diff --git a/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json b/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
index 2d7beeab..48051a35 100644
--- a/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
+++ b/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
       "name": "vuio",
       "displayName": "VuIO Media Server",
       "description": "Browse, search and cast your VuIO media library — and control the TVs and speakers on your network — from Claude.",
-      "version": "0.0.49",
+      "version": "0.0.50",
       "author": {
         "name": "vyrti",
         "url": "https://github.com/vuiodev"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index fcc1d481..dbb93a1f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run Clippy
         env:
           RUSTC_WRAPPER: sccache
-        run: cargo clippy -p vuio-core -p vuio-cli -p vuio-cast -p vuio-web --all-targets --all-features -- -D clippy::all -D warnings
+        run: cargo clippy -p vuio-core -p vuio-cli -p vuio-cast -p vuio-web --all-targets --all-features -- -D clippy::all -D clippy::string_slice -D warnings
       - name: Show sccache stats
         if: always()
         run: sccache --show-stats || true
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 7287ec14..96941c8a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ checksum = "82f6aeea286b8eb4dd3431a1be1b59d290ace00f5bfd8e2a159bc2a05e2c1667"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -216,6 +216,12 @@ version = "0.22.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "72b3254f16251a8381aa12e40e3c4d2f0199f8c6508fbecb9d91f575e0fbb8c6"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "base64"
+version = "0.23.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ac07cdecf99051d9a5238b80f35af32cdeba5b336e55d957b318b50137e18da5"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "base64ct"
 version = "1.8.3"
@@ -224,9 +230,9 @@ checksum = "2af50177e190e07a26ab74f8b1efbfe2ef87da2116221318cb1c2e82baf7de06"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "bitflags"
-version = "2.13.1"
+version = "2.13.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "b588b76d00fde79687d7646a9b5bdf3cc0f655e0bbd080335a95d7e96f3587da"
+checksum = "3ded4057c258ba199e2d26386d3af3780957ecaee6c4ef4041c6b4b8b97c0b06"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "block-buffer"
@@ -272,9 +278,9 @@ checksum = "fc652a48c352aef3ea3aed32080501cf3ef6ed5da78602a020c991775b0aff04"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "cc"
-version = "1.4.3"
+version = "1.4.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "509591b7bcd67f4ef775afad7662703b4935daaa6ec0e5605cfb1090b32a2b6d"
+checksum = "a3eb0f42d6c360dc3f8a821f6bf2fdea7f72bfd36b3076eb0e6d1e9e0752fff4"
 dependencies = [
  "find-msvc-tools",
  "shlex",
@@ -366,7 +372,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "heck",
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -389,9 +395,9 @@ checksum = "1d07550c9036bf2ae0c684c4297d503f838287c83c53686d05370d0e139ae570"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "combine"
-version = "4.6.7"
+version = "4.6.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ba5a308b75df32fe02788e748662718f03fde005016435c444eea572398219fd"
+checksum = "cfc320937d09e6de266b31b9afb480f197d7a861be86be7cb2ea7e5d1bfffc5e"
 dependencies = [
  "bytes",
  "memchr",
@@ -425,6 +431,12 @@ version = "0.8.7"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "773648b94d0e5d620f64f280777445740e61fe701025087ec8b57f45c791888b"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "core_detect"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7f8f80099a98041a3d1622845c271458a2d73e688351bf3cb999266764b81d48"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cpufeatures"
 version = "0.2.17"
@@ -436,27 +448,27 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "cpufeatures"
-version = "0.3.0"
+version = "0.3.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8b2a41393f66f16b0823bb79094d54ac5fbd34ab292ddafb9a0456ac9f87d201"
+checksum = "5ca28b0ae3115b884660db4118d803791fd6756b6e88f39c0f3f7859060d7566"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crc32fast"
-version = "1.5.0"
+version = "1.5.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9481c1c90cbf2ac953f07c8d4a58aa3945c425b7185c9154d67a65e4230da511"
+checksum = "01a7799fd6b852db0e61728dde9a204c423b44d689dbd432522543614b490e78"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam"
-version = "0.8.4"
+version = "0.8.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1137cd7e7fc0fb5d3c5a8678be38ec56e819125d8d7907411fe24ccb943faca8"
+checksum = "e71406cd8807725f7ac2f999a4cdd32e98f829fdf65f528343cebf945e41df1e"
 dependencies = [
  "crossbeam-channel",
  "crossbeam-deque",
@@ -467,18 +479,18 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-channel"
-version = "0.5.16"
+version = "0.5.17"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d85363c37faeca707aef026efa9f3b34d077bce547e48f770770625c6013679e"
+checksum = "98b0cc327b5bc766e7fda9c9260cc0fa81b43a8e240440422dff70788e3f9ef1"
 dependencies = [
  "crossbeam-utils",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-deque"
-version = "0.8.7"
+version = "0.8.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5181e0de7b61eb03a81e347d6dd8797bae9da5146707b51077e2d71a54ec0ceb"
+checksum = "622f3fc73690be383c7214310406f28a90e6edeadc3cea882f9d71e495b9711a"
 dependencies = [
  "crossbeam-epoch",
  "crossbeam-utils",
@@ -486,27 +498,27 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-epoch"
-version = "0.9.20"
+version = "0.9.21"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2d6914041f254d6e9176c01941b21115dcfb7089e55135a35411081bd106ef3f"
+checksum = "dc74980687109a3b14c72fd458107bf0baa1da1a1a805e178d15501ba9b86d9d"
 dependencies = [
  "crossbeam-utils",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-queue"
-version = "0.3.13"
+version = "0.3.14"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "803d13fb3b09d88be9f4dbc29062c66b19bf7170867ceb746d2a8689bf6c7a26"
+checksum = "03e8bd762f7479489c70ed6c768ddca99d7296857de437a68dcb2a94365b3fae"
 dependencies = [
  "crossbeam-utils",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-utils"
-version = "0.8.22"
+version = "0.8.23"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "61803da095bee82a81bb1a452ecc25d3b2f1416d1897eb86430c6159ef717c17"
+checksum = "a31eee39dddec8330830986fcd7625edb5a24ec90ea038215273bbc3adb08ac6"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "crypto-common"
@@ -605,9 +617,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "dirs"
-version = "6.0.0"
+version = "7.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "c3e8aa94d75141228480295a7d0e7feb620b1a5ad9f12bc40be62411e38cce4e"
+checksum = "8d57d423b3c82e89b9a24ca3091fee61f456a26edbd28d26c65906f4bc1dcd8f"
 dependencies = [
  "dirs-sys",
 ]
@@ -632,7 +644,7 @@ checksum = "c6232dd377dcc64799954cbd3a9bb882e9cdc1308ccd87b1c098f1fb2eaf82a8"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -662,17 +674,23 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "either"
-version = "1.17.0"
+version = "1.18.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9e5e8f6c15a24b9a3ee5efec809ccd006d3b30e8b3bb63c39af737c7f87daa1d"
+checksum = "252afb9ae5eaa683babdc6a068b3f5726eb19e05070c731f9b2a23a7c3e8ed34"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "encoding_rs"
-version = "0.8.35"
+version = "0.8.41"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "75030f3c4f45dafd7586dd6780965a8c7e8e285a5ecb86713e63a79c5b2766f3"
+checksum = "7b5ef0006ac9ab233c38522f5ae99cae3625151de8f706cacee1cba4b8e2832a"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
+ "core_detect",
+ "multiversion",
+ "multiversion_no_op",
+ "rustversion",
+ "scopeguard",
+ "simdutf8",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -732,18 +750,19 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "find-msvc-tools"
-version = "0.1.11"
+version = "0.1.12"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d45db016d36b838f563236e9193d0ee6ce38f3f68b6c94e914b4929c96bbb890"
+checksum = "3e0f1c7c3a72c66fd80abe965175f7523475c0489a87d3ff9d6e8c87d87a9d2d"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "flate2"
-version = "1.1.9"
+version = "1.1.10"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "843fba2746e448b37e26a819579957415c8cef339bf08564fe8b7ddbd959573c"
+checksum = "6e634e2e0ebac1ee034020da1ca582e17ffe4e0f5e985823721e168928136dcb"
 dependencies = [
  "crc32fast",
  "miniz_oxide",
+ "zlib-rs",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -804,7 +823,7 @@ checksum = "9fb9654ba8355388abeb8dcb4fc62f511300867002afc858860463bdd9fe0c44"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -897,14 +916,14 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hap-transport"
-version = "1.3.0"
+version = "1.3.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "52fcc34631adc245cd0f9614a6c7b4aaa210e462813a2a206f21e7524ddfb1b6"
+checksum = "645e484ca0c495ae17b16ed1091f55f94565c90e0e25e1360f9efbebfc986009"
 dependencies = [
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "hap-crypto",
  "hap-tlv8",
- "mdns-sd 0.20.3",
+ "mdns-sd",
  "thiserror 2.0.20",
  "tokio",
 ]
@@ -929,9 +948,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hashlink"
-version = "0.12.1"
+version = "0.12.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "32069d97bb81e38fa67eab65e3393bf804bb85969f2bc06bf13f64aef5aba248"
+checksum = "a596f1b20ed2cc5ecac41a164aaebc7258057060f06c0cf7a2ba3991ee7990fb"
 dependencies = [
  "hashbrown 0.17.1",
 ]
@@ -1042,18 +1061,18 @@ checksum = "df3b46402a9d5adb4c86a0cf463f42e19994e3ee891101b1841f30a545cb49a9"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hybrid-array"
-version = "0.4.14"
+version = "0.4.15"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "707114b52a152fa7bdb290cd7cd5912d9467273b6d74e21b8d81aca1f8533f6b"
+checksum = "27f864f10dfb56725ce5ce5472bc52252c8f93a4ab86327122cebf62c5f59a17"
 dependencies = [
  "typenum",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hyper"
-version = "1.11.0"
+version = "1.11.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d22053281f852e11534f5198498373cbb59295120a20771d90f7ed1897490a72"
+checksum = "27b501faa50e7a26c3d3560ca625132f4078a17771f4810baf70475ae48cbe43"
 dependencies = [
  "atomic-waker",
  "bytes",
@@ -1091,7 +1110,7 @@ version = "0.1.20"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "96547c2556ec9d12fb1578c4eaf448b04993e7fb79cbaad930a656880a6bdfa0"
 dependencies = [
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "bytes",
  "futures-channel",
  "futures-util",
@@ -1202,9 +1221,9 @@ checksum = "e590f038c1464a96894fd6d10127e90a8be4509f56ff7ecef851b15cee0b7caa"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "icu_provider"
-version = "2.3.0"
+version = "2.3.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "92a7ed671a6aad807a8651a2e1782a6598fda9ce5185dd8158549e95a91c6428"
+checksum = "d27bbb9d3abbefac45d55f647c9de1d44aafcd1186eb91879afef17c396c3e73"
 dependencies = [
  "displaydoc",
  "icu_locale_core",
@@ -1259,28 +1278,19 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "indexmap"
-version = "2.14.0"
+version = "2.14.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d466e9454f08e4a911e14806c24e16fba1b4c121d1ea474396f396069cf949d9"
+checksum = "cc4e190f5d26ca7051642629da2c52fc03bde85a03197c99408dcd291734c855"
 dependencies = [
  "equivalent",
  "hashbrown 0.17.1",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "indoc"
-version = "2.0.7"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "79cf5c93f93228cf8efb3ba362535fb11199ac548a09ce117c9b1adc3030d706"
-dependencies = [
- "rustversion",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "inotify"
-version = "0.11.4"
+version = "0.11.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "153be1941a183ec9ccd095ddbe17a8b8d435ef6c76e9e02451b933c3999af2c8"
+checksum = "4cc00ea907cab49550b7da656f80ebb97be1b997d931fbcd28d39734e17ce592"
 dependencies = [
  "bitflags",
  "inotify-sys",
@@ -1307,9 +1317,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ipnet"
-version = "2.12.1"
+version = "2.12.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "6a756c3fac73139e83f14c2d742155dd2b78d3ee56597b419a0579b7bdd6dd78"
+checksum = "791930b43c0d5973160d90a8f3894509f2b273430f5c5c73b668636d0287c5c0"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "is_terminal_polyfill"
@@ -1383,9 +1393,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "js-sys"
-version = "0.3.104"
+version = "0.3.105"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0e0c1080212aad755ea003d18543e8768dd432c48819efd73a7bf1e39b7a5a3a"
+checksum = "ce57d20d1ea864ce2ac172ab472d409214f4fd359f0b2a2775abdf522e2af99e"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "futures-util",
@@ -1436,9 +1446,9 @@ checksum = "3eaf3ede3fee6db1a4c2ee091bf8a8b4dccdc6d17f656fb07896ee72867612f2"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "libredox"
-version = "0.1.20"
+version = "0.1.24"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "28d0a00925a9f930d679b6789b721e3a7f9ed110f41b86d2497caa780c3a070a"
+checksum = "6480ccc157a1389bb2e4891b24751b0f798ba640d22386f23143fbcc89da195a"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
@@ -1484,9 +1494,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "log"
-version = "0.4.33"
+version = "0.4.34"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0ceec5bc11778974d1bcb055b18002eba7f4b3518b6a0081b3af5f21666da9ad"
+checksum = "f9f8bd3e56ce4dfc153cf470fffbfa98c7620958b312ca5c3a4b8d5181fd13c6"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "matchers"
@@ -1505,24 +1515,9 @@ checksum = "47e1ffaa40ddd1f3ed91f717a33c8c0ee23fff369e3aa8772b9605cc1d22f4c3"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "mdns-sd"
-version = "0.20.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "86dbb9f00c8c367f75ed3a775d3eb31d0375a72f58275ef64a1bc53c255a2ce2"
-dependencies = [
- "fastrand",
- "flume",
- "if-addrs",
- "log",
- "mio",
- "socket-pktinfo",
- "socket2",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "mdns-sd"
-version = "0.21.0"
+version = "0.21.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ba97b4c886eea3c2823388120d92063c011ac866919ffc4200a0e4b1642a54a5"
+checksum = "a63c9b854b5ad0812ac5969f8db92a59f28b45d0a5ae599b9a45b84c5c8a08e8"
 dependencies = [
  "fastrand",
  "flume",
@@ -1539,15 +1534,6 @@ version = "2.8.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "cf8baf1c55e62ffcace7a9f06f4bd9cd3f0c4beb022d3b367256b91b87513d98"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "memoffset"
-version = "0.9.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "488016bfae457b036d996092f6cb448677611ce4449e970ceaf42695203f218a"
-dependencies = [
- "autocfg",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "metaflac"
 version = "0.2.8"
@@ -1566,9 +1552,9 @@ checksum = "6877bb514081ee2a7ff5ef9de3281f14a4dd4bceac4c09388074a6b5df8a139a"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "miniz_oxide"
-version = "0.8.9"
+version = "0.9.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1fa76a2c86f704bdb222d66965fb3d63269ce38518b83cb0575fca855ebb6316"
+checksum = "b63fbc4a50860e98e7b2aa7804ded1db5cbc3aff9193adaff57a6931bf7c4b4c"
 dependencies = [
  "adler2",
  "simd-adler32",
@@ -1576,9 +1562,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "mio"
-version = "1.2.2"
+version = "1.2.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "30d65c71f1ce40ab09135ce117d742b9f8a19ff91a41a8b57ed50bc2de59c427"
+checksum = "4b18443e9c262bfe8fa82f51666e2642c53393f7e5c27b3e1aeab922cff5b9d8"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
  "log",
@@ -1619,6 +1605,33 @@ dependencies = [
  "version_check",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "multiversion"
+version = "0.9.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b4ca4bea16ffc3f443cf7d866912118196bfef4c6a1556ca00f9f9b00bb43f7c"
+dependencies = [
+ "multiversion-macros",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "multiversion-macros"
+version = "0.9.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0d416831a7317ef4b08bee00b69cbbb9c8763da7959a7026244d6266869f9c83"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "rustversion",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "multiversion_no_op"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "743fb55ba31b18fb1ecef6bdc9aa2743314978ac084044301a7eee33fb99a20d"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "notify"
 version = "8.2.0"
@@ -1841,11 +1854,11 @@ checksum = "f6b464fbc74e149a392436b17d523f769e057cb6877f6a5c4618bc6f11800548"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "plist"
-version = "1.10.0"
+version = "1.10.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7da1d65da6dd5d1e44199ac0f58712d241c0f439f80adea8924d832384087f85"
+checksum = "2896bade328c13f7042a297ea5ac5b0951f6cf989dea5f32c2fd98da398195cb"
 dependencies = [
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.23.1",
  "indexmap",
  "quick-xml",
  "serde",
@@ -1927,35 +1940,32 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pyo3"
-version = "0.27.2"
+version = "0.29.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ab53c047fcd1a1d2a8820fe84f05d6be69e9526be40cb03b73f86b6b03e6d87d"
+checksum = "4688ddedf473e32662b9b067670129a8afb8c18e351482c70d62ba4a88171e8b"
 dependencies = [
- "indoc",
  "libc",
- "memoffset",
  "once_cell",
  "portable-atomic",
  "pyo3-build-config",
  "pyo3-ffi",
  "pyo3-macros",
- "unindent",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pyo3-build-config"
-version = "0.27.2"
+version = "0.29.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "b455933107de8642b4487ed26d912c2d899dec6114884214a0b3bb3be9261ea6"
+checksum = "f41027e41b4bd03f6e60f9f417fe24a6341a6bb744edd62b6f709f2a52ea30e9"
 dependencies = [
  "target-lexicon",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pyo3-ffi"
-version = "0.27.2"
+version = "0.29.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1c85c9cbfaddf651b1221594209aed57e9e5cff63c4d11d1feead529b872a089"
+checksum = "e591a95526fead067432c3b3a33fc74770b87b1e04e73671090d9c2055a2b327"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
  "pyo3-build-config",
@@ -1963,9 +1973,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pyo3-macros"
-version = "0.27.2"
+version = "0.29.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0a5b10c9bf9888125d917fb4d2ca2d25c8df94c7ab5a52e13313a07e050a3b02"
+checksum = "73225868fc1cd84eef2c3c230ddb91273bf1de46aeb8a4248da76d32a0924a1c"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "pyo3-macros-backend",
@@ -1975,22 +1985,21 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pyo3-macros-backend"
-version = "0.27.2"
+version = "0.29.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "03b51720d314836e53327f5871d4c0cfb4fb37cc2c4a11cc71907a86342c40f9"
+checksum = "571575aa3749fa6216757dd47d2a3e7ef360f329a40f0666a9fbd14889024952"
 dependencies = [
  "heck",
  "proc-macro2",
- "pyo3-build-config",
  "quote",
  "syn 2.0.119",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "quick-xml"
-version = "0.41.0"
+version = "0.42.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e660451e55124f798a69a5af3f49ccfbefbd41910eefd25caf2393e1f3473ec1"
+checksum = "41b1177fdf999d2321d3fb46ff47159d9c1fb9ad66a4879f8c50a0b504615e9b"
 dependencies = [
  "memchr",
 ]
@@ -2090,11 +2099,11 @@ checksum = "d6f6ff9a378485b298a5286656da665ba74413d36db0979633275d2e708145d4"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "reqwest"
-version = "0.13.4"
+version = "0.13.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "219c5811de6525e5416c7d5d53bb656d3afdbc6c5af816e0802bcfa42dbdc1c3"
+checksum = "16a1cfa75cc186dd73d5818e510e042e40927bccc9c236b061cea97e1eb08029"
 dependencies = [
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.23.1",
  "bytes",
  "futures-core",
  "http",
@@ -2201,9 +2210,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "rustls"
-version = "0.23.43"
+version = "0.23.45"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0283386ce02abc0151e1761d08802dfe86c173b0b494af5cbc086574e453da06"
+checksum = "0d41d731c7d2f962d1ccc364cec258de3c0e93b38c2fb3ba97ac74513048d634"
 dependencies = [
  "log",
  "once_cell",
@@ -2264,9 +2273,9 @@ checksum = "f87165f0995f63a9fbeea62b64d10b4d9d8e78ec6d7d51fb2125fda7bb36788f"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "rustls-webpki"
-version = "0.103.14"
+version = "0.103.15"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0527518605e68109d875e248ea259b6758801cf165e4b2c2733ae3b51f12535a"
+checksum = "f3c3cf1d8b1e7d4927e2d154c3fcb02979afb9939629c62cd9048d4f07b60ac2"
 dependencies = [
  "ring",
  "rustls-pki-types",
@@ -2365,7 +2374,7 @@ checksum = "e7a5d71263a5a7d47b41f6b3f06ba276f10cc18b0931f1799f710578e2309348"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2431,7 +2440,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "446ba717509524cb3f22f17ecc096f10f4822d76ab5c0b9822c5f9c284e825f4"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
- "cpufeatures 0.3.0",
+ "cpufeatures 0.3.1",
  "digest 0.11.3",
 ]
 
