Need help simplifying project (Raspberry Pi + Pi Musicbox + NFC Reader) Answered

Hello.

I have a desire to build this project - https://github.com/brendandawes/PlasticPlayer.
But I'm a total layman in hardware.

TL;DR: Media player based on Raspberry Pi and Pi Musicbox (mopidy), with the Espruino + NFC reader used as a track selector (NFC cards store the track id which is then cross-referenced through a database).

Upon close examination I think the additional Espruino is redundant (especially in the way author made it, so it talks to Raspberry via wi-fi), and I would like to connect it directly to Raspberry Pi.

I've ordered the Raspberry Pi recently, and it hasn't arrived yet, so I can't really tinker with it. So asking the question ahead.

Taking into account that Pi Musicbox will used as the base system, what exactly do I need to do, so that it can control NFC reader?
How can I create a program to control Raspberry Pi GPIO? Is it possible to make it compatible with common libraries that are available for NFC reader?

Thank you.