node-roku-client

Discover & control Roku devices from NodeJS.

requirements:

• node 10 or higher
• a Roku device connected to your network
• a router/network that supports UPnP (for ssdp)

Installation

$ npm install roku-client

Usage

// es2015
import { RokuClient, Keys } from 'roku-client';

// commonjs
const { RokuClient, Keys } = require('roku-client');

RokuClient.discover(/* timeout, defaults to 10 seconds */)
  .then((client) => {
    console.log(`roku device found at ${client.ip}`);
    return client.apps();
  })
  .then((apps) => {
    apps.forEach((app) => console.log(app));
    // [{ id, name, type, version }, ...]
  })
  .catch((err) => {
    console.error(err.stack);
  });

// Or, if the roku address is already known
const client = new RokuClient('http://192.168.1.17:8060');
client.keypress(Keys.VOLUME_UP);

RokuClient.discover()

Invoking RokuClient.discover() will return a promise which resolves to a RokuClient object on success. The RokuClient will be initialized to the address of the first device to respond. This client object will contain the methods needed to control a roku device. Commands are sent to the Roku device via HTTP protocol as found on the docs.

If there are multiple Roku devices on the network, RokuClient.discoverAll() can be called which will wait the full timeout and return a promise that resolves to an array of clients for all the addresses found.

import { RokuClient } from 'roku-client';

RokuClient.discoverAll().then((clients) => {
  console.log(clients.map((c) => c.ip));
  // ['http://192.168.1.17:8060', 'http://192.168.1.18:8060', ...]
});

API Methods

Method Name	Return Type	Details
ip	string	The network ip and port http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8060
static .discover(timeout?: number)	Promise<RokuClient>	Return a promise resolving to a new RokuClient object for the first Roku device discovered on the network.
static .discoverAll(timeout?: number)	Promise<RokuClient[]>	Return a promise resolving to a list of RokuClient objects corresponding to each roku device found on the network.
.apps()	Promise<{id: string, name: string, type: string, version: string}[]>	List of all apps installed on this device.
.active()	Promise<{id: string, name: string, type: string, version: string} | null>}	A single object representing the active app, or null if the home screen is active.
.info()	Promise<Object>	A map of this Roku device's properties. Varies from device to device. See device-info.ts for the full interface.
.keypress(key: string)	Promise<void>	Send a keypress from keys.ts or a single character to send that letter (e.g. to an input box).
.keydown(key: string)	Promise<void>	The same as keypress but tells the Roku to hold the key down.
.keyup(key: string)	Promise<void>	The same as keypress but tells the Roku to release a key held with keyup ( a no-op if the key was not held).
.icon(appId: number)	Promise<Icon>	Fetches the image and returns an object with the fetch response, extension, and mime type.
.search(query: string | RokuSearchParams)	Promise<void>	Launch Roku's search interface for the given query.
.mediaPlayer()	Promise<RokuMediaInfo>	Fetch the current state of the media player, possibly including elapsed time, duration, and more.
.launch(appId: number)	Promise<void>	Launch the given app by its id.
.launchDtv(channel?: number | string)	Promise<void>	Launch the DTV tuner, optionally to a specific channel.
.text(text: string)	Promise<void>	Send the text string as a series of keypress actions.
.command()	Commander	Returns a Commander instance, which allows for easily chaining key commands to send to the Roku.

Keypress Values

keys.ts contains a list of keypress values understood by Roku. It can be accessed programmatically:

import { Keys } from 'roku-client';

Keys.HOME; // 'Home'
Keys.LEFT; // 'Left'

Commander

The RokuClient#command() method provides a simpler interface over the keypress and text methods. It allows them to be chained and repeated and handles all promise chaining internally.

Each key within the keys.ts module is available on the commander instance in camelcase form. Additionally, a .text() method is available to send text strings. Each key command takes an optional number to specify the number of times to repeat the command, defaulting to 1.

After chaining the desired methods, call .send() to send them to the Roku. .send() returns a promise that completes when all buttons have been pressed, or when the Roku fails to respond to any of the commands.

Commander instances can be saved and reused later as macros.

Examples

Navigate to a search box and enter text

client
  .command()
  .up()
  .left()
  .select()
  .text('Breaking Bad')
  .enter()
  .send()
  .then(/* commands succeeded */)
  .catch((err) => {
    /* commands failed */
  });

Turn the volume up by 10

client.command().volumeUp(10).send();

Conditionally perform a command

client
  .command()
  .exec((cmd) => (goUp ? cmd.up(10) : cmd.down(10)))
  .right()
  .select()
  .send();

Konami code

client
  .command()
  .up(2)
  .down(2)
  .left()
  .right()
  .left()
  .right()
  .text('ba')
  .enter()
  .send();

Wait before performing the next command

client.command().enter().wait(1000).text('some text').send();

Usage as a macro

const volumeUp5 = client.command().volumeUp(5);
const volumeDown5 = client.command().volumeDown(5);

volumeUp5.send();
volumeUp5.send();

Usage in the Browser

I spent some time trying to get this package to work from a browser. Mainly I was trying to load it from skypack.dev so I could write a demo website. I ran into a few issues - xml2js doesn't work in the browser, so I tried out isomorphic-xml2js. Browsers also can't send udp packets, so the whole discovery mechanism is out of the question. I was able to stub that part out with a "browsers" field in package.json. The final nail in the coffin is that roku devices don't set CORS headers, so even after getting the library to run, browsers block the requests. At this point I've decided there isn't any point in making this library isomorphic. In the future I might replace fetch-ponyfill with something more light weight.

If you have a good reason for this library to work in browsers, let me know by opening an issue!

Testing

$ npm run test

This will run the linter, unit tests, and coverage.

References

• Roku - External Control Service Commands
• Roku - Keypress Key Values

Additional Information

Tested on OSX & raspberry pi w/ raspbian jessie, and with Roku TV.