The box is yours. We just make the introductions.
Three things connect: your home box, your account, and your devices. Media moves directly between your devices and your box. SpicyRiceCakes is only ever the front desk.
A small server you run at home — your drives, your files. It hosts your library and is the only place your media lives.
Your identity on SpicyRiceCakes. It remembers which boxes are yours and points your apps to them. No media, ever.
Phone, laptop, TV. After a one-time link, each device connects straight to your box over an encrypted tunnel.
The connect flow
Connecting an app is a short-code handoff: you generate a one-time code from your account, then enter it in a SpicyRiceCakes app to link it.
- 1
Install and start your home box
The home stack comes up on your server and is ready to be claimed by exactly one account — yours.
- 2
Your box shows a short code
On its setup screen the box displays a short code (and a QR). The code is short-lived and rate-limited, so it can't be guessed.
- 3
Claim the code from your account
Signed in here, you type that code on the Link page. That tells SpicyRiceCakes this box belongs to you.
- 4
Your app connects directly
From then on your app finds the box and opens a direct, encrypted connection. Ownership is proven between your app and your box — not by us.
Where your data goes
Your media travels directly from your box to your device over a direct, encrypted connection. It never lands on our servers — not cached, not relayed, not stored.
To be precise and honest: a tiny amount of encrypted coordination signaling (helping two devices find each other) does pass through the switchboard. That’s the front desk’s job. Your actual media does not.
Fail closed, and tell you why
If a direct connection to your home can’t be established — some networks block it — playback stops with a clear reason instead of quietly routing your media through us. A mystery error would undermine the whole promise, so we don’t ship one.
Example
“This network blocks a direct connection to your home. Try another network, or watch on home Wi-Fi.”