@@ -2499,9 +2508,9 @@ checksum = "0c790de23124f9ab44544d7ac05d60440adc586479ce501c1d6d7da3cd8c9cf5"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "smallvec"
-version = "1.15.2"
+version = "1.16.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8ed6a63f02c8539c91a8685a86f4099661ba3da017932f6ebbea6de3f0fa7c90"
+checksum = "ba467056f1b547ed52077911161fc86985becbc60e8e1857c8a144dab0def891"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "socket-pktinfo"
@@ -2790,9 +2799,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "syn"
-version = "3.0.3"
+version = "3.0.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "53e9bae58849f64dfa4f5d5ae372c8341f7305f82a3868709269343628b659a3"
+checksum = "12df2e0110f65b775f769bb17ef989067a1d931b2eb822bd4346631eeada89f9"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
@@ -2889,7 +2898,7 @@ checksum = "bc04cd3e1236dd4a98afca4569f2deb3f120e5422a4023be2cb683f8486292af"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2943,6 +2952,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "zerovec",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tinyvec"
+version = "1.13.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fd3ca314f692efd6c868f8408f53fe444634a845f96c028b97d35f6a1f79f0ee"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio"
 version = "1.53.1"
@@ -2968,14 +2983,14 @@ checksum = "78773a2a397f451582ce068015985c33193cf6dea8b74d2a639fe457b2f07b0e"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-rustls"
-version = "0.26.4"
+version = "0.26.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1729aa945f29d91ba541258c8df89027d5792d85a8841fb65e8bf0f4ede4ef61"
+checksum = "b0c85f2c3ef0b1cd58b36682f4b17aaa995f0e5db534d85692b4903abce21f67"
 dependencies = [
  "rustls",
  "tokio",
@@ -3008,9 +3023,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "toml"
-version = "1.1.4+spec-1.1.0"
+version = "1.1.6+spec-1.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3aace63f4bbcdfc2c965b059de67119c89c4017a70d633be6c104910f67056f5"
+checksum = "920602543f0911ab71da12c50d59701da54c196d1a2bf5cb4b75667f137a406a"
 dependencies = [
  "indexmap",
  "serde_core",
@@ -3032,9 +3047,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "toml_edit"
-version = "0.25.13+spec-1.1.0"
+version = "0.25.15+spec-1.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "6975367e4d2ef766d86af01ffad14b622fecc8d4357a998fbc4deb6e9bacaf9b"
+checksum = "1340ea94a5856333492c9064b02c778b191dd2c853778d9609debdcdfea3a614"
 dependencies = [
  "indexmap",
  "toml_datetime",
@@ -3196,10 +3211,13 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "e6e4313cd5fcd3dad5cafa179702e2b244f760991f45397d14d4ebf38247da75"
 
