Spotify Tmux Plugin

Control Spotify directly from your tmux session. Compatible with macOS.

Features

• Control basic Spotify functions like play, pause, next, and previous.
• Toggle shuffle and repeat modes.
• Bind Spotify playlists/albums/tracks to specific keys (1-9) for quick access.
• Display currently playing track, artist, album, and playback state in the tmux status bar.
• Configure your own keybindings.

Installation with Tmux Plugin Manager (TPM)

1. Add the plugin to your tmux.conf:

set -g @plugin 'danjeltahko/spotify-tmux'

2. Press prefix + I to install the plugin.

Usage

Once installed, you can use the key bindings to control Spotify. By default, the Spotify prefix is set to prefix + S.

Press the Spotify prefix followed by the configured keybinding:

Key	Action
o	Open Spotify
s	Toggle shuffle
r	Toggle repeat
p	Play/Pause
l	Next track
h	Previous track
a	Add a playlist
1-9	Play playlists 1 through 9
?	Show your saved playlists

Caution: When adding a new playlist/album with spotifyprefix+a, do not use : in the naming. The playlist file separates the ID, name and Spotify link using :. So using : in the name will result in playback issues. Instead, please use - for example.

Configuration

You can customize keybindings and other settings by setting tmux options in your tmux.conf:

set -g @spotify-open "o"
set -g @spotify-shuffle "s"
set -g @spotify-open "o"
set -g @spotify-shuffle "s"
set -g @spotify-repeat "r"
set -g @spotify-playpause "p"
set -g @spotify-next "l"
set -g @spotify-prev "h"
set -g @spotify-add-playlist "a"
set -g @spotify-show-playlists "?"

For example, to change the key binding to prefix + Shift + J, you'd add:

set -g @spotifyprefix "J"

Status Bar Options

The following options can be interpolated in status-right or status-left:

• #{spotify_track}: Displays the currently playing track.
• #{spotify_artist}: Displays the currently playing artist.
• #{spotify_album}: Displays the currently playing album.
• #{spotify_state}: Displays the Spotify state (shuffle, repeat).

Example:

set -g status-right "#{spotify_track} | #{spotify_artist} | #{spotify_album} | #{spotify_state}"

You can also customize the icons that represent each state by setting tmux options in tmux.conf.

set -g @spotify-shuffle-icon "†"
set -g @spotify-playing-icon ""
set -g @spotify-repeat-icon "Ω"

Requirements

• macOS with the Spotify application installed.
• AppleScript support (osascript command available).
• In order to have the icons displayed correctly please use / update your favorite nerd font.