Audion

Audion: A Detailed Description

Please note: The following description is crafted from the attached input and paints a comprehensive picture of Audion, a modern, local music player with a Spotify-inspired interface. It weaves together the purpose, features, screenshots, setup steps, and technical context presented in the input. Images from the input are included to illustrate key ideas and visuals.

Audion is described as a modern, local music player designed to deliver a Spotify-like experience while respecting user privacy. It operates entirely offline, meaning no internet connectivity is required for playback, metadata handling, or lyric syncing. The core promise is simple: play your locally stored music with a polished, enjoyable user interface that feels familiar to fans of streaming apps, but without any tracking or data leakage.

Visual identity and branding are conveyed through a banner image labeled Audion, which serves as a welcoming entry point to the product’s concept. The banner visually communicates a sleek, contemporary design language intended to appeal to music lovers who value aesthetics as much as function.

Audion emphasizes three pillars: privacy, offline accessibility, and an interface that evokes the Spotify experience while staying rooted in the user’s own music library. This combination aims to attract users who want a streaming-like feel without the need for an online account or ongoing data collection.

Platform reach and accessibility are highlighted by platform badges indicating Windows, macOS, and Linux support. The project presents itself as a cross-platform desktop application, enabling a broad range of users to install and use Audion on their preferred system without complicated workarounds.

Engagement channels and community: The input references a Discord server, inviting users to discuss ideas, report issues, and collaborate on plugins or features. This suggests an active community ecosystem where users can share experiences, request enhancements, and contribute to the plugin landscape.

Quick snapshot of the project’s intent: a privacy-first music player that mirrors familiar streaming interfaces, accelerates local music discovery, and supports an offline workflow that respects user discretion and data sovereignty.

Audion positions itself as a privacy-focused music player that mirrors the familiar “Spotify-like” interface but uses the user’s local music collection as the data source. The emphasis is on no tracking, no cloud dependencies, and a fully offline experience that respects user privacy while still offering a modern, responsive UI.

The design goal is to transform a personal library into a beautifully organized, easily navigable collection. The software prioritizes metadata handling, smart organization, and a visually appealing presentation that makes browsing and playing tracks enjoyable.

A distinctive feature set supports a local-first workflow. The application auto-scans local folders, extracts metadata, and builds a searchable, well-structured library. It also supports format versatility, covering major audio codecs commonly found in home collections (e.g., FLAC, MP3, AAC), ensuring compatibility with a wide range of locally stored music.

Audion’s user experience is enhanced by real-time lyric features and optional plugin support. The blend of lyrics timing, synced with playback, and an extensible plugin ecosystem enables users to tailor the experience beyond how a traditional local player behaves.

The UX is described as “gorgeous, customizable, and fully offline,” underscoring a design philosophy that values aesthetics, personalization, and privacy all at once.

Synced lyrics with karaoke-style highlighting:

Audion integrates real-time synchronized lyrics sourced from lyric libraries such as LRCLIB and Musixmatch. The lyrics are not merely displayed; they are highlighted word-by-word in sync with the music, creating an engaging, karaoke-like experience. This feature supports offline use through local caching, allowing playback and lyric display even without an internet connection.

Extensible plugin system:

The architecture invites JavaScript and WebAssembly (WASM) plugins, enabling developers and power users to extend Audion’s capabilities. Plugins can augment playback behavior, UI elements, data handling, or integration with other tools, providing a flexible path for customization and feature expansion.

Gorgeous, customizable interface:

The interface is designed to be visually striking yet highly adaptable. Users can choose between dark and light themes, tailor accent colors to their taste, and configure layout preferences to suit their listening habits. The design language aims to balance contemporary aesthetics with practical accessibility.

Fully offline:

A core value proposition is the ability to manage, play, and enjoy music entirely offline. There is no reliance on external services for playback, lyrics, or library management, which reinforces privacy and gives users control over their data.

Cross-platform appeal:

The project’s branding and tags emphasize compatibility with Windows, macOS, and Linux, enabling a broad audience to experience Audion on their preferred desktop environment.

Desktop view gallery

Fullscreen Mode:

• This image illustrates the immersive, distraction-free playback environment. Fullscreen mode typically emphasizes large album art, focused controls, and a clean information hierarchy, designed to maximize the listening experience by reducing on-screen clutter.

Plugin Marketplace:

• The screenshot showcases a dedicated hub where users can discover, install, and manage plugins. The marketplace concept aligns with the plugin extensibility of Audion, highlighting the ecosystem that allows users to tailor the app’s functionality through third-party plugins.