 [[package]]
-name = "unindent"
-version = "0.2.4"
+name = "unicode-normalization"
+version = "0.1.25"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7264e107f553ccae879d21fbea1d6724ac785e8c3bfc762137959b5802826ef3"
+checksum = "5fd4f6878c9cb28d874b009da9e8d183b5abc80117c40bbd187a1fde336be6e8"
+dependencies = [
+ "tinyvec",
+]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "universal-hash"
@@ -3243,9 +3261,9 @@ checksum = "06abde3611657adf66d383f00b093d7faecc7fa57071cce2578660c9f1010821"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "uuid"
-version = "1.24.0"
+version = "1.26.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "bf3923a6f5c4c6382e0b653c4117f48d631ea17f38ed86e2a828e6f7412f5239"
+checksum = "2ef6dac1e96601b4fb3acccccff2139741fcb757cb9a36089bf5be91cfb285ce"
 dependencies = [
  "getrandom 0.4.3",
  "js-sys",
@@ -3272,7 +3290,7 @@ checksum = "0b928f33d975fc6ad9f86c8f283853ad26bdd5b10b7f1542aa2fa15e2289105a"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "vuio-bench"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "clap",
@@ -3291,7 +3309,7 @@ version = "0.0.4"
 dependencies = [
  "axum",
  "bytes",
- "mdns-sd 0.21.0",
+ "mdns-sd",
  "prost",
  "rustls",
  "rustls-native-certs",
@@ -3307,7 +3325,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "vuio-cli"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "audiotags",
@@ -3348,7 +3366,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "vuio-core"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "async-stream",
@@ -3373,7 +3391,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "ipnet",
  "jwalk",
  "libc",
- "mdns-sd 0.21.0",
+ "mdns-sd",
  "notify",
  "notify-debouncer-full",
  "num-bigint 0.5.1",
@@ -3399,6 +3417,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tower",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-subscriber",
+ "unicode-normalization",
  "uuid",
  "vuio-cast",
  "vuio-codec-ac3",
@@ -3412,7 +3431,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "vuio-web"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 dependencies = [
  "axum",
 ]
@@ -3444,9 +3463,9 @@ checksum = "ccf3ec651a847eb01de73ccad15eb7d99f80485de043efb2f370cd654f4ea44b"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen"
-version = "0.2.127"
+version = "0.2.128"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1b70935747edd64d89de3efa29d73789b806c15798f8e7dca4d8ac356b50ce70"
+checksum = "aecb87a33d3b0c5e3b7aa46336eaf486cffafbd281b195e4c8b80d50df2351bf"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "once_cell",
@@ -3457,9 +3476,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-futures"
-version = "0.4.77"
+version = "0.4.78"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "6b7777d5cc23d0e91404e53ce2d5e8ec7acae3026b16233dba62cd3246457950"
+checksum = "6ef4c5d3d2cdf5c54f4231181768f5510842e350db025faf1f7163b1030ed928"
 dependencies = [
  "js-sys",
  "wasm-bindgen",
@@ -3467,9 +3486,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-macro"
-version = "0.2.127"
+version = "0.2.128"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "77775f8f3f7217702089053b94958f8f54061a3f663417df76e19cbdcca29bc1"
+checksum = "a690d511e3c1a8b3a55e33511e3c2c00c78415cd23650f32b808627f5696b9ed"
 dependencies = [
  "quote",
  "wasm-bindgen-macro-support",
@@ -3477,31 +3496,31 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-macro-support"
-version = "0.2.127"
+version = "0.2.128"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e11d33f857dc2fb11b8bc75aee111aa9cbeb12cd9f25efd3d4c2a3dd4e235284"
+checksum = "411e4887f0071ef2d2164a9d5fdf2d20efbef78fccd3a78b0c10a1dc5295e48a"
 dependencies = [
  "bumpalo",
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 2.0.119",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
  "wasm-bindgen-shared",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-shared"
-version = "0.2.127"
+version = "0.2.128"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7ef64dbcc55df09c7e5a46182d181c2cfa3e925f3da937ea764728b4bbb9dcbf"
+checksum = "81941cd78d0c92026c33e5e01312845a4cb1e9af3407f9134b100dd03144103e"
 dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "web-sys"
-version = "0.3.104"
+version = "0.3.105"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "c435338968042f4f59a557f690a253676d47ce13ceb55d70100e7facf6620a30"
+checksum = "9fbddc4a036f00ec4f18c83445bd3115cb306a91da554919a099d9222fe4a7f8"
 dependencies = [
  "js-sys",
  "wasm-bindgen",
@@ -3925,9 +3944,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "zerovec"
-version = "0.11.7"
+version = "0.11.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "94b5c6b5976d66c1d703c4fd17d3f5e43c8cedaacf604961b171adc7130896d8"
+checksum = "bb0464e17806c1d976d5cba29399c7f08e516e279e2ba493f63123b5fca67dd8"
 dependencies = [
  "yoke",
  "zerofrom",
@@ -3936,15 +3955,21 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "zerovec-derive"
-version = "0.11.4"
+version = "0.11.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "47402523226a02bfe5230160dc3ccc089aa6f6f19e7fcbb4e6f824bbb1b4aa62"
+checksum = "34df6fc39dbd26ddc9c10e6a2984476e13acce22e64e4487636ef494369225da"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
- "syn 3.0.3",
+ "syn 3.0.5",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "zlib-rs"
+version = "0.6.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "34b31d188d9d685a4f9c7b46d6e36631b07058d2cfe190267adce54dc230bf12"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zmij"
 version = "1.0.23"
diff --git a/claude/mcpb/manifest.json b/claude/mcpb/manifest.json
index 384e9d4a..678504b5 100644
--- a/claude/mcpb/manifest.json
+++ b/claude/mcpb/manifest.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "manifest_version": "0.3",
   "name": "vuio",
   "display_name": "VuIO Media Server",
-  "version": "0.0.49",
+  "version": "0.0.50",
   "description": "Browse, search and cast your VuIO media library from Claude.",
   "long_description": "Connects Claude to a VuIO media server on your network. Search the library, browse folders, build playlists, and cast to DLNA, Chromecast and AirPlay devices.\n\nThis bundle runs `vuio mcp`, which bridges Claude's stdio connection to a VuIO server that is already running. It does not start a server or open the library database itself — point it at the machine that does.",
   "author": {
diff --git a/claude/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/claude/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index ef7413d2..aa4a9100 100644
--- a/claude/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/claude/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "vuio",
   "displayName": "VuIO Media Server",
-  "version": "0.0.49",
+  "version": "0.0.50",
   "description": "Browse, search and cast your VuIO media library — and control the TVs and speakers on your network — from Claude.",
   "author": {
     "name": "vyrti",
diff --git a/crates/vendor/libxaac-sys/Cargo.toml b/crates/vendor/libxaac-sys/Cargo.toml
index 27e7d5d6..92a4fd4b 100644
--- a/crates/vendor/libxaac-sys/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vendor/libxaac-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -67,4 +67,4 @@ path = "examples/sample.rs"
 [dependencies]
 
 [build-dependencies]
-cc = "1.0"
+cc = "1.4"
diff --git a/crates/vendor/xaac-rs/Cargo.toml b/crates/vendor/xaac-rs/Cargo.toml
index d3a0eb19..830147fa 100644
--- a/crates/vendor/xaac-rs/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vendor/xaac-rs/Cargo.toml
@@ -76,6 +76,6 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 path = "../libxaac-sys"
 
 [dependencies.pyo3]
-version = "0.27"
+version = "0.29"
 features = ["extension-module"]
 optional = true
diff --git a/crates/vuio-bench/Cargo.toml b/crates/vuio-bench/Cargo.toml
index 4bfb688a..b0228283 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-bench/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vuio-bench/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "vuio-bench"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 edition = "2021"
 authors = ["vyrti"]
 description = "Generates large VuIO libraries for performance work. Not published."
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ tokio = { version = "1.53", features = ["rt-multi-thread", "macros"] }
 # because it opens every internal module and carries no stability promise. This
 # crate is `publish = false` and exists only to drive the database from the
 # inside, which is the same category as core's own dev-dependency on itself.
-vuio-core = { path = "../vuio-core", version = "0.0.49", features = ["unstable-internals", "transcode-aac", "transcode-ac3", "transcode-dts"] }
+vuio-core = { path = "../vuio-core", version = "0.0.50", features = ["unstable-internals", "transcode-aac", "transcode-ac3", "transcode-dts"] }
 vuio-codec-ac3 = { path = "../vuio-codec-ac3" }
 oxideav-dts = { package = "vuio-codec-dts", path = "../vuio-codec-dts" }
 oxideav-core = { package = "vuio-codec-core", path = "../vuio-codec-core" }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/vuio-cli/Cargo.toml
index 8cc973f4..21786029 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vuio-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "vuio-cli"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.98"
 authors = ["vyrti"]
@@ -41,6 +41,6 @@ serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0"
 tokio = { version = "1.53", features = ["rt-multi-thread", "macros", "signal", "io-std", "io-util"] }
 tracing = "0.1"
-uuid = { version = "1.24", features = ["v4"] }
-vuio-core = { path = "../vuio-core", version = "0.0.49" }
+uuid = { version = "1.26", features = ["v4"] }
+vuio-core = { path = "../vuio-core", version = "0.0.50" }
 
diff --git a/crates/vuio-codec-ac3/Cargo.toml b/crates/vuio-codec-ac3/Cargo.toml
index e4ae88a5..fe23d101 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-codec-ac3/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vuio-codec-ac3/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ include = [
 
 [dependencies]
 oxideav-core = { package = "vuio-codec-core", version = "0.0.1", path = "../vuio-codec-core" }
-rayon = "1.10"
+rayon = "1.12"
 
 [lints.rust]
 warnings = "allow"
diff --git a/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/lib.rs b/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/lib.rs
index 15760f3b..af1b5533 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 //! source / filter) into a single value that consumers pass around.
 
