Roon Command Line Control version 2

Laurent_Bonherbe · November 29, 2025, 1:42pm

Thanks Greg, would you mind giving me an example with your python wrapper? How should I get this to work?
I really appreciate your lights on this, as I didn’t see it anywhere in the documentation…

GregD · November 29, 2025, 2:16pm

If you’re willing to write some python code you use see my library here.

It’s released vis the proper pypi library management, so should be easily available in a python development project.

There is an example of how to play something here:-

github.com/pavoni/pyroon

examples/play.py

master

from roonapi import RoonApi, RoonDiscovery

appinfo = {
    "extension_id": "python_roon_test",
    "display_name": "Python library for Roon",
    "display_version": "1.0.0",
    "publisher": "gregd",
    "email": "mygreat@emailaddress.com",
}

target_zone = "Study"

try:
    core_id = open("my_core_id_file").read()
    token = open("my_token_file").read()
except OSError:
    print("Please authorise first using discovery.py")
    exit()

discover = RoonDiscovery(core_id)

This file has been truncated. show original

The play_media method takes an extra optional parameter action, which is a string that needs to match what roon has available at that point.

github.com/pavoni/pyroon

roonapi/roonapi.py

981a62b71


      
                  else:
                      for item in items:
                          searched += 1
                          if searchterm in item["title"]:
                              matched.append(item["title"])
          
                  load_opts["offset"] += PAGE_SIZE
          
              return matched
          
          def play_media(self, zone_or_output_id, path, action=None, report_error=True):
              # pylint: disable=too-many-locals,too-many-branches,too-many-return-statements,too-many-statements
              """
              Play the media specified.
          
              params:
                  zone_or_output_id: where to play the media
                  path: a list allowing roon to find the media
                        eg ["Library", "Artists", "Neil Young", "Harvest"] or ["My Live Radio", "BBC Radio 4"]
                  action: the roon action to take to play the media - leave blank to choose the roon default
                          eg "Play Now", "Queue" or "Start Radio"

At that point in the code - the code should find a list of things that can be done to the track / album. By default the code just chooses the first one (roon’s default) - but if the optional string is specified it will try and find that.

github.com/pavoni/pyroon

roonapi/roonapi.py

981a62b71


      
              )
              return False
          
          play_header = items[0]["title"]
          if items[0].get("hint") == "action_list":
              opts["item_key"] = items[0]["item_key"]
              load_opts["item_key"] = items[0]["item_key"]
              self.browse_browse(opts)
              items = self.browse_load(load_opts)["items"]
          
          # We should now have play actions (eg Play Now, Add Next, Queue action, Start Radio)
          # So pick the one to use - the default is the first one
          if action is None:
              take_action = items[0]
          else:
              found_actions = [item for item in items if item["title"] == action]
              if len(found_actions) == 0:
                  LOGGER.error(
                      "Could not find play action '%s' in %s",
                      action,
                      [item["title"] for item in items],

You may need to experiment to find the correct string - but the error message below should show the possible options if your requested action wasn’t found.

github.com/pavoni/pyroon

roonapi/roonapi.py

981a62b71


      
              self.browse_browse(opts)
              items = self.browse_load(load_opts)["items"]
          
          # We should now have play actions (eg Play Now, Add Next, Queue action, Start Radio)
          # So pick the one to use - the default is the first one
          if action is None:
              take_action = items[0]
          else:
              found_actions = [item for item in items if item["title"] == action]
              if len(found_actions) == 0:
                  LOGGER.error(
                      "Could not find play action '%s' in %s",
                      action,
                      [item["title"] for item in items],
                  )
                  return False
              take_action = found_actions[0]
          
              try:
                  if take_action["hint"] != "action":
                      LOGGER.error(

I’m not sure how much I tested this - and I don’t think the two main library users use this - but if it doesn’t work let me know and I’ll fix it.

Obviously this involved some proper coding!

GregD · November 29, 2025, 2:20pm

BTW The joy of open source is that if you are a developer you could enhance @Ronald_Record 's code to add an optional extra parameter and make a pull request. I’m sure he be grateful for contributions.

His code is here:-

Ronald_Record · December 5, 2025, 12:56am

Hi, I have been on vacation and just got back. Managing the queue via RoonCommandLine is not currently supported but it is a good feature request. I will look into it.