WirePlumber

WirePlumber is a modular, policy-driven session manager for PipeWire, the Linux multimedia framework. It coordinates devices, streams, and applications, configuring routing and per-application settings. It is designed to replace the older pipewire-media-session in many setups and runs as the user session component of PipeWire.

Architecture is centered on a plugin-based core with a Lua-based policy engine that can be extended with modules. It maintains a graph of media nodes and ports and dynamically adapts to changes such as device hot-plug events, ensuring streams are routed according to the active policy.

WirePlumber communicates with the PipeWire daemon via the PipeWire API and uses D-Bus to expose control and status information to clients. It runs as a user service and can be configured through policy files and module configurations installed by the distribution.

Development and adoption: WirePlumber is developed within the PipeWire ecosystem, with contributions from the broader community. It has been adopted by several Linux distributions as the default session manager for PipeWire, offering improved policy flexibility and dynamic handling compared to earlier approaches.