# WebSocket and texthooker API

This page is for people wiring SubMiner's live subtitle stream into their own tools: a browser tab, an automation script, another mpv plugin. If you only want subtitles in a browser tab for Yomitan, jump to [Texthooker Integration Guide](#texthooker-integration-guide). Everything else here is reference for building a client.

A *texthooker* is a page/tool that receives the text currently on screen so a dictionary extension (like Yomitan) can look words up. SubMiner ships its own texthooker UI and also broadcasts subtitle text over local WebSockets that any client can connect to.

SubMiner opens four local integration points:

- **Subtitle WebSocket** at `ws://127.0.0.1:6677` by default for plain subtitle pushes.
- **Annotation WebSocket** at `ws://127.0.0.1:6678` by default for token-aware clients.
- **Texthooker HTTP UI** at `http://127.0.0.1:5174` by default for browser-based subtitle consumption.
- **mpv plugin script messages** for in-player automation and extension.

The rest of this page documents each one and shows how to build a consumer for it.

## Quick reference

| Surface | Default | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `websocket` | `ws://127.0.0.1:6677` | Basic subtitle broadcast stream |
| `annotationWebsocket` | `ws://127.0.0.1:6678` | Structured stream with token metadata |
| `texthooker` | `http://127.0.0.1:5174` | Local texthooker UI with injected websocket config |
| mpv plugin | `script-message subminer-*` | Start/stop/toggle/status automation inside mpv |

## Enable and configure the services

SubMiner's integration ports are configured in `config.jsonc`. All three services are **off by default** - the block below shows the values to set to turn them on.

```jsonc
{
  "websocket": {
    "enabled": "auto",
    "port": 6677
  },
  "annotationWebsocket": {
    "enabled": true,
    "port": 6678
  },
  "texthooker": {
    "launchAtStartup": true,
    "openBrowser": false
  }
}
```

### How startup behaves

- `websocket.enabled` defaults to `false`. Set it to `"auto"` to start the basic subtitle websocket unless SubMiner detects the external `mpv_websocket` plugin, or `true` to always start it.
- `annotationWebsocket.enabled` defaults to `false` and is independent from `websocket`. Set it to `true` to start the annotated stream.
- `texthooker.launchAtStartup` defaults to `false`. Set it to `true` to start the local HTTP UI automatically.
- `texthooker.openBrowser` controls whether SubMiner opens the texthooker page in your browser when it starts.

If you use the [mpv plugin](/mpv-plugin), it can also start a texthooker-only helper process. The launcher derives the plugin's texthooker setting from your SubMiner config (`texthooker.launchAtStartup`) and injects it at runtime - there is no plugin config file to edit.

## Developer API documentation

### 1. subtitle WebSocket

Use the basic subtitle websocket when you only need the current subtitle line as plain text.

- **Default URL:** `ws://127.0.0.1:6677`
- **Transport:** local WebSocket server bound to `127.0.0.1`
- **Direction:** server push only
- **Client auth:** none
- **Reconnects:** client-managed

When a client connects, SubMiner immediately sends the latest subtitle payload if one is available. After that, it pushes a new message each time the current subtitle changes. Annotation-only upgrades do not repeat the same line on this basic stream.

#### Message shape

```json
{
  "version": 1,
  "text": "無事",
  "sentence": "無事",
  "tokens": []
}
```

#### Field reference

| Field | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `version` | number | Current websocket payload version. Today this is `1`. |
| `text` | string | Raw subtitle text. |
| `sentence` | string | Plain subtitle text with line breaks represented as `<br>`. No annotation spans or attributes. |
| `tokens` | array | Always empty on the basic subtitle websocket. |

### 2. annotation WebSocket

Use the annotation websocket for custom clients that want the same structured token payload the bundled texthooker UI consumes.

- **Default URL:** `ws://127.0.0.1:6678`
- **Payload shape:** JSON payload with `text`, rendered `sentence` HTML, and token metadata
- **Primary difference:** this stream is intended to stay on even when the basic websocket auto-disables because `mpv_websocket` is installed

In practice, if you are building a new client, prefer `annotationWebsocket` unless you specifically need compatibility with an existing `websocket` consumer.

On a tokenization cache miss, this stream first sends the cue as plain text with an empty `tokens` array, then sends the annotated replacement when tokenization finishes. Treat each message as the complete current state, replacing the previous payload.

