Allow apps to invoke either a Roku search or another app with a title to stream

Roku Developer Program
1

Roku allows the Roku OS itself to search content and launch other apps, but provides no supported API for a developer-created Roku app to invoke those same capabilities. Worse, Roku removed the ECP search command in OS 12.0 and prohibited apps from issuing ECP commands. This makes it impossible for a legitimate sideloaded app to integrate with the Roku OS in ways that the Roku UI itself can.

Please provide a supported, sandboxed API allowing an application to:

  1. invoke Roku Search with a search string;
  2. launch an installed channel/app, optionally with a deep-link;
  3. invoke the Roku OS’s existing content-search infrastructure;
  4. optionally request Roku’s Private Listening facility.

These capabilities should be permission-controlled rather than simply prohibited.

IOW allow an app to invoke a search for the user rather than telling them: “exit the app, go to search, manually enter this title using the arcane remote/keyboard, press ok, then it’ll show you this same list of installed apps (that I just showed you) where the movie streams, pick one of those (again) to start streaming”, or even simpler: just allow me to start the app streaming the title my app knows is available.

I cannot fathom why you would have pulled this functionality.

2

This is correct. We intentionally do not provide extension points for applications to extend Roku OS, and forbid most kinds of extensions, like launching other apps, in our distribution agreement.

3

Can you provide the logic of why such obvious functionality is missing?

4

Because Roku wants to control the home screen and search experience and not have it triggered by external applications.

5

Time to switch to another environment like Android TV, that’s not hamstrung so absurdly