 #![warn(missing_docs)]
+#![deny(clippy::string_slice)]
 
 pub mod arena;
 pub mod bits;
diff --git a/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/registry/source.rs b/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/registry/source.rs
index 35bf2e62..a3b9cc29 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/registry/source.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-codec-core/src/registry/source.rs
@@ -309,10 +309,7 @@ fn dispatch(entry: &OpenerEntry, uri_str: &str) -> Result<SourceOutput> {
 /// `"file"` and `rest = uri`. Path-like inputs that happen to start with
 /// `c:` on Windows are treated as bare paths.
 pub(crate) fn split_scheme(uri: &str) -> (&str, &str) {
-    if let Some(idx) = uri.find(':') {
-        let (scheme, rest) = uri.split_at(idx);
-        let rest = &rest[1..]; // skip ':'
-
+    if let Some((scheme, rest)) = uri.split_once(':') {
         // Reject single-letter scheme that looks like a Windows drive letter.
         if scheme.len() == 1 && scheme.chars().next().unwrap().is_ascii_alphabetic() {
             return ("file", uri);
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/Cargo.toml b/crates/vuio-core/Cargo.toml
index 3ba5fc5e..a7eef154 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "vuio-core"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.98"
 authors = ["vyrti"]
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ unstable-internals = []
 axum = { version = "0.8", features = ["multipart"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.53", features = ["rt-multi-thread", "net", "fs", "time", "sync", "macros", "io-util"] }
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
-uuid = { version = "1.24", features = ["v4"] }
+uuid = { version = "1.26", features = ["v4"] }
 tokio-util = { version = "0.7", features = ["io", "rt"] }
 thiserror = "2.0"
 anyhow = "1.0"
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ notify-debouncer-full = "0.7"
 toml = "1.1"
 toml_edit = "0.25"
 serde_json = "1.0"
-dirs = "6.0"
+dirs = "7.0"
 hostname = "0.4"
 ipnet = "2.12"
 http = "1.5"
@@ -162,13 +162,16 @@ hyper = { version = "1.11", features = ["client", "http1"] }
 hyper-util = { version = "0.1", features = ["client-legacy", "http1", "tokio"] }
 bytes = "1.12"
 rustls = { version = "0.23", default-features = false, features = ["ring", "std", "tls12"] }
-quick-xml = "0.41"
+quick-xml = "0.42"
 percent-encoding = "2.3"
+# Media text arrives in whichever normalization form the tagger or filesystem
+# used; comparing and indexing it requires one form. See `src/text.rs`.
+unicode-normalization = "0.1"
 sysinfo = { version = "0.39", default-features = false, features = ["system", "disk", "network"], optional = true }
 socket2 = { version = "0.6", features = ["all"] }
 mdns-sd = { version = "0.21", default-features = false, features = ["async"] }
 vuio-cast = { path = "../vuio-cast", version = "0.0.4", default-features = false, optional = true }
-vuio-web = { path = "../vuio-web", version = "0.0.49", optional = true }
+vuio-web = { path = "../vuio-web", version = "0.0.50", optional = true }
 jwalk = "0.9"
 tokio-stream = "0.1"
 hap-crypto = { version = "1.4", optional = true }
@@ -190,7 +193,8 @@ oxideav-core = { package = "vuio-codec-core", version = "0.0.1", path = "../vuio
 vuio-codec-ac3 = { version = "0.0.1", path = "../vuio-codec-ac3", optional = true }
 oxideav-dts = { package = "vuio-codec-dts", version = "0.0.1", path = "../vuio-codec-dts", optional = true }
 xaac-rs = { version = "0.2", path = "../vendor/xaac-rs", optional = true }
-rusqlite = { version = "0.40.2", features = ["bundled", "collation"] }
+# `functions` registers the `nfc()` scalar the normalization migration uses.
+rusqlite = { version = "0.40.2", features = ["bundled", "collation", "functions"] }
 # Only the `mediainfo` feature uses this, and only to talk to public metadata APIs
 # over TLS. `rustls-no-provider` rather than a provider-selecting feature because
 # `Runtime::start` already installs the ring provider process-wide, and a second
@@ -206,7 +210,7 @@ windows = { version = "0.62", features = [
 ] }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
-vuio-core = { path = ".", version = "0.0.49", features = ["unstable-internals"] }
+vuio-core = { path = ".", version = "0.0.50", features = ["unstable-internals"] }
 # Symphonia reads tags but cannot write them, and the audio tests build their
 # fixtures by tagging generated files. Test-only, so it ships with nothing.
 audiotags = "0.5"
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/mod.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/mod.rs
index f26f8183..c17fe775 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/mod.rs
@@ -2170,10 +2170,10 @@ fn parse_playback_info(xml: &str) -> anyhow::Result<HashMap<String, f64>> {
     loop {
         match reader.read_event()? {
             Event::Start(element) => {
-                current = String::from_utf8_lossy(element.name().as_ref()).into_owned();
+                current = element.name().as_ref().to_owned();
             }
             Event::Text(text) => {
-                let value = reader.decoder().decode(text.as_ref())?.into_owned();
+                let value = text.as_ref().to_owned();
                 match current.as_str() {
                     "key" => pending_key = Some(value),
                     "real" | "integer" => {
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/raop.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/raop.rs
index 157d6847..d7f49ea1 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/raop.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/casting/airplay/raop.rs
@@ -460,15 +460,15 @@ mod tests {
             bits.push_str(&format!("{byte:08b}"));
         }
         assert!(bits.starts_with("001"), "element type must be CPE: {bits}");
-        assert_eq!(&bits[3..7], "0000");
-        assert_eq!(&bits[7..19], "000000000000");
-        assert_eq!(&bits[19..20], "0", "hasSize");
-        assert_eq!(&bits[20..22], "00");
-        assert_eq!(&bits[22..23], "1", "isNotCompressed");
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(3..7), Some("0000"));
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(7..19), Some("000000000000"));
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(19..20), Some("0"), "hasSize");
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(20..22), Some("00"));
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(22..23), Some("1"), "isNotCompressed");
         // Samples follow MSB-first, left then right.
-        assert_eq!(&bits[23..39], "0001001000110100", "left = 0x1234");
-        assert_eq!(&bits[39..55], "0101011001111000", "right = 0x5678");
-        assert_eq!(&bits[55..58], "111", "END element");
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(23..39), Some("0001001000110100"), "left = 0x1234");
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(39..55), Some("0101011001111000"), "right = 0x5678");
+        assert_eq!(bits.get(55..58), Some("111"), "END element");
 
         // A full packet: 23 + 352*32 + 3 bits, rounded up to whole bytes.
         let packet = vec![0u8; FRAMES_PER_PACKET * BYTES_PER_FRAME];
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/playlist_formats.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/playlist_formats.rs
index 87a0d2e3..3ccea8c8 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/playlist_formats.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/playlist_formats.rs
@@ -186,13 +186,10 @@ impl PlaylistFileManager {
 
         for line in content.lines() {
             let line = line.trim();
-            if line.starts_with("File") {
-                if let Some(eq_pos) = line.find('=') {
-                    let (key, value) = line.split_at(eq_pos);
-                    let value = &value[1..]; // Skip the '='
-
+            if let Some(line) = line.strip_prefix("File") {
+                if let Some((key, value)) = line.split_once('=') {
                     // Extract the number from "File1", "File2", etc.
-                    if let Ok(track_num) = key[4..].parse::<u32>() {
+                    if let Ok(track_num) = key.parse::<u32>() {
                         tracks.push((track_num, resolve_playlist_entry(base_dir, value.trim())));
                     }
                 }
@@ -520,8 +517,8 @@ impl PlaylistFileManager {
                 while i < lines.len() {
                     let line = lines[i].trim();
                     if line.starts_with("#EXTINF") {
-                        let name = if let Some(comma_pos) = line.find(',') {
-                            line[comma_pos + 1..].trim().to_string()
+                        let name = if let Some((_, name)) = line.split_once(',') {
+                            name.trim().to_string()
                         } else {
                             "Unknown Radio".to_string()
                         };
@@ -545,19 +542,19 @@ impl PlaylistFileManager {
 
                 for line in file_content.lines() {
                     let line = line.trim();
-                    if line.starts_with("File") {
-                        if let Some(eq_pos) = line.find('=') {
-                            if let Ok(num) = line[4..eq_pos].parse::<u32>() {
-                                let val = line[eq_pos + 1..].trim().to_string();
+                    if let Some(line) = line.strip_prefix("File") {
+                        if let Some((number, value)) = line.split_once('=') {
+                            if let Ok(num) = number.parse::<u32>() {
+                                let val = value.trim().to_string();
                                 if is_http_stream(&val) {
                                     urls.insert(num, val);
                                 }
                             }
                         }
-                    } else if line.starts_with("Title") {
-                        if let Some(eq_pos) = line.find('=') {
-                            if let Ok(num) = line[5..eq_pos].parse::<u32>() {
-                                let val = line[eq_pos + 1..].trim().to_string();
+                    } else if let Some(line) = line.strip_prefix("Title") {
+                        if let Some((number, value)) = line.split_once('=') {
+                            if let Ok(num) = number.parse::<u32>() {
+                                let val = value.trim().to_string();
                                 titles.insert(num, val);
                             }
                         }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/media_repo/bulk.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/media_repo/bulk.rs
index 6a48b3cf..472a4939 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/media_repo/bulk.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/media_repo/bulk.rs
@@ -218,16 +218,34 @@ pub(in crate::database::sqlite) fn upsert_media_file(
     }
 }
 
+/// Fold the comparable and displayable text of a record to NFC.
+///
+/// Every write goes through here, whatever produced the record — an embedded
+/// tag, a filename, a scraper, a playlist — so one spelling reaches the columns
+/// that `LIKE` and FTS read, and the same spelling reaches a renderer. `path` is
+/// pointedly absent: it is the key the filesystem is opened with and keeps the
+/// bytes the filesystem reported. See `crate::text`.
+fn normalize_text_fields(file: &mut MediaFile) {
+    file.filename = crate::text::into_nfc(std::mem::take(&mut file.filename));
+    crate::text::normalize_field(&mut file.title);
+    crate::text::normalize_field(&mut file.artist);
+    crate::text::normalize_field(&mut file.album);
+    crate::text::normalize_field(&mut file.genre);
+    crate::text::normalize_field(&mut file.album_artist);
+}
+
 impl SqliteDatabase {
     fn prepared_records(files: &[MediaFile], already_canonical: bool) -> Result<Vec<MediaFile>> {
         files
             .iter()
             .map(|file| {
-                if already_canonical {
-                    Ok(file.clone())
+                let mut record = if already_canonical {
+                    file.clone()
                 } else {
-                    Self::canonical_file(file)
-                }
+                    Self::canonical_file(file)?
+                };
+                normalize_text_fields(&mut record);
+                Ok(record)
             })
             .collect()
     }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/query.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/query.rs
index 6825d4d7..38a50cb1 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/query.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/query.rs
@@ -147,6 +147,10 @@ const FTS_JOIN: &str = "media_files JOIN (\
 /// Returns `None` when nothing searchable is left, which the caller turns into
 /// an empty result rather than an unfiltered one.
 pub(super) fn fts5_query_from_user_text(text: &str) -> Option<String> {
+    // Folded first: a combining mark is `Mn`, not alphanumeric, so a decomposed
+    // `Fu\u{308}\u{df}en` would split here into `Fu` and `\u{df}en` and be searched as
+    // two tokens, while the composed spelling of the same word stays one.
+    let text = crate::text::to_nfc(text);
     let tokens: Vec<String> = text
         .split(|character: char| !character.is_alphanumeric())
         .filter(|token| !token.is_empty())
@@ -270,7 +274,9 @@ pub(super) fn plan(query: &MediaFileQuery) -> MediaQueryPlan {
                        OR media_files.album LIKE ? ESCAPE '\')"
                         .to_owned(),
                 );
-                let pattern = format!("%{}%", escape_like(text));
+                // The stored columns are NFC (see `crate::text`), so the needle
+                // has to be, or a decomposed term matches nothing.
+                let pattern = format!("%{}%", escape_like(&crate::text::to_nfc(text)));
                 for _ in 0..4 {
                     params.push(Value::Text(pattern.clone()));
                 }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/schema.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/schema.rs
index 22465786..b4764edb 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/schema.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/schema.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use crate::database::{
 /// [`migrations`]; only a *newer* file — one written by a build that knows
 /// something this one does not — is refused, because there is no way to
 /// downgrade a schema without guessing at what to discard.
-pub(super) const SCHEMA_VERSION: i64 = 7;
+pub(super) const SCHEMA_VERSION: i64 = 8;
 
