Federation
Federation links your instance to an immerle-hub — an optional, opt-in
connection that syncs playlists between instances, resolves tracks by a
portable id even when you don't have the source instance's exact file, and
lets you export anonymized listening stats. Nothing is federated until you
link.
There's no on/off toggle to look for: federation is active whenever your instance is linked, and idle otherwise.
Linking
Linking is a two-step, admin-only process: you register your hub account with your instance, then the server does a one-time handshake with the hub that issues your instance a fixed identity and a unique, editable public handle. That identity is what lets other instances find and subscribe to you.
The hub's own address is fixed by Immerle and isn't something you configure — only the parts specific to your instance are.
What syncs
Two independent things, each with its own switch in the admin settings:
- Playlist sync — your public, non-federated playlists are pushed to the hub, so they can appear on other linked instances. Identical cover art across instances isn't re-uploaded.
- Scrobble export — your listening counts are aggregated per track, with identity and timestamps dropped, so the hub can build aggregate stats without ever seeing which instance or user played what.
A federated playlist can reference a track by a portable identifier your instance doesn't have a local file for. Tapping it checks your library for that id and, if it's missing, searches your configured on-demand providers — no separate toggle. With no provider configured, such tracks just aren't playable locally.
Discovering other instances
Once linked, you can search for other instances on the hub and subscribe to them. Subscribing surfaces their federated (public) playlists in your own library, read-only — the same way subscribing to a public playlist on your own server works.
For the exact API calls behind all of this, see the native API walkthrough.