#### Message shape

```json
{
  "version": 1,
  "text": "無事",
  "sentence": "<span class=\"word word-known word-jlpt-n2\" data-reading=\"ぶじ\" data-headword=\"無事\" data-frequency-rank=\"745\" data-jlpt-level=\"N2\">無事</span>",
  "tokens": [
    {
      "surface": "無事",
      "reading": "ぶじ",
      "headword": "無事",
      "startPos": 0,
      "endPos": 2,
      "partOfSpeech": "other",
      "isMerged": false,
      "isKnown": true,
      "isNPlusOneTarget": false,
      "isNameMatch": false,
      "jlptLevel": "N2",
      "frequencyRank": 745,
      "className": "word word-known word-jlpt-n2",
      "frequencyRankLabel": "745",
      "jlptLevelLabel": "N2"
    }
  ]
}
```

Each annotation token may include:

| Token field | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `surface` | string | Display text for the token |
| `reading` | string | Kana reading when available |
| `headword` | string | Dictionary headword when available |
| `startPos` / `endPos` | number | Character offsets in the subtitle text |
| `partOfSpeech` | string | SubMiner token POS label |
| `isMerged` | boolean | Whether this token represents merged content |
| `isKnown` | boolean | Marked known by SubMiner's known-word logic |
| `isNPlusOneTarget` | boolean | True when the token is the sentence's N+1 target |
| `isNameMatch` | boolean | True for prioritized character-name matches |
| `frequencyRank` | number | Frequency rank when available |
| `jlptLevel` | string | JLPT level when available |
| `className` | string | CSS-ready class list derived from token state |
| `frequencyRankLabel` | string or `null` | Preformatted rank label for UIs |
| `jlptLevelLabel` | string or `null` | Preformatted JLPT label for UIs |

### 3. HTML markup conventions

The `sentence` field is pre-rendered HTML generated by SubMiner. Depending on token state, it can include classes such as:

- `word`
- `word-known`
- `word-n-plus-one`
- `word-name-match`
- `word-jlpt-n1` through `word-jlpt-n5`
- `word-frequency-single`
- `word-frequency-band-1` through `word-frequency-band-5`

SubMiner also adds tooltip-friendly data attributes when available:

- `data-reading`
- `data-headword`
- `data-frequency-rank`
- `data-jlpt-level`

If you need a fully custom UI, ignore `sentence` and render from `tokens` instead.

## Texthooker integration guide

### When to use the bundled texthooker page

Use texthooker when you want a browser tab that:

- updates live from current subtitles
- works well with browser-based Yomitan setups
- inherits SubMiner's coloring preferences and websocket URL automatically

Start it with either:

```bash
subminer texthooker
# or open the page immediately
subminer texthooker -o
```

or by leaving `texthooker.launchAtStartup` enabled.

### What SubMiner injects into the page

When SubMiner serves the local texthooker UI, it injects bootstrap values into `window.localStorage`, including:

- `bannou-texthooker-websocketUrl`
- coloring toggles for known/N+1/name/frequency/JLPT styling
- CSS custom properties for SubMiner's token colors

That means the bundled page already knows which websocket to connect to and which color palette to use.

### Build a custom websocket client

Here is a minimal browser client for the annotation stream:

```html
<!doctype html>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>SubMiner client</title>
<div id="subtitle">Waiting for subtitles...</div>
<script>
  const subtitle = document.getElementById('subtitle');
  const ws = new WebSocket('ws://127.0.0.1:6678');

  ws.addEventListener('message', (event) => {
    const payload = JSON.parse(event.data);
    subtitle.innerHTML = payload.sentence || payload.text;
  });

  ws.addEventListener('close', () => {
    subtitle.textContent = 'Connection closed; reload or reconnect.';
  });
</script>
```

### Build a custom node client

```js
import WebSocket from 'ws';

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://127.0.0.1:6678');

ws.on('message', (raw) => {
  const payload = JSON.parse(String(raw));
  console.log({
    text: payload.text,
    tokens: payload.tokens.length,
    firstToken: payload.tokens[0]?.surface ?? null,
  });
});
```

### Integration tips

- Bind only to `127.0.0.1`; these services are local-only by design.
- Handle empty `tokens` arrays gracefully because subtitle text can arrive before tokenization completes.
- Reconnect on disconnect; SubMiner does not manage client reconnects for you.
- Prefer `payload.text` for logging/automation and `payload.sentence` or `payload.tokens` for UI rendering.

