minihost¶

Minimal headless audio plugin host for VST3, AudioUnit, and LV2 plugins.

minihost provides a C API built on JUCE with Python bindings via nanobind. It builds in headless mode by default (no GUI dependencies), making it suitable for servers, batch processing, and embedded applications.

Key Features¶

Plugin formats: VST3 (all platforms), AudioUnit (macOS), LV2 (all platforms)
Headless mode: no GUI dependencies, uses JUCE's juce_audio_processors_headless
Plugin chaining: connect multiple plugins in series
Real-time audio: playback and capture via miniaudio, with duplex mode for effect processing
Real-time MIDI: input/output via libremidi, virtual ports on macOS/Linux
Audio file I/O: read WAV/FLAC/MP3/Vorbis, write WAV and FLAC
Sample rate conversion: built-in resampling via miniaudio
Batch processing: glob patterns and directory output for processing multiple files
Auto-tail detection: automatic reverb/delay tail detection in offline rendering
Sample-accurate automation: parameter changes at sample resolution
CLI tool: 7 subcommands for plugin inspection, playback, processing, and resampling

Quick Start¶

# Install
git clone https://github.com/shakfu/minihost.git
cd minihost
uv sync
make build

import minihost
import numpy as np

# Load a plugin
plugin = minihost.Plugin("/path/to/plugin.vst3", sample_rate=48000)

# Process audio
input_audio = np.zeros((2, 512), dtype=np.float32)
output_audio = np.zeros((2, 512), dtype=np.float32)
plugin.process(input_audio, output_audio)

# Real-time playback with MIDI
with minihost.AudioDevice(plugin) as audio:
    audio.send_midi(0x90, 60, 100)  # Note on

# CLI usage
minihost info /path/to/plugin.vst3
minihost play /path/to/synth.vst3 --midi 0
minihost process /path/to/effect.vst3 -i input.wav -o output.wav
minihost resample input.wav -o output.wav -r 48000

Requirements¶

CMake 3.20+, C++17 compiler
JUCE 8.0.11+ (auto-downloaded)
Python bindings: nanobind, scikit-build-core, uv
Runtime: numpy

See Getting Started for full build instructions.