# altdesktop/playerctl

🎧 mpris media player command-line controller for vlc, mpv, RhythmBox, web browsers, cmus, mpd, spotify and others.

Repository: https://github.com/altdesktop/playerctl
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/playerctl
Language: C
License: LGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: mpris, cli, vlc, mediaplayer, c, cmus, mopidy, audacious, rhythmbox, mpd
Last push: 2024-06-13T16:40:00+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4523, "days_push": 811, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2954, forks 103 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:32.126050+00:00)

## What it is
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
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: cli, developer-tools
- domain: media, desktop-applications
- platform: cli
- tags: mpris, dbus, media-control, c-library, playerctld, command-line, linux

## Member repositories
- altdesktop/playerctl (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:32.126050+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:32:36.429659+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/altdesktop/playerctl (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:32.126050+00:00, sha a0d345722fc8)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.