⚡ NodeLink Audio Server Setup (Recommended)

🏠 Documentation Hub > Getting Started > NodeLink Setup

NodeLink is a next-generation, high-performance, standalone audio streaming server built entirely in Node.js by the PerformanC Team. It is designed as a modern, lightweight alternative to Java Lavalink for Discord music bots.

Official Documentation & Credits:
NodeLink is developed and maintained by PerformanC. Visit the official website and documentation at https://nodelink.js.org/ and view the source on GitHub.

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🌟 Why Reverb Recommends NodeLink Over Lavalink

While Reverb supports both Lavalink and NodeLink, NodeLink is the strongly recommended default engine for Reverb:

Feature	⚡ NodeLink (Recommended)	☕ Lavalink v4
Runtime Requirement	100% Pure Node.js (No Java required)	Requires Java 17 or 21 (JRE/JDK)
Client Synergy	Native first-class Moonlink.js support	Supported via Lavalink v4 API
Source Support	Built-in native extractors for 15+ sources	Requires separate Java Maven plugins
Memory Footprint	Extremely low (~80 MB – 150 MB RAM)	Higher Java heap (~512 MB – 1 GB RAM)
Audio Processing	Rust bindings & WebAssembly (WASM)	Java Native Interface (JNI) & C wrappers
Plugin Setup	Zero external plugins needed	Must configure application.yml plugins
Multi-Core Scaling	Native multi-worker clustering	Single JVM process with thread pool

Why Built-in Sources Matter

With Lavalink, enabling Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and YouTube requires downloading external Java plugins (youtube-plugin, lavasrc-plugin, lavasearch-plugin) and declaring Maven repository URLs. If a plugin breaks or becomes incompatible, playback fails.
NodeLink includes native support for all these sources out-of-the-box with zero extra plugins to configure.

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📋 1. Prerequisites

Before setting up NodeLink, ensure your system has:

• Node.js: >= 22.0.0 (Recommended: latest Node.js v22 LTS)
• Git: Latest stable release
• C/C++ Build Tools (Optional, for native addon compilation):
  • Linux: sudo apt install build-essential python3
  • Windows: Visual Studio C++ Build Tools or windows-build-tools

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📥 2. Download & Installation

Option A: Standard Git Installation (Recommended)

1. Open your terminal or command prompt and clone the official repository:

   git clone https://github.com/PerformanC/NodeLink.git
   cd NodeLink

2. Install dependencies:

   pnpm

   pnpm install

   npm

   npm install

   yarn

   yarn install

Option B: Docker Container

If you prefer containerized deployment:

docker run -d \
  --name nodelink \
  -p 2333:2333 \
  --restart always \
  ghcr.io/performanc/nodelink:latest

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⚙️ 3. Configuration (config.js)

NodeLink uses a single, clean JavaScript configuration file.

1. Copy the default configuration file:

   # On Linux / macOS:
   cp config.default.js config.js
   
   # On Windows (PowerShell):
   Copy-Item config.default.js config.js

2. Open config.js in your preferred text editor. Key settings to configure:

module.exports = {
  server: {
    port: 2333,
    address: "0.0.0.0",
    password: "youshallnotpass" // Must match config.reverb.js
  },
  options: {
    maxWorkers: "auto", // Automatically scales across CPU cores
    threshold: 10000,
    playerUpdateInterval: 5000
  },
  sources: {
    youtube: true,      // Native YouTube & YouTube Music support
    spotify: {
      enabled: true,    // Direct Spotify link resolution
      market: "US"
    },
    soundcloud: {
      enabled: true
    },
    applemusic: {
      enabled: true
    },
    deezer: {
      enabled: true
    },
    bandcamp: true,
    twitch: true,
    http: true
  }
};

Password & Port Matching

Ensure that server.port (default: 2333) and server.password (default: youshallnotpass) match the node definitions in Reverb's config.reverb.js.

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🚀 4. Starting NodeLink

Running Directly

Start NodeLink:

pnpm

pnpm start

npm

npm start

yarn

yarn start

When successfully launched, you will see output similar to:

[NodeLink] Ready to accept WebSocket connections on port 2333
[NodeLink] Loaded built-in sources: YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, AppleMusic, Deezer...

Running in Background (PM2)

To keep NodeLink running 24/7 in production:

# Install PM2 globally
npm install -g pm2

# Start NodeLink with PM2
pm2 start index.js --name "nodelink"

# Save PM2 process list to restore on system reboot
pm2 save
pm2 startup

Running as a Linux systemd Service

Create /etc/systemd/system/nodelink.service:

[Unit]
Description=NodeLink Audio Streaming Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/NodeLink
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now nodelink
sudo systemctl status nodelink

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🔍 5. Verification

Verify that NodeLink is operational and responding to HTTP requests:

curl http://localhost:2333/version

It should return the active NodeLink version string.

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🔗 6. Connecting Reverb to NodeLink

Open Reverb's config.reverb.js and ensure your music.nodes configuration points to your NodeLink instance:

module.exports = {
  music: {
    defaultVolume: 100,
    nodes: [
      {
        name: "NodeLink-Main",
        host: "localhost",
        port: 2333,
        password: "youshallnotpass",
        secure: false
      }
    ]
  }
};

When you start Reverb (npm start or pnpm start), Reverb will connect to NodeLink and log:

[ MOONLINK ] Node NodeLink-Main is connected and ready!

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⏭️ Next Step

Learn more about the client driver powering Reverb in Moonlink.js Client Library, or proceed to Installation & First Boot.