PluginDB

The open database for audio production plugins. Search, browse, and discover VSTs, Audio Units, and CLAP plugins through a clean web interface or a powerful REST API.

Think MusicBrainz, but for audio plugins. Open data, open source, and growing.

Deploy Your Own

Or pull the Docker image: docker pull ghcr.io/blakebratcher/plugindb:latest

Quickstart

pip install -e ".[dev]"
python -m plugindb.seed
uvicorn plugindb.main:create_app --factory --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Open http://localhost:8000 for the web UI, or http://localhost:8000/docs for the API explorer.

Features

• Instant lookup — resolve any plugin name or alias in milliseconds
• Full-text search — FTS5-powered search across names, descriptions, tags, and aliases
• Rich filtering — category, subcategory, format, OS, DAW, tags, price type, year ranges
• Similar plugins — discover alternatives based on tag overlap
• Autocomplete — typeahead suggestions with manufacturer context
• Batch lookup — resolve up to 200 plugin names in a single request
• Bulk export — download the entire catalog as JSON or CSV
• Plugin comparison — compare 2-5 plugins side by side
• HTTP caching — ETag + Cache-Control for efficient client caching
• Zero dependencies frontend — vanilla HTML/CSS/JS, no build tools

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/health	Health check (enriched with counts and uptime)
GET	/api/v1/lookup?alias=X	Resolve a plugin by name or alias
POST	/api/v1/lookup	Batch resolve up to 200 names
GET	/api/v1/search?q=X	Full-text search with filters and sorting
GET	/api/v1/suggest?q=X	Autocomplete suggestions
GET	/api/v1/plugins	Browse plugins (filterable, sortable, paginated)
GET	/api/v1/plugins/compare?ids=1,2	Compare 2-5 plugins side by side
GET	/api/v1/plugins/random	Get a random plugin
GET	/api/v1/plugins/by-slug/{slug}	Get a plugin by slug
GET	/api/v1/plugins/{id}	Get a plugin by ID
GET	/api/v1/plugins/{id}/similar	Find similar plugins
GET	/api/v1/manufacturers	Browse manufacturers (with plugin counts)
GET	/api/v1/manufacturers/{slug}	Manufacturer detail with plugins
GET	/api/v1/stats	Database statistics
GET	/api/v1/categories	Category taxonomy
GET	/api/v1/subcategories	Subcategories with plugin counts
GET	/api/v1/tags	All tags with counts
GET	/api/v1/formats	All formats with counts
GET	/api/v1/os	OS platforms with counts
GET	/api/v1/years	Plugin counts by year
GET	/api/v1/version	Data and API version info
GET	/api/v1/export	Bulk export (JSON or CSV)

Examples

# Look up a plugin by alias
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/lookup?alias=OTT"

# Full-text search
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/search?q=reverb&category=effect&sort=year&order=desc"

# Batch lookup
curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/lookup" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"names": ["Serum", "Diva", "OTT"]}'

# Filter by tag, year range, and OS
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/plugins?tag=synthesizer&year_min=2020&os=linux"

# Multi-tag filter (AND logic)
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/plugins?tags=synthesizer,analog-modeling"

# Compare plugins
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/plugins/compare?ids=1,2,3"

# Similar plugins
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/plugins/1/similar"

# Autocomplete
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/suggest?q=Ser"

# Bulk export as CSV
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/export?format=csv" -o plugins.csv

Frontend

The web frontend is a lightweight single-page application using vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — no frameworks, no build steps. It lives in frontend/ and is served directly by FastAPI.

Running Tests

pip install -e ".[dev]"
python -m pytest tests/ -v

Contributing

Plugin data lives in data/seed.json. See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed instructions on:

• Submitting new plugins (via GitHub Issue form or PR)
• Reporting data corrections
• Contributing code

PRs that touch data/seed.json are automatically validated by CI.

Docker

docker build -t plugindb .
docker run -p 8000:8000 plugindb

License

• Code: MIT (see LICENSE)
• Data (data/seed.json): CC0 1.0 Universal (public domain)