🎧 mpvc

Music player in POSIX-sh interfacing mpv from the shell + extras/goodies ¹ 🚀.

A fork of lwillets/mpvc evolving on its own adding features like: improved CLI, TUI, FZF, WEB, EQ, & play Invidious, YouTube & streaming services. For more on the features of this fork check: Git QuickStart, Wiki, LogBook & Casts.

⏩ Skip directly to Installation to try mpvc!

mpvc-tui -T: running the mpvc TUI (click to view screenshot)

mpvc-fzf -f: running with fzf to manage the playlist (click to view screenshot)

mpvc-tui -n: running with mpvc-fzf and desktop notifications on the upper-right corner (click to view screenshot)

▶️ Overview ¹

mpvc is a collection of POSIX shell scripts:

• mpvc: provides the core CLI commands to control mpv
• extras/mpvc-tui: provides a console TUI, using mpvc underneath
• extras/mpvc-fzf: provides FZF integration to mpvc.
• extras/mpvc-web: a hack to remotely control mpvc from web (handy on mobile)
• extras/mpvc-mpris: speaks MPRIS to control mpv player through key-bindings.
• extras/mpvc-equalizer: provides a basic mpv equalizer for the CLI.
• extras/mpvc-autostart: automatic mpv start/stop based on presence.
• extras/mpvc-installer: provides an installer to install/update mpvc.

For more details on how to use the above tools have a look at the Git QuickStart Guide, LogBook. In addition, the casts/ directory to shows some screencasts of mpvc in action.

Requirements

Required:

• mpv
• socat: is preferred due to the differing implementations of netcat across UNIXes.
• awk: a sane version of awk for the same reason (gawk works)

Recommended extras:

• curl
• fzf
• jq
• notify-send
• yt-dlp

Installation

• Manual
• Git
• Debian
• Arch
• BSD
• MacOS
• Gentoo
• Nix

Installing is just a matter of fetching the scripts either via Git/Curl/etc., scripts can be used directly from the repo, the mpvc-installer bit is just there for easiness, to fetch & link them into your BINDIR=~/bin/ that mpvc-installer does by default.

The easiest for a onetime install is the Manual, however for @latest version a Git install is recommended. Check for missing dependencies/requirements using mpvc-installer check-reqs.

Manual

curl -LO https://github.com/lwilletts/mpvc/raw/master/extras/mpvc-installer \
  && BINDIR=$HOME/bin sh ./mpvc-installer fetch-user

Git

Below is a Quick Start guide showcasing mpvc git install and usage. This does git clone, and symlinks the mpvc scripts to BINDIR (default ~/bin), so updating becomes a matter of just running git pull.

 # fetch a local copy of the github repo
 git clone https://github.com/lwilletts/mpvc/
 # use extras/mpvc-installer: just copy/link to BINDIR=$HOME/bin (by default)
 (cd mpvc; extras/mpvc-installer link-user)
 (cd mpvc; extras/mpvc-installer check-reqs)

 # use mpvc to add/load/save media files or online YT URLs
 mpvc add /path/to/your/*.mp3 # or your URLs
 find . -type f -name | mpvc load
 mpvc save my-playlist

 # use mpvc stash to store/recover current mpv state (see the logbook for more)
 mpvc stash ls
 mpvc stash push current
 mpvc stash apply current

 # use mpvc-fzf to manage mpvc stash (see mpvc-fzf -h for more)
 mpvc-fzf -a
 # use mpvc-fzf to search and play youtube media
 mpvc-fzf -p 'kupla mirage'
 # use mpvc-fzf to browse & play lofi girl music
 mpvc-fzf -b https://lofigirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06
 # use mpvc-fzf to manage the playlist
 mpvc-fzf -f
 # use mpvc-tui to start the tui + desktop notifications
 mpvc-tui -T

For more check the LogBook (remeber your best chance is to try, play, and have fun).

