Mac menu bar media server · vibecoded
Nexus
Where the library comes from.
Aether plays what a server hands it. Nexus is that server — a Mac app in the menu bar that reads the folders your films and shows are already in and serves the original files, untouched, to every Apple device in the house. Point Aether at it and the library on your disk is the library on your sofa.
- macOS 14+
- Apple Silicon
- Free download
- Built for Aether
Free. Open the DMG and drag Nexus to Applications. The full story lives on aetherplayer.com.
Why I built it
Most media servers are built around transcoding: when a client can't open a file, the server re-encodes it — slowly, hotly, and at some cost to the picture. Aether doesn't need that, because PrismCore does the hard part on the device. So Nexus only has to do one thing: send the original file. Take the transcoding away and a Mac mini is all the server you need.
Where it fits
- Aether users with films and shows on a Mac, an external drive or a NAS
- People who want a server with no transcoding, no cloud and no account to create
- Anyone already on Plex or Jellyfin — Nexus sits beside them, not instead of them
What it does
Your files, where they are
Any folder on the Mac and any drive it can see — an external disk, a NAS mounted over SMB. Nexus reads them in place: nothing is copied, renamed or moved, and it never writes into them.
It sends the file, not a version of it
Press play and Nexus serves the original bytes over your network. No transcode starts, so the Mac stays quiet and the film arrives exactly as it is on disk — Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision included.
Films and shows, properly sorted
Files are matched to titles, seasons and episodes, with posters, cast and descriptions filled in. Whatever couldn't be matched is listed rather than quietly hidden, so you can fix it.
Everyone gets their own account
Each person in the house has their own user, Continue Watching and watchlist, and sees only the folders you grant them. Stop on the Apple TV and pick up on the phone at the same second.
It stays on your network
No cloud in the middle, no account anywhere, nothing registered or forwarded. The server talks to your own devices, and nothing about your library leaves the house.
Apps that aren't Aether
Turn on the Jellyfin-compatible API in Settings and Infuse, Swiftfin or Jellyfin's own clients can sign in and play too, with the same accounts and the same progress. It's off until you switch it on.
A menu bar icon, and a web page for the rest
No Dock icon, no window in the way. The menu bar says whether the server is running, what it's scanning and who's watching. Settings — libraries, folders, people — open as a local web page served by the Mac itself, so they're there from the sofa too. Start it once and it comes back with the Mac.
Built with
- Swift
- macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon
- Menu bar app
- Local web UI
- PrismCore (media probing)
- Jellyfin-compatible API (optional)
- Signed auto-updates
Where it's at
The Mac build is out as a free download on aetherplayer.com. It keeps itself up to date: a signed build checks once a day and asks before it replaces itself, so an update never lands mid-film. In Aether, Nexus is one more source — merged with Plex, Jellyfin, Emby and SMB into a single library, so adding it doesn't mean moving anything.
What it isn't (yet)
- Open source — the repository is still private
- Windows or Linux — it's a Mac app
- A transcoder — clients that need a converted stream aren't what it's for
Nexus is vibecoded — designed and built with AI in the loop, the same way I help teams adopt AI day to day.