Main Page:

• The main landing or dashboard screen provides an overview of the library, current playback status, and quick access to core features. The visual emphasis is on intuitive navigation, with prominent controls and a clear information hierarchy to help users manage their music.

Home Page:

• The home page highlights personalized or curated content, quick shortcuts, and potentially new or recommended tracks or plugins. It serves as an entry point to explore music and features within Audion.

Theme Selection:

• The theme selector demonstrates the customization capabilities. It shows options for adjusting the app’s look-and-feel, enabling users to apply a preferred color palette or theme to match their mood or system theme.

Mobile (Android) visual cues

Android Library:

• This image suggests how Audion adapts for mobile devices or presents a library-focused view on Android platforms. It may depict library organization, search, and playback controls adapted to a compact mobile interface.

Android Home:

• The home screen on Android emphasizes a streamlined, touch-friendly experience. Expect large tappable targets, intuitive navigation, and quick access to essential features.

Android Fullscreen:

• A mobile fullscreen presentation demonstrates how Audion maximizes large-screen real estate on handheld devices, offering a clean, immersive playback interface designed for single-handed use or focused listening sessions.

The inclusion of both desktop and mobile visuals emphasizes Audion’s cross-platform design intent, illustrating how users interact with their music in different contexts while preserving a cohesive brand and experience.

Download and install

Audion provides ready-to-run builds for major platforms. The release assets are platform-specific, and users can download the one that matches their OS:

• Windows: Audion_x64-setup.exe
• macOS (dmg): Audion.dmg
• Linux (AppImage): Audion-x86_64.AppImage
• Linux (Flatpak): audion__linux.flatpak

The release page consolidates all platform options, allowing users to select the most convenient installer or package for their system.

First run setup

1. Launch Audion after installation.

2. Click "Add Music Folder" and select the directory that contains the local music library.

3. Wait for the library scan to complete. Audion will extract metadata, organize tracks, and prepare the local database.

4. Start listening. The app should present a clean, navigable library with playback controls, playlists, and any enabled lyrics features.

The quick start emphasizes a minimal, frictionless onboarding flow designed to help users begin enjoying their music promptly, while also enabling them to take advantage of advanced features as they become comfortable.

Music Management

Auto-scan local music folders with metadata extraction:

• Audion automatically traverses configured directories, reads embedded metadata (e.g., ID3 tags, album art), and builds a searchable library. This reduces manual curation and helps keep the music catalog organized from the outset.

Smart playlists and queue management:

• The application provides smart playlists, which adapt to listening history, tags, ratings, or user-defined criteria. Queue management enables precise control over playback order, shuffle behavior, and session continuity across tracks.

Support for all major audio formats:

• The player is designed to handle a broad spectrum of common formats such as FLAC, MP3, AAC, and more. This ensures compatibility with diverse music collections without requiring format conversion.

Lyrics

Real-time synced lyrics:

• Lyrics are pulled from established lyric libraries (LRCLIB and Musixmatch) and synchronized with the currently playing track. The word-by-word highlighting creates an engaging karaoke-like experience.

Local cache for offline use:

• Lyrics data are cached locally so users can enjoy synced lyrics even when offline. This preserves the offline-first ethos of Audion and ensures lyrics are available regardless of network connectivity.

Customization

Dark/light themes with custom accent colors:

• Users can switch between dark and light themes and select accent colors to personalize the interface. The color customization allows the UI to reflect user preferences and system themes.

Full-screen mode, mini player, and keyboard shortcuts:

• Full-screen mode provides an immersive listening experience; a compact mini-player supports quick controls from any screen; keyboard shortcuts enable power users to navigate and control playback efficiently without relying on a mouse.

Plugins

Extend Audion with JavaScript/WASM plugins:

• The plugin system invites developers to add new features or integrate with external tools. Plugins can modify behavior, UI components, or data flows, enabling a growing ecosystem that enhances capabilities beyond the base installation.

Accessibility and UX

The design emphasizes readability, clear hierarchy, and responsive interactions, ensuring an enjoyable experience across screen sizes and input methods.

Requirements

Node.js 18+ for the frontend tooling and build process.

Rust (latest) for the native components and the compiled parts of the application.

Tauri CLI for packaging the desktop application, reflecting the project’s use of the Tauri framework.

Development workflow (typical steps)

Clone the repository:

• git clone https://github.com/dupitydumb/Audion.git

Install dependencies:

• cd audion
• npm install

Run in development mode:

• npm run tauri dev

Build for production:

• npm run tauri build

Tech stack

Tauri 2.0 for the desktop shell, enabling a lightweight, secure native wrapper around a web-based UI.

