Discovering devices

import { createDevice, discover } from '@corewire/devices';

Scanning

discover() sends one multicast DNS-SD query for _airplay._tcp, _companion-link._tcp and _raop._tcp and listens for about four seconds. It merges the answers of one host by address into a DiscoveredDevice.

import { discover } from '@corewire/devices';

const found = await discover();

for (const device of found) {
    console.log(device.id, device.name, device.address, device.modelName, device.mac);
    console.log('companion link:', !!device.services.companionLink);
}

A scan less than 30 seconds old is reused. Pass {useCache: false} to force a new one. Two scans that run at the same time share one query.

import { discover } from '@corewire/devices';

const fresh = await discover({useCache: false});

What a result holds

Field	Meaning
id	The service instance name with spaces as dashes, plus .local, such as Living-Room.local
name	The name to show; today the same value as id
address	The address that answered
model, modelName, family	The DeviceModel, the raw model identifier (AppleTV14,1) and the DeviceFamily
mac	The deviceid from the TXT record as AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF, or null
target	A DeviceTarget to construct a device with
services	The airplay, companionLink and raop records (name, port, TXT), each when present

Creating a device

createDevice() returns an AppleTV for the Apple TV family and a HomePod for every other receiver. It takes the same options as the AppleTV constructor.

import { AppleTV, createDevice, Credentials, discover } from '@corewire/devices';

const [first] = await discover();
const device = createDevice(first, {credentials: Credentials.parse(await load())});

if (device instanceof AppleTV) {
    await device.connect();
}

You can also pass first.target to a constructor. The target carries the address, the AirPlay port, the TXT record and the id, so the first connect skips the lookup.

Without discovery

A device built from only an address works. Before the first connect, and before every retry, it asks that address for its services with a unicast DNS-SD query. See Connection and recovery.

import { HomePod } from '@corewire/devices';

const pod = new HomePod({address: '192.168.1.30'});

Device models

lookupDeviceModel() maps a model identifier (AppleTV6,2) or an internal code name (J305AP) to a DeviceModel. getDeviceModelName() gives a display name, getDeviceFamily() the family, and isAppleTV(), isHomePod() and isAirPort() test the family.

import { DeviceModel, getDeviceModelName, isHomePod, lookupDeviceModel } from '@corewire/devices';

const model = lookupDeviceModel('AudioAccessory5,1');

console.log(model === DeviceModel.HomePodMini, getDeviceModelName(model), isHomePod(model));

A model the table does not know is DeviceModel.Unknown. discover() still sorts it into a family by its identifier, so a new Apple TV model gets an AppleTV from createDevice().