); resume continues from that position.

• Query current status with a position estimate.

• List audio files hosted locally under AUDIO_ROOT_DIR.

• Path safety enforcement to prevent leaving the configured root directory.

• Run as either a local stdio MCP server or a long-running HTTP MCP server.

Related MCP server: Filesystem MCP Server

Configuration

The server reads configuration from environment variables and an optional JSON file. Environment variables take precedence over JSON values.

Required:

• AUDIO_ROOT_DIR: Root directory containing allowed audio files.

• AUDIO_OUTPUT_DEVICE: Identifier of the virtual output device.

Optional playback settings:

• DEFAULT_FORMAT: File extension to append when none is provided (default wav).

• FFPLAY_PATH: Path to the ffplay binary (default ffplay).

• AUDIO_PLAYBACK_CONFIG: Path to a JSON config file containing any of the above keys.

Optional MCP transport settings:

• MCP_TRANSPORT: stdio (default) or http.

• MCP_HTTP_HOST: HTTP bind host for http transport (default 0.0.0.0).

• MCP_HTTP_PORT: HTTP bind port for http transport (default 8765).

• MCP_HTTP_PATH: MCP endpoint path for http transport (default /mcp).

• MCP_DNS_REBINDING_PROTECTION: true/false (default true).

• MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS: Comma-separated allow-list of host headers for HTTP mode.

An example config file is provided at config/audio_playback_config.example.json.

Installation

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Running the server (stdio)

AUDIO_ROOT_DIR=/path/to/audio \
AUDIO_OUTPUT_DEVICE="Virtual Cable" \
python -m audio_playback_server

Running the server (HTTP, for remote clients)

AUDIO_ROOT_DIR=/path/to/audio \
AUDIO_OUTPUT_DEVICE="Virtual Cable" \
MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
MCP_HTTP_HOST=0.0.0.0 \
MCP_HTTP_PORT=8765 \
MCP_HTTP_PATH=/mcp \
python -m audio_playback_server

In HTTP mode, the server stays running and accepts MCP requests at http://<host>:<port><path> (for example http://192.168.1.10:8765/mcp).

Remote access notes (Windows host + Raspberry Pi client)

1. Bind to 0.0.0.0 so the server listens on your LAN interface.

2. Allow inbound TCP on MCP_HTTP_PORT in Windows Defender Firewall.

3. If MCP host-header checks block requests, set MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS to include the hostname/IP your client uses, or disable checks with MCP_DNS_REBINDING_PROTECTION=false for trusted networks only.

4. Configure your Raspberry Pi MCP client/Openclaw to call your Windows machine at http://<windows-lan-ip>:8765/mcp.

Tool schema

The audio_playback tool accepts the following JSON input:

• action: play, stop, pause, resume, status, or list_files (required)

• filename: Relative path under AUDIO_ROOT_DIR (required for play)

• start_offset_ms: Start offset in milliseconds (default 0)

• list_limit: Maximum number of files returned when action=list_files (default 200)

Responses always include success, message, and a state object with status, current_file, started_at_ms, and position_estimate_ms. When playing a file, the response also includes duration_seconds (float) in the state object, indicating the total duration of the audio file in seconds. The duration is also included in the message text for convenience. For list_files, responses also include a files payload containing root_dir, count, limit, and files entries (filename, size_bytes).