altdesktop/playerctl
🎧 mpris media player command-line controller for vlc, mpv, RhythmBox, web browsers, cmus, mpd, spotify and others. observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
23/100
- Activity 0
- Release rhythm 8
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-02. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: n/a
- age_days: 4523
- days_rel: n/a
- days_push: 811
- n_releases_24m: 0
Adoption not part of the score
2954 stars · 103 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded
Playerctl is a command-line utility and C library for controlling media players that implement the MPRIS D-Bus interface, such as VLC, mpv, Spotify, and mpd. It includes a daemon (playerctld) that targets the currently active player and can report track metadata for statuslines and scripts.
Use cases
- control vlc or mpv playback from the terminal
- bind media keys to play/pause/next/previous
- show current track artist and title in a status bar like polybar or waybar
- toggle play-pause on the most recently active media player
- query playback status and volume in shell scripts
- set shuffle and loop mode from the command line
When to choose
- you're on Linux and want a unified CLI to control any MPRIS-compatible player
- you need track metadata for statusline or scripting integrations
- you want to bind keyboard shortcuts to media player actions
When to avoid
- you need to control players that don't implement MPRIS
- you're on Windows or macOS where D-Bus/MPRIS isn't standard
- you need a graphical media controller
Facets
cli-tool · maturity active
cli developer-tools media desktop-applications cli mpris dbus media-control c-library playerctld command-line linux
1 source
- readme: https://github.com/altdesktop/playerctl · fetched 2026-08-28 · a0d345722fc8
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| altdesktop/playerctl | main | 23 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="altdesktop/playerctl")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem