Reelm

The problem

Paid streaming services are expensive, region-locked, and built around licensing windows that move content in and out. People with their own media libraries have no easy path to a clean product-grade player with features like adaptive streaming, resume, multi-profile, watch rooms, and admin tooling.

Goals

• Production-grade HLS streaming with adaptive bitrate and resume
• Real-time FFmpeg transcoding from a single source upload
• Watch rooms that let remote users watch in sync
• Admin console with drag-and-drop uploads and live transcoding progress
• Single-command Docker deploy

The solution

• Adaptive HLS playback at 480p, 720p, and 1080p with resume and variable speed
• Real-time FFmpeg transcoding pipeline from upload
• Multi-profile accounts with per-profile watch state
• Watch rooms with invite codes for synced viewing
• Mood-based discovery and Spotify-style Wrapped recap
• Clip and share moments via public URL, QR handoff across devices
• Full admin console with upload progress, library management, and user admin
• 20+ features, 15 API routers, 7 Docker services

My role

• → Full-stack architecture across React frontend and FastAPI backend
• → HLS pipeline and FFmpeg transcoding worker
• → PostgreSQL schema for library, profiles, and watch state
• → MinIO object storage and Nginx media delivery
• → Docker Compose orchestration across 7 services

UI direction

Dark, content-forward UI with poster-focused browsing. Admin console intentionally minimal so library management does not feel like operating a CMS.

User flows

Screenshots

Key learnings

• HLS plus FFmpeg plus MinIO plus Nginx is a stable reference stack for self-hosted streaming
• Separating the transcoding worker from the API service keeps the API responsive under upload bursts
• Watch rooms are easy to ship badly, and you need a dedicated sync protocol if you want them to feel right