SvelteKit for the frontend framework, delivering fast, responsive interfaces with a modern development experience.

Rust for performance-critical and system-level parts of the app.

SQLite for local data persistence, providing a robust and efficient database for the music library, metadata, and user preferences.

Cross-platform goals are a core part of Audion’s design. The combination of Tauri, SvelteKit, Rust, and SQLite is chosen to balance a modern UI with solid performance and security on the desktop.

The project encourages community involvement through contributions, issue tracking, and plugin development:

Issues page for bugs and feature requests.

PLUGINS.md for plugin development guidance and examples.

Discord community for discussions, feedback, and collaboration.

The “Built with” attribution emphasizes the use of Tauri and Svelte, signaling a modern, extensible, and efficient stack that aligns with contemporary development practices.

Audion welcomes contributions from the community. Potential contributors can:

Open issues to report bugs or propose new features.

Create and share plugins following the PLUGINS.md guidelines to extend functionality.

Join the Discord channel to share ideas, seek help, and collaborate with others who are building or improving Audion.

The open nature of the project suggests a collaborative, iterative development process where user feedback and community-driven plugins play a substantial role in the product’s evolution.

The included Audion banner and platform badges communicate a polished, professional presentation intended to resonate with users who value both design and function.

The desktop screenshot series (Fullscreen Mode, Plugin Marketplace, Main Page, Home Page, Theme Selection) together illustrate the breadth of Audion’s UI and customization capabilities, giving a sense of how the app can be tailored to user preferences.

The Android screenshots (Library, Home, Fullscreen) demonstrate that the same design ethos translates to mobile contexts, reinforcing the idea that Audion can complement various listening environments, even if the core app remains desktop-focused.

For the offline-first listener:

Audion provides a reliable, privacy-preserving way to enjoy music without depending on streaming services or cloud accounts. It ensures that the library remains under the user’s control and accessible whenever playback is desired.

For the lyric enthusiast:

The real-time, word-by-word highlighting turns lyric display into an engaging activity, whether for sing-alongs, language learning through listening, or simply enjoying connected text while tracks play.

For the tinkerer and power user:

The plugin architecture opens doors to customizing the experience—adding new features, automations, or integrations that suit specialized workflows. The platform invites experimentation and expansion.

For the designer and visual person:

The customization options—dark/light themes, accent colors, and layout choices—make Audion a personal reflection of user taste. The high-contrast, readable UI supports comfortable long listening sessions.

The following images from the input are used to illustrate Audion’s identity and features:

Audion banner: the header image that introduces the product.

Desktop gallery images:

• Fullscreen Mode: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/878874db-8615-4881-b4c7-531d1d89874f
• Plugin Marketplace: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a67ec2d7-1859-4b86-bf20-0ba218e800e4
• Main Page: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/94164ad4-4783-474d-886f-4a407979d902
• Home Page: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/65a86a0d-6d28-4bd6-9ce9-b68bfae54be7
• Theme Selection: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7aa5f266-6b36-47cc-930c-b56f3883acc0

Android gallery images:

• Android Library: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/74f38713-b645-4abc-bad8-a70793de0e87
• Android Home: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f3bc93c4-1b46-4fff-8226-dcc9c8622922
• Android Fullscreen: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/583c41ea-3205-49bb-bb94-f59d168f7bdc

These images help convey Audion’s aesthetic, feature set, and cross-platform approach, giving readers a concrete sense of what to expect visually.

Audion presents a compelling combination of privacy, offline capability, and a Spotify-inspired, modern interface for local music enjoyment. Its emphasis on:

Real-time lyric syncing with word-by-word highlighting,

An extensible plugin system, and

A customizable, polished user experience sets it apart as a thoughtful option for those who want a desktop music player that behaves like a streaming app while fully controlling their own music library.

The project’s architecture and tooling—Node.js, Rust, SvelteKit, Tauri, and SQLite—are chosen to deliver a responsive, secure, and extensible experience across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Quick-start instructions, feature depth, and community-oriented resources (Issues, Plugins, Discord) suggest an active project with ongoing development and opportunities to contribute, extend, and personalize Audion.

The included imagery from the input supports a visual narrative of Audion’s capabilities, offering a tangible glimpse into how the app looks, how it might feel during use, and how users can customize their experience through theme selections and plugin enhancements.

In short, Audion is positioned as a privacy-respecting, fully offline, aesthetically refined music player that brings a familiar streaming-inspired flow to users’ own music collections, with room to grow through plugins and community collaboration.