James Coleman
5dce49ee43
- A daemon keeps running the copy it was started from, so after an update the old one ran until the next login and nothing said so; clients compared only the major protocol version. Every build now carries a UUID, the daemon reports it as ServerInfo.build_id under protocol 1.3, and a daemon too old to report one counts as outdated. - The window shows a notice above every page when the daemon it reached is another build, with both versions. Update now registers the copy that was opened as the service and restarts the daemon from it; Not now puts the notice away. Nothing is restarted unless the user asks, so two copies open at once cannot replace each other's daemon in turn. A newer daemon is offered as Use this version, and one the service did not start, or one reached with --socket, gets no button. - service install --start now stops a running daemon before registering and starting, so the daemon started is the program that was asked. Under systemd and Task Scheduler it used to rewrite the registration and leave the old daemon running, since starting a running service does nothing. - service status says when the daemon is another build than the program asked, and --json carries same_build. - The App Store app stops a daemon another build of the app left running and starts its own, instead of attaching to it. - Packaging sets MIDI_HARBOR_BUILD_ID once for everything a run builds, because the App Store app, its helper and each architecture are compiled separately and must agree. Packages of one release share an identifier, so neither replaces the other's daemon. |
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| .cargo | ||
| .claude/skills | ||
| .specify | ||
| crates | ||
| docs | ||
| fuzz | ||
| packaging | ||
| proto/midiharbor/v1 | ||
| scripts | ||
| specs | ||
| src | ||
| tests | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| .goreleaser.yaml | ||
| AGENTS.md | ||
| build.rs | ||
| Cargo.lock | ||
| Cargo.toml | ||
| clippy.toml | ||
| Icon.svg | ||
| LICENSE.txt | ||
| Makefile | ||
| README.md | ||
| rust-toolchain.toml | ||
| rustfmt.toml | ||
| VERSION | ||
midi-harbor
Midi Harbor manages MIDI connections on macOS, Linux and Windows: virtual ports other applications can use, attached MIDI hardware, RTP-MIDI network sessions to other computers, and Bluetooth LE MIDI devices. A daemon owns every connection and repairs it on its own. A network session that drops is reconnected, hardware that is unplugged and plugged back in picks up where it left off, and notes sounding when a link went away are released rather than left ringing.
The command line and the graphical interface are both clients of the daemon, so closing either changes nothing.
Install
Download a package or archive from the releases, or build this project. midi-harbor-headless
leaves out the graphical interface, for machines without a display.
sudo apt install ./midi-harbor_<version>_<arch>.deb # Debian and Ubuntu
sudo dnf install ./midi-harbor-<version>-1.<arch>.rpm # Fedora and RHEL
chmod +x Midi-Harbor-<version>-x86_64.AppImage # any other distribution
The release builds need glibc 2.35 or newer, so RHEL 9 and its rebuilds must build from source.
The Windows executable is not signed, so it warns the first time it runs; Installation says how to let it run.
On Windows, virtual ports need Windows MIDI Services. Windows 11 includes it from its late-2026 update; before that, install Microsoft's Windows MIDI Services SDK Runtime and Tools.
Building
Building needs Rust 1.96 or newer. On Linux it also needs the ALSA, D-Bus and Avahi development files and libclang, and for the graphical interface the xkbcommon and Wayland development files.
On Debian and Ubuntu:
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libasound2-dev libdbus-1-dev \
libavahi-client-dev libclang-dev
sudo apt install libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev # for the graphical interface
On Fedora and RHEL (enable CodeReady Builder first on RHEL and its rebuilds):
sudo dnf install gcc pkgconf-pkg-config alsa-lib-devel dbus-devel avahi-devel clang-devel
sudo dnf install libxkbcommon-devel wayland-devel # for the graphical interface
Then:
cargo build --release # with the graphical interface
cargo build --release --no-default-features # without it
Windows builds are cross-compiled with mingw-w64:
rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
Release packages for every platform are built with GoReleaser in Docker, through make snapshot
and make release.
Running as a service
The daemon registers itself with launchd, a systemd user unit, or Task Scheduler, and runs at every login:
midi-harbor service install --start
midi-harbor service status
Running from the command line
To try things out, or to see more of what the daemon is doing, run it in the foreground:
midi-harbor daemon -vv
Config
The setup lives in one YAML file per user, which the daemon writes as things change.
midi-harbor config path prints where it is. It can be written by hand; only names and kinds
are required:
endpoints:
- name: Sequencer Bus
kind: virtual_port
- name: Studio
kind: network_port
routes:
- from: Sequencer Bus
to: Studio
Run midi-harbor config reload after editing it while the daemon runs.
Usage
Every command has help:
midi-harbor --help
Run with no command, midi-harbor opens the graphical interface.
A basic setup that sends a local virtual port to another computer:
midi-harbor port create "Sequencer Bus"
midi-harbor network create "Studio"
midi-harbor network discover
midi-harbor network connect "Studio" "Stage Mac"
midi-harbor route create "Sequencer Bus" "Studio"
MIDI played into "Sequencer Bus" now reaches "Stage Mac", and keeps reaching it across sleep, network changes, and either machine restarting.
Testing
make test # unit tests
make test-integration # the daemon, CLI and protocols over real files and sockets
make test-live # tests needing real MIDI, a Bluetooth radio or a session peer