 /// Name of the collation that carries the application's natural ordering into
 /// SQL. Registered on every connection; see [`register_collations`].
@@ -350,6 +350,7 @@ fn migrations() -> Vec<(i64, String)> {
         (5, MIGRATION_V5.to_owned()),
         (6, MIGRATION_V6.to_owned()),
         (7, MIGRATION_V7.to_owned()),
+        (8, MIGRATION_V8.to_owned()),
     ]
 }
 
@@ -495,6 +496,44 @@ const MIGRATION_V7: &str = r#"
 ALTER TABLE media_files ADD COLUMN video_codec TEXT;
 "#;
 
+/// v7 → v8: one normalization form for stored text.
+///
+/// Rows scanned before this release hold whatever form the filesystem or tagger
+/// used, so a library scanned on macOS is largely NFD while the same files
+/// scanned on Windows are NFC. Searches are folded to NFC now, which would leave
+/// those older rows unfindable until something happened to rewrite them, so they
+/// are folded once here instead.
+///
+/// The `WHERE` keeps the write to rows that actually change: an ASCII-only
+/// library — most libraries — matches nothing and the migration is a scan.
+/// Updating `media_files` fires the FTS triggers, so the index follows.
+/// `path` is not touched; it is the key the file is opened with. See `crate::text`.
+const MIGRATION_V8: &str = r#"
+UPDATE media_files SET
+    filename     = nfc(filename),
+    title        = nfc(title),
+    artist       = nfc(artist),
+    album        = nfc(album),
+    genre        = nfc(genre),
+    album_artist = nfc(album_artist)
+WHERE filename     IS NOT nfc(filename)
+   OR title        IS NOT nfc(title)
+   OR artist       IS NOT nfc(artist)
+   OR album        IS NOT nfc(album)
+   OR genre        IS NOT nfc(genre)
+   OR album_artist IS NOT nfc(album_artist);
+
+UPDATE mediainfo SET
+    title          = nfc(title),
+    original_title = nfc(original_title),
+    overview       = nfc(overview),
+    genres         = nfc(genres)
+WHERE title          IS NOT nfc(title)
+   OR original_title IS NOT nfc(original_title)
+   OR overview       IS NOT nfc(overview)
+   OR genres         IS NOT nfc(genres);
+"#;
+
 /// Positions within [`MEDIA_COLUMNS`], shared by the owned decoder and the
 /// borrowed views so the two can never drift apart.
 pub(super) mod column {
@@ -570,6 +609,31 @@ pub(super) fn register_collations(connection: &Connection) -> Result<()> {
             crate::natural_cmp(left, right)
         })
         .context("Failed to register the natural collation")?;
+    register_nfc(connection)?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Expose Unicode NFC folding to SQL, so a migration can normalize stored text
+/// without pulling every row through Rust. Deterministic and null-preserving,
+/// which is what lets `MIGRATION_V8` compare a column against its folded self.
+fn register_nfc(connection: &Connection) -> Result<()> {
+    connection
+        .create_scalar_function(
+            "nfc",
+            1,
+            rusqlite::functions::FunctionFlags::SQLITE_UTF8
+                | rusqlite::functions::FunctionFlags::SQLITE_DETERMINISTIC,
+            |context| {
+                let value = context.get_raw(0);
+                match value {
+                    rusqlite::types::ValueRef::Text(_) => {
+                        Ok(Some(crate::text::to_nfc(value.as_str()?).into_owned()))
+                    }
+                    _ => Ok(None),
+                }
+            },
+        )
+        .context("Failed to register the nfc function")?;
     Ok(())
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/tests.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/tests.rs
index c4d9e279..540ee0b8 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/database/sqlite/tests.rs
@@ -446,3 +446,128 @@ async fn a_write_ahead_log_left_behind_does_not_resurrect_records() {
         .unwrap()
         .is_some());
 }
+
+/// macOS hands back `Fu\u{308}\u{df}en` where Windows wrote `F\u{fc}\u{df}en`. The two look
+/// identical, share no bytes, and used to be two different libraries as far as
+/// search was concerned. Both spellings must reach the same row from either
+/// spelling of the query, through the FTS index and the `LIKE` filter alike.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn either_normalization_form_finds_the_other() {
+    use crate::database::{DatabaseReadSession, MediaFileView, MediaFileQuery};
+
+    const NFC: &str = "Füßen";
+    const NFD: &str = "Fu\u{308}\u{df}en";
+    assert_ne!(NFC, NFD, "the premise: the two spellings differ byte for byte");
+
+    let temp = tempdir().unwrap();
+    let db = database(&temp, "normalization").await;
+
+    // Stored decomposed, as a scan of an HFS+ volume would produce.
+    let mut decomposed = MediaFile::new(
+        PathBuf::from(format!("/media/{NFD}.flac")),
+        1,
+        "audio/flac".to_owned(),
+    );
+    decomposed.title = Some(NFD.to_owned());
+    decomposed.artist = Some(NFD.to_owned());
+    let id = db.store_media_file(&decomposed).await.unwrap();
+
+    // Found by the composed spelling, which is what a browser or a phone sends.
+    assert_eq!(search_ids(&db, NFC).await, vec![Some(id)], "FTS missed NFC");
+    assert_eq!(search_ids(&db, NFD).await, vec![Some(id)], "FTS missed NFD");
+
+    let filtered = |text: &str| {
+        let db = db.clone();
+        let text = text.to_owned();
+        async move {
+            db.read(move |session| {
+                let mut ids = Vec::new();
+                session.visit_files(
+                    &MediaFileQuery::Filtered {
+                        after_id: None,
+                        mime_family: None,
+                        text: Some(text),
+                    },
+                    0,
+                    10,
+                    |file| {
+                        ids.push(file.id());
+                        Ok(())
+                    },
+                )?;
+                Ok(ids)
+            })
+            .await
+            .unwrap()
+        }
+    };
+    assert_eq!(filtered(NFC).await, vec![Some(id)], "LIKE missed NFC");
+    assert_eq!(filtered(NFD).await, vec![Some(id)], "LIKE missed NFD");
+
+    // What we hand a renderer is the composed spelling, whatever was scanned:
+    // a TV that cannot place a combining mark shows "Fu" followed by a stray
+    // diaeresis otherwise.
+    let stored = db.get_file_by_path(&decomposed.path).await.unwrap().unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(stored.title.as_deref(), Some(NFC));
+    assert_eq!(stored.artist.as_deref(), Some(NFC));
+    assert_eq!(stored.filename, format!("{NFC}.flac"));
+
+    // The path is the exception: it is the key the file is opened with, so it
+    // keeps the bytes the filesystem reported.
+    assert_eq!(stored.path, decomposed.path);
+}
+
+/// A library scanned before this release holds whatever form the filesystem gave
+/// it. Those rows have to be folded by the migration, not left waiting for a
+/// rescan — a user who upgrades and searches for their own music would otherwise
+/// find nothing, which is exactly the state the fold is meant to end.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn a_legacy_database_has_its_text_folded_by_the_migration() {
+    const NFC: &str = "Füßen";
+    const NFD: &str = "Fu\u{308}\u{df}en";
+
+    let temp = tempdir().unwrap();
+    let path = temp.path().join("legacy.db");
+
+    {
+        let connection = rusqlite::Connection::open(&path).unwrap();
+        crate::database::sqlite::schema::register_collations(&connection).unwrap();
+        connection.execute_batch(SCHEMA_V1).unwrap();
+        connection
+            .execute(
+                "INSERT INTO media_files
+                   (id, path, parent_path, filename, size, modified_secs, mime_type,
+                    mime_family, title, artist, album, created_at_secs, updated_at_secs)
+                 VALUES (11, ?1, '/media', ?2, 10, 100, 'audio/flac', 'audio', ?3, ?3, ?3,
+                         100, 100)",
+                rusqlite::params![
+                    format!("/media/{NFD}.flac"),
+                    format!("{NFD}.flac"),
+                    NFD,
+                ],
+            )
+            .unwrap();
+    }
+
+    let db = SqliteDatabase::new(path.clone()).await.unwrap();
+    db.initialize().await.unwrap();
+
+    // The path is untouched — it still has to open the file that is on disk.
+    let file = db
+        .get_file_by_path(std::path::Path::new(&format!("/media/{NFD}.flac")))
+        .await
+        .unwrap()
+        .expect("the migrated record is still there");
+    assert_eq!(file.id, Some(11), "the record kept its DIDL object id");
+
+    // Its text was folded in place.
+    assert_eq!(file.title.as_deref(), Some(NFC));
+    assert_eq!(file.artist.as_deref(), Some(NFC));
+    assert_eq!(file.album.as_deref(), Some(NFC));
+    assert_eq!(file.filename, format!("{NFC}.flac"));
+
+    // And the folded text reached the index the migration rebuilt.
+    let db = std::sync::Arc::new(db);
+    assert_eq!(search_ids(&db, NFC).await, vec![Some(11)]);
+    assert_eq!(search_ids(&db, NFD).await, vec![Some(11)]);
+}
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/http_client.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/http_client.rs
index 3e0ca8e7..429a3d77 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/http_client.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/http_client.rs
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ pub(crate) fn join_path(base: &Uri, reference: &str) -> Result<Uri> {
     } else {
         let base_path = base.path();
         let directory = match base_path.rfind('/') {
-            Some(index) => &base_path[..=index],
+            Some(index) => base_path.split_at(index + 1).0,
             None => "/",
         };
         format!("{directory}{target_path}")
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/lib.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/lib.rs
index 4b908c72..df411e06 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 // every target platform rather than a macOS-only build.
 #![cfg_attr(not(feature = "unstable-internals"), allow(dead_code))]
 #![deny(clippy::undocumented_unsafe_blocks)]
+#![deny(clippy::string_slice)]
 
 // Everything below is internal. `vuio-core` commits to the facade re-exported
 // after this block and nothing else: a surface small enough to keep stable for
@@ -99,6 +100,11 @@ internal_modules!(
     web,
 );
 
+mod text;
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod unicode_corpus;
+
 // ── The stable public API ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 pub use crate::error::{Error, ErrorKind, Result};
 pub use crate::runtime::{Runtime, RuntimeHandle, RuntimeOptions, RuntimeStatus};
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/artwork.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/artwork.rs
index 7c8aa2e0..14a23cca 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/artwork.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/artwork.rs
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ impl ArtworkCache {
 
