What is bonob?

bonob is a self-hosted Sonos SMAPI (Sonos Music API) implementation that connects Sonos speakers to Subsonic API compatible music servers such as Navidrome and Gonic. It works with both Sonos S1 (local network only) and S2 (requires internet exposure) systems. Key capabilities include browsing music by artist, album, playlist, genre, year and other categories; searching by album, artist, or track; reporting now-playing information and scrobbling tracks after 30 seconds of playback; marking songs as favorites and assigning ratings from within the Sonos app; editing playlists; transcoding unsupported audio formats automatically via the OpenSubsonic extension or through custom mime-type rules; caching artist images; customizing the service icon colors shown in the Sonos app; and registering multiple instances within one household. The software runs as a Docker container listening on port 4534, requires a Subsonic-compatible server as a backend, and is configured entirely through environment variables.

Should you self-host bonob?

bonob scores 48/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #38 of 54 in Media Streaming. It has 341 GitHub stars.

It shipped 5 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v0.15.0, came out on 23 September 2026. New versions land roughly every 2 months.

Setup is advanced: plan for several services and some ongoing maintenance. An official Docker image is available. It is GPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in Typescript.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Invidious (81/100, 25 799 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See bonob vs Invidious side by side.

Features

Artist & album art
Auto registration & discovery (S1)S1 only, requires BNB_SONOS_ENABLE_S1=true
Favorites and ratings
LocalizationOnly 4 languages supported currently
Multiple household registrations
Music browsing
Now playing & track scrobbling
Playlist editing
Related artists
Search
Sonos S1 support
Sonos S2 supportRequires exposing bonob to the internet on port 443
Subsonic API integration
Transcoding

How to configure bonob

BNB_AUTH_TIMEOUT1hTimeout for the Sonos auth token (ms format)
Timeout for the Sonos auth token (ms format)
BNB_ICON_BACKGROUND_COLORIcon background color in Sonos app (SVG color)
Icon background color in Sonos app (SVG color)
BNB_ICON_FOREGROUND_COLORIcon foreground color in Sonos app (SVG color)
Icon foreground color in Sonos app (SVG color)
BNB_LOG_HTTP_REQUESTSfalseWhether to log HTTP requests
Whether to log HTTP requests
values: true, false
BNB_LOGIN_THEMEclassicTheme for login page
Theme for login page
values: classic, navidrome-ish, @wkulhanek
BNB_LOG_LEVELinfoLog level
Log level
values: debug, info, warn, error
BNB_PORT4534Default HTTP port for bonob to listen on
Default HTTP port for bonob to listen on
BNB_REPORT_NOW_PLAYINGtrueWhether to report track as now playing
Whether to report track as now playing
values: true, false
BNB_SCROBBLE_TRACKStrueWhether to scrobble tracks played >30s
Whether to scrobble tracks played >30s
values: true, false
BNB_SECRETSecret used for encrypting credentials, must be provided
Secret used for encrypting credentials, must be provided
BNB_SONOS_AUTO_REGISTERfalseWhether to auto-register with S1 devices on startup
Whether to auto-register with S1 devices on startup
values: true, false
BNB_SONOS_DEVICE_DISCOVERYtrueEnable/Disable Sonos device discovery
Enable/Disable Sonos device discovery
values: true, false
BNB_SONOS_ENABLE_S1falseEnables S1 support
Enables S1 support
values: true, false
BNB_SONOS_SEED_HOSTSonos device seed host for discovery
Sonos device seed host for discovery
BNB_SONOS_SERVICE_ID246Service ID for Sonos
Service ID for Sonos
BNB_SONOS_SERVICE_NAMEbonobS1 service name for Sonos
S1 service name for Sonos
BNB_SUBSONIC_ARTIST_IMAGE_CACHEPath for caching artist images sourced externally
Path for caching artist images sourced externally
BNB_SUBSONIC_CUSTOM_CLIENTSComma-delimited mime types for custom Subsonic clients when streaming
Comma-delimited mime types for custom Subsonic clients when streaming
BNB_SUBSONIC_TRANSCODEtrueWhether to use OpenSubsonic Transcoding extension
Whether to use OpenSubsonic Transcoding extension
values: true, false
BNB_SUBSONIC_URLhttp://$(hostname):4533URL for Subsonic clone
URL for Subsonic clone
BNB_URLhttp://$(hostname):4534URL for bonob so Sonos devices can communicate (S1: local IP/hostname; S2: public DNS)
URL for bonob so Sonos devices can communicate (S1: local IP/hostname; S2: public DNS)
TZUTCTimezone from tz database
Timezone from tz database