Multistream Manager (SSMM_UI)

Multistream Manager is a Windows desktop app (Avalonia + .NET 9) for local RTMP ingest, multi-destination restreaming, metadata management, OAuth login handling, and optional social announcement posting.

It acts as a control center between:

• Your encoder (OBS/other RTMP-capable software)
• A local RTMP server (rtmp://localhost:1935/live/demo)
• Destination platforms (YouTube, Twitch, Kick, and other RTMP targets from services.json)
• Optional social posting (X, Facebook Pages, Discord webhooks)

Table of Contents

• What the App Does
• Getting Started
• High-Level Architecture
• Project Structure
• Core Workflows (How It Works)
• Authentication and Token Lifecycle
• Streaming Pipeline and ffmpeg
• Metadata and Category Handling
• Social AutoPoster
• Themes and UI Behavior
• Persistence and Storage
• Configuration Files
• Prerequisites
• Setup and First Run
• Build and Run
• Installer (WiX)
• Troubleshooting
• Known Limitations / Notes

Getting Started

For a concise first-run guide, see:

• docs/GETTING_STARTED.md
• docs/DESIGN_AND_ARCHITECTURE.md

What the App Does

Main capabilities:

• Maintains a local RTMP ingest server and status polling.
• Lets you choose stream destinations and store their stream keys.
• Creates/updates platform broadcast sessions where applicable.
• Starts one ffmpeg forwarding process per active destination.
• Lets you manage stream metadata (title, thumbnail, category).
• Supports OAuth login for YouTube, Twitch, Kick, X, Facebook.
• Persists settings, service selections, metadata, webhooks, and encrypted tokens.
• Can auto-post social announcements when stream starts.
• Provides live logs and per-output ffmpeg stderr output.
• Supports multiple built-in themes with a runtime theme selector.

High-Level Architecture

The app follows an MVVM-centered structure with service-driven state:

• Views (.axaml): UI markup only.
• ViewModels: Bindable UI state + commands.
• Services: Application logic, persistence, auth, stream orchestration.
• StateService: central state owner and persistence boundary.

Dependency injection is configured in SSMM_UI\App.axaml.cs and services/viewmodels are primarily registered as singletons.

Application startup is in SSMM_UI\Program.cs:

• Sets ffmpeg.RootPath = "Dependencies"
• Starts Avalonia app lifetime.

Project Structure

Important folders/files:

• SSMM_UI\Program.cs - app entrypoint.
• SSMM_UI\App.axaml.cs - DI setup, main window initialization.
• SSMM_UI\MainWindow.axaml - shell layout (menu, tabs, side panels, theme selector).
• SSMM_UI\Services\StateService.cs - central state, token events, persistence.
• SSMM_UI\Services\StreamService.cs - ffmpeg process management + stream start/stop.
• SSMM_UI\Services\BroadCastService.cs - YouTube/Twitch/Kick broadcast creation logic.
• SSMM_UI\Services\CentralAuthService.cs - OAuth coordination and auto-login logic.
• SSMM_UI\Services\ThemeService.cs - theme registration/application/persistence.
• SSMM_UI\Poster\SocialPoster.cs - social post dispatch logic.
• SSMM_UI\RTMP\RTMPServer.cs - local RTMP/HTTP-FLV/HLS admin server host.
• WixPackage\ - MSI packaging and shortcut definitions.

Core Workflows (How It Works)

1) Service selection

• LeftSideBarViewModel binds available RTMP service groups loaded by StateService from services.json.
• User selects a service.
• DialogService.ShowServerDetailsAsync(...) opens server/key dialog and stores a SelectedService in StateService.SelectedServicesToStream.

2) Login and token state

• Login actions in LoginViewModel and SocialPosterLoginViewModel call CentralAuthService.
• StateService stores tokens in encrypted files and updates in-memory auth dictionary.
• UI statuses refresh from StateService.OnAuthObjectsUpdated.

3) Metadata preparation

• MetaDataViewModel edits title/category/thumbnail.
• Metadata is kept in StateService and serialized to roaming storage.

4) Start stream

• StreamControlViewModel.StartStream():

  • Validates active selected outputs.
  • For YouTube/Twitch/Kick, asks BroadCastService to prepare upstream broadcast metadata/session details.
  • Calls StreamService.StartStream(...).

• StreamService.StartStream(...):

  • Builds ffmpeg args for each active output.
  • Starts one ffmpeg process per output.
  • Captures process references and makes them visible in output logs.

5) Stop stream

• StreamControlViewModel.StopStreamsCommand calls StreamService.StopStreams().
• Existing ffmpeg processes are killed and output viewmodels disposed.

Authentication and Token Lifecycle

Auth providers in use:

• Stream providers: YouTube, Twitch, Kick
• Social providers: X, Facebook

Key mechanics:

• Tokens implement a common auth token interface (IAuthToken).
• StateService stores tokens encrypted via DPAPI (SecureStorage).
• StateService emits:
  • OnTokenAdded
  • OnTokenRemoved
  • OnAuthObjectsCleared
  • OnAuthObjectsUpdated
• AvailableAuthProviders is exposed as a ReadOnlyObservableCollection for reactive UI binding.

Token purge:

• “Purge all” removes token files + clears in-memory state.
• “Purge specific token” removes one provider token from both storage and in-memory state.
• Login status labels are derived from current state (not stale snapshots).

Streaming Pipeline and ffmpeg

Local ingest

• App starts local RTMP server (RTMPServer.StartSrv()) on startup through StreamService constructor.
• Ingest endpoint is expected at:
  • rtmp://localhost:1935/live/demo

ffmpeg path and binaries

• Runtime expects ffmpeg tools in SSMM_UI\Dependencies.
• Program.cs sets ffmpeg root path accordingly.
• ffmpeg, ffprobe, and related DLLs are included as copied dependencies in project file.