     /// Where a key's file lives, given the extension implied by its content type.
     fn path_for(&self, key: &str, extension: &str) -> PathBuf {
-        self.root.join(&key[..2]).join(format!("{key}.{extension}"))
+        let shard = key.get(..2).unwrap_or(key);
+        self.root.join(shard).join(format!("{key}.{extension}"))
     }
 
     /// Find a cached file for `key`, whatever image type it was stored as.
@@ -141,7 +142,9 @@ mod tests {
         let path = cache.path_for(&key, "jpg");
         assert_eq!(
             path,
-            Path::new("/tmp/artwork").join(&key[..2]).join(format!("{key}.jpg"))
+            Path::new("/tmp/artwork")
+                .join(key.get(..2).unwrap())
+                .join(format!("{key}.jpg"))
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/job.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/job.rs
index 6bd7b42d..191d8586 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/job.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/job.rs
@@ -74,8 +74,7 @@ fn is_season_folder(folder_name: &str) -> bool {
     {
         return true;
     }
-    if trimmed.starts_with('s') && trimmed.len() <= 4 {
-        let rest = &trimmed[1..];
+    if let Some(rest) = trimmed.strip_prefix('s').filter(|_| trimmed.len() <= 4) {
         if !rest.is_empty() && rest.bytes().all(|b| b.is_ascii_digit()) {
             return true;
         }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/matching.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/matching.rs
index 3f5af935..d1ad2720 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/matching.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/mediainfo/matching.rs
@@ -72,13 +72,8 @@ fn as_year(token: &str) -> Option<u32> {
 /// `S02E05`, `s2e5`, and the `2x05` form.
 fn as_season_episode(token: &str) -> Option<(u32, u32)> {
     let lowered = token.to_ascii_lowercase();
-    let bytes = lowered.as_bytes();
-
-    if bytes.first() == Some(&b's') {
-        let rest = &lowered[1..];
-        if let Some(split) = rest.find('e') {
-            let (season, episode) = rest.split_at(split);
-            let episode = &episode[1..];
+    if let Some(rest) = lowered.strip_prefix('s') {
+        if let Some((season, episode)) = rest.split_once('e') {
             if !season.is_empty()
                 && !episode.is_empty()
                 && season.bytes().all(|b| b.is_ascii_digit())
@@ -90,9 +85,7 @@ fn as_season_episode(token: &str) -> Option<(u32, u32)> {
         return None;
     }
 
-    let split = lowered.find('x')?;
-    let (season, episode) = lowered.split_at(split);
-    let episode = &episode[1..];
+    let (season, episode) = lowered.split_once('x')?;
     if season.is_empty()
         || episode.is_empty()
         || !season.bytes().all(|b| b.is_ascii_digit())
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/metadata.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/metadata.rs
index f1f0fd95..390583f9 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/metadata.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/metadata.rs
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ fn set_date(probed: &mut ProbedMetadata, value: &str, authoritative: bool) {
 fn standard_tag_name(tag: &StandardTag) -> String {
     let rendered = format!("{tag:?}");
     match rendered.find('(') {
-        Some(index) => rendered[..index].to_owned(),
+        Some(index) => rendered.split_at(index).0.to_owned(),
         None => rendered,
     }
 }
@@ -560,12 +560,13 @@ pub(crate) fn fallback_parse_filename(media_file: &mut MediaFile) {
                 let mut artist_name = part0;
                 let mut track_num = None;
                 if let Some(first_space) = part0.find(' ') {
-                    let maybe_num = &part0[..first_space].trim_end_matches('.');
+                    let (maybe_num, remainder) = part0.split_at(first_space);
+                    let maybe_num = maybe_num.trim_end_matches('.');
                     let clean: String = maybe_num.chars().filter(|c| c.is_ascii_digit()).collect();
-                    if !clean.is_empty() && clean == *maybe_num {
+                    if !clean.is_empty() && clean == maybe_num {
                         if let Ok(num) = clean.parse::<u32>() {
                             track_num = Some(num);
-                            artist_name = &part0[first_space + 1..];
+                            artist_name = remainder.trim_start_matches(' ');
                         }
                     }
                 }
@@ -583,14 +584,15 @@ pub(crate) fn fallback_parse_filename(media_file: &mut MediaFile) {
         let mut title_part = filename_sans_ext.as_str();
 
         if let Some(first_space) = filename_sans_ext.find(' ') {
-            let maybe_num = &filename_sans_ext[..first_space].trim_end_matches('.');
+            let (maybe_num, remainder) = filename_sans_ext.split_at(first_space);
+            let maybe_num = maybe_num.trim_end_matches('.');
             let clean: String = maybe_num.chars().filter(|c| c.is_ascii_digit()).collect();
-            if !clean.is_empty() && clean == *maybe_num {
+            if !clean.is_empty() && clean == maybe_num {
                 if let Ok(num) = clean.parse::<u32>() {
                     if media_file.track_number.is_none() {
                         media_file.track_number = Some(num);
                     }
-                    title_part = &filename_sans_ext[first_space + 1..];
+                    title_part = remainder.trim_start_matches(' ');
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/normalization.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/normalization.rs
index 92d4f5c3..c25449fd 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/normalization.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/normalization.rs
@@ -60,9 +60,9 @@ impl WindowsPathNormalizer {
         canonical = canonical.replace('\\', "/");
 
         // Deduplicate slashes
-        if canonical.starts_with("//") {
+        if let Some(rest) = canonical.strip_prefix("//") {
             // UNC path: preserve leading double slash, clean the rest
-            let rest = canonical[2..].replace("//", "/");
+            let rest = rest.replace("//", "/");
             // Iterate until stable to handle multiple consecutive slashes
             let mut cleaned = rest;
             while cleaned.contains("//") {
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/tests.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/tests.rs
index d6821f80..666892c2 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/tests.rs
@@ -416,3 +416,51 @@ mod path_normalizer_tests {
         assert!(result.is_ok());
     }
 }
+
+/// `fallback_parse_filename` splits on " - " and on the first space, then indexes
+/// what it finds. Every sample is run as a bare stem, as an "artist - title" pair
+/// and behind a track number, because each shape takes a different branch.
+#[test]
+fn filename_fallback_survives_every_script_and_alignment() {
+    use std::path::PathBuf;
+    use std::time::SystemTime;
+
+    let blank = |path: PathBuf, filename: String| MediaFile {
+        id: None,
+        path,
+        filename,
+        size: 0,
+        modified: SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH,
+        mime_type: "audio/mpeg".to_string(),
+        duration: None,
+        title: None,
+        artist: None,
+        album: None,
+        genre: None,
+        track_number: None,
+        year: None,
+        album_artist: None,
+        tags: Default::default(),
+        stream: Default::default(),
+        extra_tags: Vec::new(),
+        tags_version: 0,
+        subtitle_available: false,
+        created_at: SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH,
+        updated_at: SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH,
+    };
+
+    for sample in crate::unicode_corpus::alignment_sweep() {
+        for stem in [
+            sample.clone(),
+            format!("{sample} - {sample}"),
+            format!("{sample} - {sample} - {sample}"),
+            format!("01 - {sample}"),
+            format!("{sample}.{sample}"),
+        ] {
+            let filename = format!("{stem}.mp3");
+            let mut file = blank(PathBuf::from(format!("/music/{filename}")), filename);
+            fallback_parse_filename(&mut file);
+            assert!(file.title.is_some(), "no title parsed from {stem:?}");
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/windows.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/windows.rs
index f797eb45..7569d686 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/windows.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/filesystem/windows.rs
@@ -32,9 +32,14 @@ impl WindowsFileSystemManager {
     }
 
     /// Check if a path contains a drive letter (C:\path)
+    ///
+    /// The first character must be ASCII: callers strip it with `path_str[1..]`,
+    /// which would split a multi-byte character mid-codepoint on a path like
+    /// `Ü:\Musik`. A drive letter is A-Z anyway.
     fn has_drive_letter(&self, path: &Path) -> bool {
         let path_str = path.to_string_lossy();
         path_str.len() >= 3
+            && path_str.starts_with(|c: char| c.is_ascii_alphabetic())
             && path_str.chars().nth(1) == Some(':')
             && path_str.chars().nth(2) == Some('\\')
     }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/network/linux/discovery.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/network/linux/discovery.rs
index c7794fa0..7dab5c1e 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/network/linux/discovery.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/platform/network/linux/discovery.rs
@@ -68,10 +68,8 @@ impl LinuxNetworkManager {
             let line = line.trim();
 
             // Interface line: "2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000"
-            if let Some(colon_pos) = line.find(':') {
-                if let Some(second_colon) = line[colon_pos + 1..].find(':') {
-                    let second_colon_pos = colon_pos + 1 + second_colon;
-
+            if let Some((_, interface)) = line.split_once(':') {
+                if let Some((interface_name, _)) = interface.split_once(':') {
                     // Save previous interface with the best IP
                     if let Some(name) = &current_interface {
                         if !name.starts_with("lo") && !current_ips.is_empty() {
@@ -96,15 +94,14 @@ impl LinuxNetworkManager {
                     }
 
                     // Parse new interface
-                    let interface_name = line[colon_pos + 1..second_colon_pos].trim().to_string();
+                    let interface_name = interface_name.trim().to_string();
                     current_interface = Some(interface_name.clone());
                     current_ips.clear();
                     is_loopback = interface_name.starts_with("lo");
 
                     // Parse flags
-                    if let Some(flags_start) = line.find('<') {
-                        if let Some(flags_end) = line.find('>') {
-                            let flags = &line[flags_start + 1..flags_end];
+                    if let Some((_, flags)) = line.split_once('<') {
+                        if let Some((flags, _)) = flags.split_once('>') {
                             is_up = flags.contains("UP");
                             supports_multicast = flags.contains("MULTICAST");
                         }
@@ -114,8 +111,7 @@ impl LinuxNetworkManager {
 