Debian

Debian (and APT derivatives such as Ubuntu):

apt install mpv gawk curl socat fzf rlwrap jq libnotify-bin

Arch mpvc-git

Arch (and derivatives):

pacaur -y mpvc-git
pacman -Sy mpv gawk curl socat fzf rlwrap jq libnotify

BSD

BSD (and pkg(1) based derivatives as FreeBSD, see FAQ):

pkg install -y mpv curl socat fzf rlwrap jq libnotify # gawk gsed

MacOS

MacOS (and brew(1) based derivatives see FAQ):

brew install mpv curl socat fzf rlwrap jq libnotify yt-dlp # gawk gnu-sed

Gentoo mpvc

emerge mpvc

Nix mpvc

nix-env -i mpvc

Usage

mpvc

usage: mpvc opts # @version v1.6 (c) gmt4 https://github.com/gmt4/mpvc
 -a | --add              : Add media to playlist (see --load for stdin).
 -s | --stop             : Always stop playback.
 -P | --play             : Always start playback.
 -p | --toggle           : Toggle playback.
    | --next             : Jump to next entry in the playlist
    | --prev             : Jump to previous entry in the playlist
 -i | --playlist         : Print filenames of tracks to fit within terminal.
 -I | --fullplaylist     : Print all filenames of tracks in current playlist.
 -v | --vol              : Increase/decrease volume relative to current volume.
 -h | --help             : Prints the short help.
 -H | --long-help        : Prints the long help.
*tips: If unsure about where to begin, have a look at https://gmt4.github.io/mpvc

mpvc-tui

usage: mpvc-tui opts # @version v1.6 (c) gmt4 https://github.com/gmt4/mpvc
 -d|dir     : Set the WD to the media directory given as argument
 -n|notify  : Desktop notification using notify on mpvc events (notify-send*)
 -s|suggest : Suggest a random media to play based on previous media played
 -S|scrobler: Starts the mpvc-tui scrobbler
 -H|history : Starts the mpvc-tui history
 -t|tui     : Starts the mpvc-tui to manage the mpv playlist (rlwrap*)
 -T|Tui     : Combo that starts mpvc-tui -t -n, and adds media given as args
 -x|launch  : Starts mpvc-tui in a new xterm ($MPVC_TUI_TERM) # combine with <opts>
 -v|version : Prints the mpvc-tui version.
*tips: If unsure about where to begin, start with: mpvc-tui -d /path/to/media/ -T

mpvc-fzf

usage: mpvc-fzf opts # @version v1.6 (c) gmt4 https://github.com/gmt4/mpvc
 -b|browse   : Browse the provided ytdl-archive URL with fzf
 -c|chapters : Start fzf to manage the current mpv chapterlist
 -d|dir      : Set the WD to the media directory given as argument
 -e|eqz      : Start fzf to manage the equalizer settings
 -f|playlist : Start fzf to manage the current mpv playist
 -g|fetch    : Fetch the given YT URL, and store locally
 -G|Fetch    : Search on Invidious, fetch, and store locally
 -i|lyrics   : Search given media lyrics on Invidious
 -k|dplay    : Search & play DuckDuckGo videos
 -K|dsearch  : Search DuckDuckGo videos
 -l|local    : Search & play local media
 -s|search   : Search on Invidious
 -p|splay    : Search & play media found using Invidious
 -y|related  : Search related media on Invidious
 -Y|Related  : Search & play related media using Invidious
 -x|launch   : Starts mpvc-fzf in a new xterm (config $MPVC_TERM) [combine -x with other opts]
 -v|version  : Return the mpvc-fzf version.
 now         : Return a shareable URL to the now listening playlist
 lofi        : Search & play Lo-Fi channels
 somafm      : Search & play SomaFM channels
 radioapi    : Search & play Radio-Browser API channels
*tips: If unsure about where to begin, start: mpvc-fzf -p 'kupla mirage'

Limitations

Like any piece of software, mpvc is not perfect:

• mpvc does not resolve individual files in a directory unless it is currently in or has been inside that directory, giving misleading results about the total number of files in the current playlist. This is a limitation of mpv.
• mpvc depends on shell tools. If your shell is misconfigured or you are using unusual variants of basic UNIX tools, mpvc is not guaranteed to work. However, all effort has been made to make mpvc as POSIX compliant as possible. Remember to check for missing dependencies/requirements using mpvc-installer check-reqs.

Check out the Issue Tracker for further improvements to be made.

Footnotes

1. Skip directly to Installation to try mpvc ↩ ↩²