songfetch

November 16, 2025 · View on GitHub

A simple Linux CLI tool, very similar to something like neo/fastfetch, that displays current song information in the terminal using playerctl and MPRIS/MPRIS2.

Contributions and Issues are welcome!

More Images

Installation (Arch Linux):

You need to first manually install the package for ascii image conversion. You can install it from the AUR:

yay -S python-ascii_magic

or with pip/pipx:

pip install ascii-magic
or,
pipx install ascii-magic

Then install the full program:

yay -S songfetch

Dependencies:

python
python-pillow
python-ascii_magic (AUR) (or ascii-magic from pip/pipx)
playerctl

Player Compatibility

Works Out of the Box

Most players should work without any additional setup:

Spotify, VLC, Firefox, Chrome
Rhythmbox, Clementine, Strawberry
Any player that supports MPRIS2

Requires Additional Setup

Some terminal/daemon-based players need an MPRIS bridge installed:

Player	Package to Install	Command
MPD	`mpdris2`	`yay -S mpdris2` (Arch) `sudo dnf install mpdris2` (Fedora) `sudo apt install mpdris2` (Debian/Ubuntu)
cmus	`cmus`	Check your distro's package manager
moc	`moc-mpris`	Check your distro's package manager

After installing the bridge, enable it:

systemctl --user enable --now mpDris2  # for MPD
# enable similar services for other players

To start the playerctld daemon and set it to run on startup, run:

systemctl --user enable --now playerctld

If you get an error like Unit playerctld.service does not exist, or issues with player instances not updating correctly, create a user systemd service:

Create ~/.config/systemd/user/playerctld.service:

[Unit]
Description=playerctld daemon

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/playerctld daemon

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Reload user systemd and enable with:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now playerctld

If you see playerctld DBus service is already running, it means another instance is active. Kill it with:

pkill playerctld

Then restart the systemd service as above.