             // IP address line: "    inet 192.168.1.100/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic eth0"
             if line.contains("inet ") && !line.contains("inet6") {
-                if let Some(inet_pos) = line.find("inet ") {
-                    let after_inet = &line[inet_pos + 5..];
+                if let Some((_, after_inet)) = line.split_once("inet ") {
                     if let Some(ip_part) = after_inet.split_whitespace().next() {
                         // Remove CIDR notation if present
                         let ip_str = ip_part.split('/').next().unwrap_or(ip_part);
@@ -446,8 +442,7 @@ impl LinuxNetworkManager {
                 let output_str = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
                 for line in output_str.lines() {
                     if line.contains("inet ") && !line.contains("inet6") {
-                        if let Some(inet_pos) = line.find("inet ") {
-                            let after_inet = &line[inet_pos + 5..];
+                        if let Some((_, after_inet)) = line.split_once("inet ") {
                             if let Some(ip_part) = after_inet.split_whitespace().next() {
                                 let ip_str = ip_part.split('/').next().unwrap_or(ip_part);
                                 if let Ok(ip) = ip_str.parse::<IpAddr>() {
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/text.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/text.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..add9995d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/text.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+//! Normalization for the text VuIO compares, indexes and displays.
+//!
+//! The same name can be spelled more than one way in Unicode. `Füßen` is either
+//! `F U+00FC ß e n` (NFC, what Windows and most taggers write) or
+//! `F u U+0308 ß e n` (NFD, what macOS wrote for years and what HFS+ still hands
+//! back). The two are canonically equivalent and look identical, but they share
+//! no bytes, so every byte-oriented comparison we make — a `LIKE` clause, an FTS
+//! token, a `==` between a scraped title and a parsed one — silently says "no".
+//!
+//! Everything we store for comparison or display is therefore folded to NFC on
+//! the way into the database, and every search term is folded on the way in, so
+//! both sides of a comparison are spelled the same way whatever the source used.
+//!
+//! # Paths are deliberately excluded
+//!
+//! A path is not text, it is a filesystem key. Linux and Windows compare the
+//! bytes exactly: on ext4 the NFC and NFD spellings of `Füßen.flac` are two
+//! different files, and only one of them exists. `canonical_to_platform` hands
+//! the stored path straight to `PathBuf`, so normalizing it would produce a name
+//! the kernel cannot open. Paths keep whatever the filesystem reported, byte for
+//! byte; only `filename`, the display copy, is folded.
+
+use std::borrow::Cow;
+use unicode_normalization::{is_nfc_quick, IsNormalized, UnicodeNormalization};
+
+/// Fold `value` to NFC, borrowing when it is already in that form.
+///
+/// `is_nfc_quick` answers `Yes` or `No` from character properties alone for the
+/// overwhelming majority of input — ASCII included — so the common path costs a
+/// scan and no allocation. Only a `Maybe` pays for the full composition.
+pub(crate) fn to_nfc(value: &str) -> Cow<'_, str> {
+    match is_nfc_quick(value.chars()) {
+        IsNormalized::Yes => Cow::Borrowed(value),
+        _ => Cow::Owned(value.nfc().collect()),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Fold an owned string in place, keeping the allocation when it is already NFC.
+pub(crate) fn into_nfc(value: String) -> String {
+    match to_nfc(&value) {
+        Cow::Borrowed(_) => value,
+        Cow::Owned(normalized) => normalized,
+    }
+}
+
+/// Fold an optional field, as media metadata columns are.
+pub(crate) fn normalize_field(field: &mut Option<String>) {
+    if let Some(value) = field.take() {
+        *field = Some(into_nfc(value));
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    const NFC: &str = "Füßen";
+    const NFD: &str = "Fu\u{308}\u{df}en";
+
+    #[test]
+    fn the_two_spellings_differ_until_they_are_folded() {
+        // The premise of this module: equal to a reader, unequal to a comparison.
+        assert_ne!(NFC, NFD);
+        assert_eq!(to_nfc(NFC), to_nfc(NFD));
+        assert_eq!(to_nfc(NFD), NFC);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn text_already_in_nfc_is_not_copied() {
+        assert!(matches!(to_nfc("plain ascii"), Cow::Borrowed(_)));
+        assert!(matches!(to_nfc(NFC), Cow::Borrowed(_)));
+        assert!(matches!(to_nfc(NFD), Cow::Owned(_)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn folding_is_idempotent_across_the_corpus() {
+        for sample in crate::unicode_corpus::alignment_sweep() {
+            let once = to_nfc(&sample).into_owned();
+            let twice = to_nfc(&once).into_owned();
+            assert_eq!(once, twice, "folding {sample:?} was not idempotent");
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_empty_or_absent_field_stays_that_way() {
+        let mut absent = None;
+        normalize_field(&mut absent);
+        assert_eq!(absent, None);
+
+        let mut empty = Some(String::new());
+        normalize_field(&mut empty);
+        assert_eq!(empty.as_deref(), Some(""));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/tv_control.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/tv_control.rs
index 0d24804b..31c2f0b3 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/tv_control.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/tv_control.rs
@@ -193,11 +193,10 @@ async fn fetch_tv_info(
     loop {
         match reader.read_event_into(&mut buf) {
             Ok(Event::Start(e)) => {
-                current_element = String::from_utf8_lossy(e.name().as_ref()).to_string();
+                current_element = e.name().as_ref().to_owned();
             }
             Ok(Event::Text(e)) => {
-                let decoded = reader.decoder().decode(e.as_ref())?;
-                let text = quick_xml::escape::unescape(&decoded)?.into_owned();
+                let text = quick_xml::escape::unescape(e.as_ref())?.into_owned();
                 match current_element.as_str() {
                     "friendlyName" if friendly_name.is_empty() => {
                         friendly_name = text;
@@ -225,7 +224,7 @@ async fn fetch_tv_info(
                 }
             }
             Ok(Event::End(e)) => {
-                let name = String::from_utf8_lossy(e.name().as_ref()).to_string();
+                let name = e.name().as_ref().to_owned();
                 if name == "service" {
                     if !current_service_type.contains("AVTransport") {
                         in_av_transport_service = false;
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/unicode_corpus.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/unicode_corpus.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..190bb119
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/unicode_corpus.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+//! Text that byte-oriented string handling has historically broken on, plus the
+//! alignment sweep that turns offset bugs into deterministic test failures.
+//!
+//! Issue #51 was `&title[title.len() - 5..]` splitting a `ü` in half. A flat list
+//! of awkward strings would not have caught it: the panic needs the slice point to
+//! land *inside* a multi-byte character, which depends on the string's length
+//! relative to that character's width. [`alignment_sweep`] therefore repeats every
+//! sample at eight different paddings, so whatever index the code under test
+//! computes eventually lands on every byte position of every sample — including
+//! the continuation bytes that are never valid boundaries.
+
+/// Strings that stress encoding width, combining marks, direction and escaping.
+pub(crate) const SAMPLES: &[&str] = &[
+    "",
+    "plain ascii title",
+    // Issue #51, and the umlauts that reported it.
+    "Wie Felsenabgrund mir zu Füßen",
+    "Grüße aus München",
+    "Ärger mit Öl",
+    // The same word pre-composed (NFC) and decomposed (NFD). macOS hands back
+    // whichever form was written, so both reach us from the same directory.
+    "Füßen",
+    "Fu\u{308}\u{df}en",
+    // Scripts with no ASCII at all, including right-to-left and Indic clusters.
+    "Лунная соната",
+    "Ἀχιλλεύς",
+    "交響曲第八番 変ホ長調",
+    "안녕하세요",
+    "שלום עולם",
+    "مرحبا بالعالم",
+    "नमस्ते",
+    "สวัสดีชาวโลก",
+    // Four-byte scalars, and graphemes built from several of them.
+    "🎵🎶",
+    "👩‍👩‍👧‍👦",
+    "👋🏽",
+    "🇩🇪",
+    "𝄞 Clair de Lune",
+    "\u{10ffff}",
+    // Marks and invisibles that make character count disagree with byte count.
+    "e\u{301}\u{302}\u{303}",
+    "a\u{200b}b\u{200d}c",
+    "a\u{202e}reversed",
+    "\u{feff}leading bom",
+    // Case mapping that changes length, and the dotted/dotless Turkish pair.
+    "ß vs SS",
+    "Džunglica",
+    "filigree",
+    "İstanbul",
+    "ırmak",
+    // Characters an XML writer has to replace rather than pass through.
+    "A&B <tag> \"quoted\" 'single'",
+    "bell\u{7}vertical\u{b}form\u{c}feed",
+    "\u{fffe} noncharacter",
+    "…ellipsis…",
+];
+
+/// Every sample at eight paddings on each side, so a computed byte offset lands
+/// on every position within every sample across the whole sweep.
+pub(crate) fn alignment_sweep() -> impl Iterator<Item = String> {
+    SAMPLES.iter().flat_map(|sample| {
+        (0..8).flat_map(move |pad| {
+            let filler = "x".repeat(pad);
+            [format!("{filler}{sample}"), format!("{sample}{filler}")]
+        })
+    })
+}
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/radio.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/radio.rs
index 743e55ab..89a7f073 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/radio.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/radio.rs
@@ -614,10 +614,9 @@ mod tests {
         let payload = &out[17..17 + units * 16];
         let text = String::from_utf8_lossy(payload);
         assert!(text.starts_with("StreamTitle='Artist - Song';"), "{text}");
+        let (_, padding) = text.split_once(';').expect("metadata terminator");
         assert!(
-            text[text.find(';').unwrap() + 1..]
-                .bytes()
-                .all(|byte| byte == 0),
+            padding.bytes().all(|byte| byte == 0),
             "the block must be padded with zeroes"
         );
 
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/common.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/common.rs
index 353f4508..393ad8b0 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/common.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/common.rs
@@ -14,11 +14,10 @@ pub(super) fn parse_dir_index_prefix(path_prefix_str: &str) -> (Option<usize>, &
         if !num_str.is_empty() {
             if let Ok(idx) = num_str.parse::<usize>() {
                 let prefix_len = 1 + num_str.len();
-                let rem = if path_prefix_str.len() > prefix_len {
-                    path_prefix_str[prefix_len..].trim_start_matches('/')
-                } else {
-                    ""
-                };
+                let rem = path_prefix_str
+                    .get(prefix_len..)
+                    .unwrap_or_default()
+                    .trim_start_matches('/');
                 (Some(idx), rem)
             } else {
                 (None, path_prefix_str)
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/parser.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/parser.rs
index 766c6860..8c940a99 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/parser.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/soap/parser.rs
@@ -114,11 +114,7 @@ pub(super) fn xml_element_text(body: &str, expected_name: &str) -> Option<String
                 capture = local_xml_name(element.name().as_ref()) == expected_name;
             }
             Event::Text(text) if capture => {
-                return reader
-                    .decoder()
-                    .decode(text.as_ref())
-                    .ok()
-                    .map(|value| value.into_owned());
+                return Some(text.as_ref().to_owned());
             }
             Event::End(_) => capture = false,
             Event::Eof => return None,
@@ -128,13 +124,10 @@ pub(super) fn xml_element_text(body: &str, expected_name: &str) -> Option<String
     }
 }
 
-fn local_xml_name(name: &[u8]) -> &str {
-    let local = name
-        .iter()
-        .rposition(|byte| *byte == b':')
-        .map(|position| &name[position + 1..])
-        .unwrap_or(name);
-    std::str::from_utf8(local).unwrap_or_default()
+fn local_xml_name(name: &str) -> &str {
+    name.rsplit_once(':')
+        .map(|(_, local)| local)
+        .unwrap_or(name)
 }
 
 fn invalid_soap_request(message: &'static str) -> Response {
@@ -167,7 +160,7 @@ pub(super) fn parse_browse_params(body: &str) -> BrowseParams {
                 current_element = local_xml_name(element.name().as_ref()).to_string();
             }
             Ok(Event::Text(ref text)) => {
-                let text = reader.decoder().decode(text.as_ref()).unwrap_or_default();
+                let text = text.as_ref();
                 match current_element.as_str() {
                     "ObjectID" => {
                         object_id = text.trim().to_string();
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/subtitles.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/subtitles.rs
index 562d95a2..63a81b7c 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/subtitles.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/subtitles.rs
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ fn normalize_timestamp(stamp: &str) -> String {
         parts[0],
         parts[1],
         parts[2],
-        &millis[..millis.len().min(3)]
+        millis.get(..millis.len().min(3)).unwrap_or(millis)
     )
 }
 
