Go Meow Server: setup and live sessions

Session coordination and media delivery are different services

Go Meow Server shares transport, timing and scheduled events; clients render their own prepared audio. It does not host a streaming media library, transcode recordings or transfer project assets. The Go Meow web platform separately serves authorized project media and marketplace previews. MusicScript’s local serve/session/daemon commands are separate protocols and do not automatically join this server.

Go Meow Toolkit provides local file analysis rather than a media server.

1. Start the server

From a source checkout, use Node.js 22 or newer. Initialize credentials once; use the serve command for subsequent starts.

cd gomeow.media/gomeow-server
npm ci
npm run build
npm start -- init credentials.json
npm start -- serve credentials.json

Open http://127.0.0.1:4455 on the server computer. The credentials file contains individual producer and agent API keys. Share only each participant’s own key. Keep the file private and out of Git.

2. Connect and admit players

1. In Desktop, open Live Session, enter the server address and your API key, then connect.
2. The host creates a session. Other clients refresh the session list and request to join.
3. The host approves each request; the guest retries Join after approval.
4. Enable the shared metronome and check the clock status on each client.

The server’s browser page can also join and play clicks. That page is separate from Web Studio.

3. Arm local playback

Open your local project or score, then choose an engine under Follow with engine. Each client arms one engine. The host controls shared transport; guests follow it.

All three adapters currently require four quarter-note beats per bar. Re-arm after editing the prepared score or arrangement. Disarm to return to local playback.

4. Start together and recover

Choose 500–10,000 ms of lead time; increase it when loading assets or working over a slower connection. Clients prepare before the deadline. Late joins enter at the next whole bar. A missed preparation deadline stops playback and displays an error; increase lead time and use Re-arm engine.

Leaving or losing the connection stops following. Reconnect, rejoin and arm again. Stale clock samples pause scheduling. A server restart clears in-memory sessions, so create a new one. Network clock estimates, device latency and background throttling mean audible alignment is not guaranteed to be sample-accurate.

Connect from another location

Configure a reachable listening interface and a TLS reverse proxy. Both clients must use the same server address; 127.0.0.1 always means the computer running that client. Desktop accepts plaintext WS only for localhost or 127.0.0.1 and requires WSS for remote servers.

Add the exact browser or Desktop origin to the server’s origin allowlist. Desktop displays its origin in Live Session. Assign identities to the same discovery group. Restart after changing credentials or origins. The service does not provide NAT traversal or a public relay.

Scripting hosts and agents

The SDK exports @gomeow/server/client, /timing, /metronome and /scheduling. Build it before use. In another repository, consume a built package; avoid a dependency that reaches into a separate product’s checkout.

import { StudioClient } from '@gomeow/server/client'
import { followTransport } from '@gomeow/server/scheduling'

const client = new StudioClient(serverUrl, apiKey)
await client.connect()
await client.create('Writing session', 120, 4)
// adapter is your local engine's SchedulingAdapter implementation.
const stopFollowing = followTransport(client, adapter, reportStatus)
await client.transport({ playing: true, beat: 0, delayMs: 1500 })
// On shutdown:
stopFollowing()
await client.disconnect()

An adapter implements prepare, schedule, stop and dispose. Translate the plan’s localTimeMs from performance.now() into the engine’s audio clock, and cancel queued output when stopped. Event payloads remain data; the server never runs incoming scripts. Only the host changes transport or schedules production events.

The CLI’s gms serve, gms session and gms daemon are local host services. They do not connect to Go Meow Server automatically, and there is no network-session MusicScript keyword. Read the language guide →