Aliran
Self-hostable, open-source, peer-to-peer OTT streaming. Run your own live TV service on hardware you control. Viewers re-seed each other. There are no central media servers, so bandwidth cost stays near zero as your audience grows.
Aliran is built on the Holepunch/Pear stack. It is pre-1.0 and actively developed, and it already runs in production on real infrastructure.
About these docs
These docs follow the STE (Simplified Technical English) writing rules: one instruction per sentence, active voice, present tense, short sentences, and one approved term for each concept. This project does not use the full licensed ASD-STE100 dictionary or a certified checker. It applies the writing rules by hand, plus a project word list, to keep every page consistent.
Start here
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Go from nothing to a live channel in 15 minutes with Docker Compose.
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Get the same result. An AI client drives it through the MCP server.
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Someone gave you a key and a login. Install an app and connect.
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Learn how P2P streaming works: what replaces the CDN, and what that costs you.
Pick your path
I'm an operator — I want to run a service
Follow the core journey, roughly in this order:
- Quickstart — terminal or Quickstart — AI assistant — get something live.
- Operator guide — run a real deployment: firewall rules, host tuning, sizing, backups, HA.
- Content management — manage your catalog, metadata, artwork, redirect channels, and program guide.
- User management — manage accounts, passwords, devices, sessions, and channel packages.
- Configuration — find every environment variable, per service.
- Security model — learn what's protected, what isn't, and why Aliran has no DRM. Read this before you sell access.
Add these optional services later:
| Service | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Repeater appliance | A keyless regional super-peer that absorbs viewer load |
| VOD library | On-demand titles alongside your live channels |
| Reseller panel | A role hierarchy and credit ledger so resellers manage their own customers |
| MCP server | Operate the whole deployment through an AI assistant |
| Analytics | Aggregate-only usage counts — no per-viewer tracking, by design |
| Viewer problem reports | "Report a problem" from the apps, correlation alerts, ops notifications — pseudonymous by construction |
I'm building or branding the apps
- Operator build walkthrough — go from your key and branding to a custom APK and Windows executable
- White-label branding — set names, colours, logos, splash
- Client build — build the Android phone and TV app
- Desktop player — the Electron player for Windows and macOS
I'm integrating the player SDK
- Player SDK — what it does and how it fits
- SDK installation & configuration — get it into your app
- Kotlin SDK walkthrough — native Android
- Operator APIs & the SDK — wire your own billing or provisioning to the panel
I'm a viewer
- Android viewer guide — phone and Android TV
- Desktop viewer guide — Windows and macOS
When something breaks
- FAQ & troubleshooting — the common questions, answered
- Knowledge base — field-tested symptom → cause → fix entries from real deployments
- Reference — admin CLI, HTTP APIs, RPC, schemas, MCP tool catalog
Contributing & project artifacts
- Developer tour — run the stack locally from the npm workspaces, without Docker
- Architecture — the five components, data flows, sequence diagrams
- Legal & compliance — content rights, licensing, regional rules
- Roadmap — what's done, what's next
- Changelog — the shipped-feature summary
- Development log — the full chronological build history, including how each piece was verified
- Architecture decision records — why things are the way they are
Content rights are your responsibility
Aliran is neutral infrastructure and ships no content. If you operate a service, you hold the rights to everything you distribute. See Legal & compliance.