@@ -106,6 +106,18 @@ fn digits_only(value: &str) -> bool {
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
+    /// Cue text is author-supplied and arrives in every script there is; timing
+    /// lines are indexed by byte offset, so malformed ones are fed in too.
+    #[test]
+    fn srt_conversion_survives_every_script_and_alignment() {
+        for sample in crate::unicode_corpus::alignment_sweep() {
+            let srt = format!("1\n00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,500\n{sample}\n");
+            assert!(srt_to_vtt(&srt).starts_with("WEBVTT"));
+            let malformed = format!("1\n{sample} --> {sample}\n{sample}\n");
+            assert!(srt_to_vtt(&malformed).starts_with("WEBVTT"));
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn converts_a_basic_cue() {
         let vtt = srt_to_vtt("1\n00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,500\nHello\n");
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/ui.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/ui.rs
index 6165c181..cdbc058e 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/ui.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/ui.rs
@@ -722,7 +722,12 @@ mod tests {
         let sources = dashboard_sources();
         let mut checked = 0;
         for (_, tail) in sources.match_indices("/assets/").map(|(index, matched)| {
-            (index, &sources[index + matched.len()..])
+            (
+                index,
+                sources
+                    .get(index + matched.len()..)
+                    .expect("match ends on a character boundary"),
+            )
         }) {
             let name: String = tail
                 .chars()
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/rendering.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/rendering.rs
index 4ed67776..e900c4bc 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/rendering.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/rendering.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#![deny(clippy::string_slice)]
+
 use super::*;
 use std::fmt::Write as _;
 
@@ -17,12 +19,20 @@ pub(super) fn write_xml_escaped<W: std::fmt::Write>(
             _ => None,
         };
         if let Some(replacement) = replacement {
-            target.write_str(&value[unescaped_start..offset])?;
+            target.write_str(
+                value
+                    .get(unescaped_start..offset)
+                    .expect("char indices are UTF-8 boundaries"),
+            )?;
             target.write_str(replacement)?;
             unescaped_start = offset + character.len_utf8();
         }
     }
-    target.write_str(&value[unescaped_start..])
+    target.write_str(
+        value
+            .get(unescaped_start..)
+            .expect("char indices are UTF-8 boundaries"),
+    )
 }
 
 pub(super) fn is_valid_xml_character(character: char) -> bool {
@@ -110,11 +120,9 @@ pub(super) fn strip_matching_media_extension(base: &str, filename: &str) -> Stri
     else {
         return base.to_string();
     };
-    let suffix_len = ext.len() + 1; // '.' + ext
-    if base.len() > suffix_len {
-        let maybe = &base[base.len() - suffix_len..];
-        if maybe.as_bytes()[0] == b'.' && maybe[1..].eq_ignore_ascii_case(ext) {
-            return base[..base.len() - suffix_len].to_string();
+    if let Some((stem, base_ext)) = base.rsplit_once('.') {
+        if !stem.is_empty() && base_ext.eq_ignore_ascii_case(ext) {
+            return stem.to_string();
         }
     }
     base.to_string()
@@ -419,7 +427,10 @@ pub(super) fn directory_container_id(object_id: &str, path: &str, name: &str) ->
         || path == "radio"
     {
         path.to_owned()
-    } else if path.starts_with('d') && path[1..].chars().all(|c| c.is_ascii_digit()) {
+    } else if path
+        .strip_prefix('d')
+        .is_some_and(|suffix| suffix.chars().all(|c| c.is_ascii_digit()))
+    {
         format!("{}/{}", object_id.trim_end_matches('/'), path)
     } else {
         format!("{}/{}", object_id.trim_end_matches('/'), name)
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/tests.rs b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/tests.rs
index 323347a0..d160ba34 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/src/web/xml/tests.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@ fn xml_escape_handles_markup_unicode_and_invalid_controls() {
     );
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn xml_escape_accepts_every_unicode_scalar_and_emits_valid_xml_characters() {
+    let all_scalars: String = (0..=char::MAX as u32).filter_map(char::from_u32).collect();
+    let escaped = xml_escape(&all_scalars).to_string();
+
+    assert!(escaped.chars().all(is_valid_xml_character));
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn soap_result_writer_applies_the_required_second_escape_layer() {
     let mut output = String::new();
@@ -43,6 +51,68 @@ fn samsung_keeps_titles_without_matching_extension() {
     );
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn samsung_handles_unicode_near_the_extension_boundary() {
+    let title = "09 - Symphony No. 8 in E-Flat Major, Pt. 2 V. Wie Felsenabgrund mir zu Füßen";
+    let filename = format!("{title}.flac");
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        didl_display_title(Some(title), &filename, DlnaClientProfile::SamsungTv),
+        title
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        didl_display_title(None, &filename, DlnaClientProfile::SamsungTv),
+        title
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn samsung_extension_handling_accepts_every_unicode_scalar() {
+    for code_point in 0..=char::MAX as u32 {
+        let Some(character) = char::from_u32(code_point) else {
+            continue;
+        };
+
+        // With a one-byte extension, the old byte-offset implementation tried to
+        // start its suffix one byte before `x`, bisecting every multibyte scalar.
+        let title = format!("title{character}x");
+        assert_eq!(
+            didl_display_title(Some(&title), "file.z", DlnaClientProfile::SamsungTv),
+            title,
+            "metadata title containing U+{code_point:04X}"
+        );
+
+        // Exercise the filename-fallback and matching-extension path as well.
+        // Both separators are excluded so this assertion has the same meaning on
+        // Unix and Windows; they remain covered in the metadata-title assertion.
+        if !matches!(character, '/' | '\\') {
+            let stem = format!("title{character}");
+            let filename = format!("{stem}.Z");
+            assert_eq!(
+                didl_display_title(None, &filename, DlnaClientProfile::SamsungTvQ),
+                stem,
+                "filename containing U+{code_point:04X}"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn samsung_extension_handling_covers_suffix_edge_cases() {
+    for (base, filename, expected) in [
+        ("", "file.flac", ""),
+        (".flac", "file.flac", ".flac"),
+        ("archive.part.FLAC", "file.flac", "archive.part"),
+        ("track.mp3", "file.flac", "track.mp3"),
+        ("track.flac", "file", "track.flac"),
+        ("track.flac", "file.", "track.flac"),
+        ("曲.音", "file.音", "曲"),
+        ("曲.音", "file.樂", "曲.音"),
+    ] {
+        assert_eq!(strip_matching_media_extension(base, filename), expected);
+    }
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn non_samsung_keeps_filename_when_title_missing() {
     assert_eq!(
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/tests/music_browse_integration_tests.rs b/crates/vuio-core/tests/music_browse_integration_tests.rs
index 9e19be1b..bdd466f3 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/tests/music_browse_integration_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/tests/music_browse_integration_tests.rs
@@ -567,7 +567,9 @@ async fn child_counts_match_the_children_actually_returned() {
         let start = response
             .find(&anchor)
             .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("{container_id} not in response"));
-        response[start..]
+        response
+            .get(start..)
+            .expect("find returns a character boundary")
             .split("childCount=&quot;")
             .nth(1)
             .and_then(|rest| rest.split("&quot;").next())
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/tests/regression_tests.rs b/crates/vuio-core/tests/regression_tests.rs
index 53479612..3eaff3ba 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/tests/regression_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/tests/regression_tests.rs
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ mod critical_path_scenarios {
                 "Testing long path ({} chars): {}",
                 long_path.len(),
                 if long_path.len() > 100 {
-                    &long_path[..100]
+                    long_path.get(..100).expect("test path is ASCII")
                 } else {
                     &long_path
                 }
diff --git a/crates/vuio-core/tests/web_ui_integration_tests.rs b/crates/vuio-core/tests/web_ui_integration_tests.rs
index ad1b4e49..2c0ebd59 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-core/tests/web_ui_integration_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/vuio-core/tests/web_ui_integration_tests.rs
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ async fn the_two_surfaces_differ_only_at_the_root() {
     assert!(
         shell.contains("/_app/immutable/"),
         "the web UI surface should serve the Svelte shell, got: {}",
-        &shell[..shell.len().min(200)]
+        shell.chars().take(200).collect::<String>()
     );
 
     let (status, body, _) = get(&state, Surface::Primary, "/").await;
@@ -452,7 +452,9 @@ async fn the_apps_bundles_are_served_with_immutable_caching() {
     let start = shell
         .find("/_app/immutable/")
         .expect("the shell loads a bundle");
-    let bundle: String = shell[start..]
+    let bundle: String = shell
+        .get(start..)
+        .expect("find returns a character boundary")
         .chars()
         .take_while(|character| !"\"'".contains(*character))
         .collect();
diff --git a/crates/vuio-web/Cargo.toml b/crates/vuio-web/Cargo.toml
index 83a15784..0ca17d42 100644
--- a/crates/vuio-web/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vuio-web/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "vuio-web"
-version = "0.0.49"
+version = "0.0.50"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.98"
 authors = ["vyrti"]
diff --git a/docs/api.md b/docs/api.md
index b9f13682..f789155f 100644
--- a/docs/api.md
+++ b/docs/api.md
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ configuration file actually writes. Backs the dashboard's Admin tab.
       "read_only_reason": null,
       "auth_enabled": false,
       "is_docker": false,
-      "version": "0.0.49",
+      "version": "0.0.50",
       // Where the server is actually accepting, which is what every advertised URL uses.
       "bound_addr": "0.0.0.0:8080",
       "desired_addr": null,
diff --git a/docs/install.md b/docs/install.md
index 31a274c6..c70d0101 100644
--- a/docs/install.md
+++ b/docs/install.md
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ Deploy VuIO to a Kubernetes cluster using the official Helm chart from GHCR. For
 
 ```bash
 # Install directly from GitHub Container Registry
-helm install vuio oci://ghcr.io/vuiodev/charts/vuio --version 0.0.49
+helm install vuio oci://ghcr.io/vuiodev/charts/vuio --version 0.0.50
 ```
 
 Or install from local source:
diff --git a/docs/kubernetes.md b/docs/kubernetes.md
index c061af22..3e0ff8c3 100644
--- a/docs/kubernetes.md
+++ b/docs/kubernetes.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ VuIO provides an official Helm 3 chart to deploy the media server directly onto
 Install the chart directly from GitHub Container Registry without cloning the repository:
 
 ```bash
-helm install vuio oci://ghcr.io/vuiodev/charts/vuio --version 0.0.49
+helm install vuio oci://ghcr.io/vuiodev/charts/vuio --version 0.0.50
 ```
 
 ### Local Installation
diff --git a/packaging/docker/builddocker.sh b/packaging/docker/builddocker.sh
index 1e238a9b..d55feb99 100755
--- a/packaging/docker/builddocker.sh
+++ b/packaging/docker/builddocker.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 export GITHUB_ORG="vuiodev"
 export IMAGE_NAME="vuio"
-export VERSION_TAG="v0.0.49"
+export VERSION_TAG="v0.0.50"
 
 docker login ghcr.io
 
diff --git a/packaging/linux/generate-repo.sh b/packaging/linux/generate-repo.sh
index 9ff2ace7..741cff95 100755
--- a/packaging/linux/generate-repo.sh
+++ b/packaging/linux/generate-repo.sh
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ for arch in x86_64 aarch64; do
                     zstd -d "$pkg" -o pkgtemp/pkg.tar --quiet 2>/dev/null && \
                         tar -xf pkgtemp/pkg.tar -C pkgtemp .PKGINFO 2>/dev/null || true
                     pname="vuio"
-                    pver="0.0.49-1"
+                    pver="0.0.50-1"
                     pdesc="Cross-platform DLNA media server"
                     purl="https://github.com/vuiodev/vuio"
                     psize="15000000"