Output process model

• One ffmpeg process per selected active destination.
• ffmpeg args are built based on service recommended settings where available.
• Current default video codec behavior uses stream copy (-c:v copy) fallback.
• Process stderr is captured and surfaced in UI through OutputViewModel.

Polling

PollService reports:

• RTMP stream alive status (via ffmpeg probe logic against local ingest URL).
• Server status (via HTTPS check to local admin endpoint https://localhost:7000/ui/).

Metadata and Category Handling

Metadata (MetaDataViewModel + MetaDataService):

• Title editing.
• YouTube category selection from youtube_categories.json.
• Thumbnail image selection via file picker.
• Twitch category selection via SearchView.

Platform-specific updates:

• YouTube: broadcast title/category + optional thumbnail upload.
• Twitch: title/category update through Twitch API integration.
• Kick: title/category automation via puppeteering workflow.

Social AutoPoster

SocialPosterViewModel controls:

• Enable/disable auto-post on stream start.
• Destination toggles: X, Facebook, Discord.
• Optional custom social message.

SocialPoster behavior:

• Resolves currently active stream platforms through PostMaster.
• Builds announcement text (SocialPostTemplate).
• Posts to enabled destinations when possible:
  • X API
  • Facebook Pages API
  • Discord webhooks from configured list
• Returns aggregate success/failure details (SocialPostResult) for logging.

Themes and UI Behavior

Theme system:

• Implemented in ThemeService.
• Persisted in UserSettings.ThemeKey.
• Applied by replacing merged resource dictionaries at runtime.

Included themes:

• Midnight Neon
• Cyberpunk Pulse
• Vaporwave Drift
• Crimson Core
• Aurora Glass
• Oceanic Storm
• Solar Flare
• Acid Reactor
• Sunrise Glow

UI theme controls:

• Header ComboBox in MainWindow for direct theme selection.
• Theme selection is synchronized through SelectedTheme + ThemeOption.IsSelected.

Persistence and Storage

Storage helper root:

• %APPDATA%\GWAP Technologies\Multistream Manager\...

Persisted data includes:

• Settings\UserSettings.json
• Services\Serialized_Services.json
• Metadata\MetaData_State.json
• WebHooks\Webhooks.json
• Settings\WindowSettings.json
• Tokens\*Token.json (encrypted)

On main window close (MainWindow.axaml.cs):

• Services, settings, webhooks, and window position are serialized.

Configuration Files

• SSMM_UI\services.json
  RTMP service definitions and recommended streaming constraints.

• SSMM_UI\youtube_categories.json
  YouTube categories loaded into metadata UI.

• SSMM_UI\Dependencies\*
  ffmpeg binaries and supporting native DLLs.

Prerequisites

• Windows (desktop target)
• .NET SDK 9.x
• ffmpeg/ffprobe binaries present in SSMM_UI\Dependencies
• Valid API credentials/config for enabled OAuth providers
• OBS Studio (or another RTMP-capable encoder) for local ingest feed

Setup and First Run

1. Ensure dependencies:

• Restore NuGet packages (dotnet restore).
• Verify Dependencies folder contains ffmpeg binaries.

2. Configure encoder:

• In OBS: Stream Service = Custom
• Server: rtmp://localhost:1935/live/
• Stream key: demo

3. Start app and authenticate providers as needed.

4. Add desired destinations in left sidebar and set stream keys.

5. Set metadata and optional social posting preferences.

6. Click Start Receiving in Inspection panel to preview local ingest.

7. Click Start Stream to begin forwarding to active destinations.

Build and Run

From repository root:

dotnet build .\SSMM_UI\SSMM_UI.csproj -nologo
dotnet run --project .\SSMM_UI\SSMM_UI.csproj

Solution build:

dotnet build .\SSMM_UI.sln -nologo

Installer (WiX)

Installer project:

• WixPackage\WixPackage.wixproj

Notes:

• Pre-build target publishes desktop app and harvests files with Heat.
• MSI output name is MultistreamManager.
• Desktop and Start Menu shortcuts target MultistreamManager.exe.
• Shortcuts explicitly use app icon via WixPackage\Shortcuts.wxs (AppShortcutIcon).

Build MSI from repo root:

dotnet build .\WixPackage\WixPackage.wixproj -nologo -p:SolutionDir="C:\path\to\SSMM_UI\"

Troubleshooting

App can’t find icon/resource

• Verify URI uses new assembly host:
  • avares://MultistreamManager/...
• Ensure Assets\MainIcon.png is included as AvaloniaResource.

Stream status shows not receiving

• Confirm encoder is pushing to rtmp://localhost:1935/live/demo.
• Confirm local RTMP service is running and no port conflict on 1935.

YouTube does not go live automatically

• Verify token is valid and YouTube service object exists.
• Check logs for lifecycle transition retries.
• Confirm ingest stream became active before transition timeout.

Social post not sent

• Verify destination toggle enabled.
• Confirm corresponding token/webhook exists.
• Check log output for provider-specific error reason.

Token purge not reflected in UI

• Current implementation uses central token events + read-only provider collection, so login status and purge dialogs should react immediately. If stale status appears, check subscribers to OnAuthObjectsUpdated.

Known Limitations / Notes

• Some provider integrations are partial/stubbed (example: Trovo/Facebook broadcast creation stubs in BroadCastService).
• PollService currently runs continuous loops without explicit stop/dispose path for cancellation source.
• Some exception handling paths log-and-continue rather than fail-fast (legacy behavior).
• Current project contains an older ReadMe\ReadMe.txt; this README.md is intended to be the primary, comprehensive documentation moving forward.