## Plugin development

SubMiner does **not** currently expose a general-purpose third-party plugin SDK inside the app itself. Today, the supported extension surfaces are:

1. the local websocket streams
2. the local texthooker UI
3. the mpv Lua plugin's script-message API
4. the launcher CLI

### mpv script messages

The mpv plugin accepts these script messages:

```text
script-message subminer-start
script-message subminer-stop
script-message subminer-toggle
script-message subminer-menu
script-message subminer-options
script-message subminer-restart
script-message subminer-status
script-message subminer-autoplay-ready
script-message subminer-stats-toggle
script-message subminer-visible-overlay-shown
script-message subminer-visible-overlay-hidden
script-message subminer-managed-subtitles-loading
script-message subminer-overlay-loading-ready
script-message subminer-reload-session-bindings
```

The overlay/loading/session-binding messages are primarily sent by the SubMiner app to keep the plugin's state in sync. The AniSkip messages (`subminer-skip-intro`, `subminer-aniskip-refresh`) are handled by the SubMiner app over the mpv IPC socket while it is connected.

The start command also accepts inline overrides:

```text
script-message subminer-start backend=hyprland socket=/custom/path texthooker=no log-level=debug
```

### Practical extension patterns

#### Add another mpv script that coordinates with SubMiner

Examples:

- send `subminer-start` after your own media-selection script chooses a file
- send `subminer-status` before running follow-up automation
- send `subminer-aniskip-refresh` after you update title/episode metadata (handled by the SubMiner app)

#### Build a launcher wrapper

Examples:

- open a media picker, then call `subminer /path/to/file.mkv`
- launch browser-only subtitle tooling with `subminer texthooker -o`
- disable the helper UI for a session with `subminer --no-texthooker video.mkv`

#### Build an overlay-adjacent client

Examples:

- browser widget showing current subtitle + token breakdown
- local vocabulary capture helper that writes interesting lines to a file
- bridge service that forwards websocket events into your own workflow engine

## Webhook examples

SubMiner does **not** currently send outbound webhooks by itself. The supported pattern is to consume the websocket locally and relay events into another system.

That still makes webhook-style automation straightforward.

### Example: forward subtitle lines to a local webhook receiver

```js
import WebSocket from 'ws';

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://127.0.0.1:6678');

ws.on('message', async (raw) => {
  const payload = JSON.parse(String(raw));

  await fetch('http://127.0.0.1:5678/subminer/subtitle', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      text: payload.text,
      tokens: payload.tokens,
      receivedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
    }),
  });
});
```

### Automation ideas

- **n8n / Make / Zapier relay:** send each subtitle line into an automation workflow for logging, translation, or summarization.
- **Discord / Slack notifier:** post only lines that contain unknown words or N+1 targets.
- **Obsidian / Markdown capture:** append subtitle lines plus token metadata to a daily immersion note.

### Filtering example: only forward N+1 lines

```js
import WebSocket from 'ws';

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://127.0.0.1:6678');

ws.on('message', async (raw) => {
  const payload = JSON.parse(String(raw));
  const hasNPlusOne = payload.tokens.some((token) => token.isNPlusOneTarget);

  if (!hasNPlusOne) return;

  await fetch('http://127.0.0.1:5678/subminer/n-plus-one', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ text: payload.text, tokens: payload.tokens }),
  });
});
```

## Recommended integration combinations

- **Browser Yomitan client:** `texthooker` + `annotationWebsocket`
- **Custom dashboard:** `annotationWebsocket` only
- **Lightweight subtitle mirror:** `websocket` only
- **mpv-side automation:** mpv plugin script messages + optional websocket relay
- **Webhook-style workflows:** `annotationWebsocket` + your own local relay service

## Related pages

- [Configuration](/configuration#websocket-server)
- [Mining Workflow - Texthooker](/mining-workflow#texthooker)
- [MPV Plugin](/mpv-plugin)
- [Launcher Script](/launcher-script)
- [Anki Integration](/anki-integration#proxy-mode-setup-yomitan-texthooker)