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https://github.com/mcthomas/apple-music-cli-player
A simple command-line Apple Music controller script which includes a "Now Playing" widget function, a playback function, and a list-out function for your Mac's Music.app library, written in sh.
https://github.com/mcthomas/apple-music-cli-player
apple applescript automation bash cli command-line command-line-tool console macos music osascript script sh shell terminal tui unix widget zsh
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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A simple command-line Apple Music controller script which includes a "Now Playing" widget function, a playback function, and a list-out function for your Mac's Music.app library, written in sh.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/mcthomas/apple-music-cli-player
- Owner: mcthomas
- License: mit
- Created: 2022-05-03T02:18:53.000Z (over 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2023-01-19T18:44:58.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2023-02-28T10:24:25.289Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Topics: apple, applescript, automation, bash, cli, command-line, command-line-tool, console, macos, music, osascript, script, sh, shell, terminal, tui, unix, widget, zsh
- Language: Shell
- Homepage:
- Size: 2.68 MB
- Stars: 27
- Watchers: 4
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Apple Music CLI Player
*Tested on macOS 12 & 13 (likely to work on macOS 10.15, 11). **Can be called with the system default zsh.** I recommend aliasing am.sh to `alias am=zsh path/to/am.sh`, or moving its three individual functions into your .zshrc.*
**Goal:** Provide a simple command-line interface to listing out, playing songs from, and utilizing controls for Music.app. I decided against using a library such as ncurses to build a full TUI application, as I think it is preferable to interface via quick commands and a light "widget".
## Now Playing (np)
Enjoy a simple "Now Playing" widget from your terminal. Uses standard Unix tooling/piping, AppleScript for interfacing with Apple Music, and [Viu](https://github.com/atanunq/viu) for displaying the album art images. It also includes keyboard shortcut bindings for basic playback controls. Apart from toggling shuffle, toggling repeat, and changing the Music.app-specific volume, the other controls are already accessible from the special Fn key functions/touch bar.
Dependencies: [Viu](https://github.com/atanunq/viu) (unless you always use text mode)
Configuration:
* Place album-art.applescript at ~/Library/Scripts/album-art.applescript, or configure a valid path in the np() func of am.sh for wherever you decide to keep it
* (Optional) In the np() func of am.sh, adjust the `-h` dimension of the album art (look for the two calls to `viu`) to ensure a square appearance with your terminal emulator's line spacing
Usage (aliased): `am np`
Usage (not aliased): `zsh am.sh np`
```
np Open the "Now Playing" TUI widget.
(Music.app track must be actively
playing or paused)
np -t Open in text mode (disables album art)
np keybindings:
p Play / Pause
f Forward one track
b Backward one track
> Begin fast forwarding current track
< Begin rewinding current track
R Resume normal playback
+ Increase Music.app volume 5%
- Decrease Music.app volume 5%
s Toggle shuffle
r Toggle song repeat
q Quit np
Q Quit np and Music.app
? Show / hide keybindings
```
Notes:
* Attempting to play the previous track with an empty queue will kill the script
* album-art.applescript is a modified version of [this script,](https://dougscripts.com/itunes/2014/10/save-current-tracks-artwork/) written by AppleScript wizard [Doug Adams](https://dougscripts.com/itunes/faq_cont.php)♡
## List
List out all song groupings of a specific type or all songs of a specific song grouping in your library. The song grouping type is dictated by the flag you pass. By calling list without specifying a title after the flag, you will see a printout of all the titles of that flag's collection type.
Usage (aliased): `am list [-grouping] [name]`
Usage (not aliased): `zsh am.sh list [-grouping] [name]`
```
list -s List all songs in your library.
list -r List all records.
list -r PATTERN List all songs in the record PATTERN.
list -a List all artists.
list -a PATTERN List all songs by the artist PATTERN.
list -p List all playlists.
list -p PATTERN List all songs in the playlist PATTERN.
list -g List all genres.
list -g PATTERN List all songs in the genre PATTERN.
```
Example: `am list -r In Rainbows` (not case-sensitive)
Notes:
* Music.app does not need to be open or closed; it should launch itself silently when `list` is called
* Only works on tracks saved to your Library (but they do not need to be downloaded)
* Remember to escape any special characters or punctuation if passing a title (or wrap it in double quotes)
## Play
Begin playback of different song groupings or a specific song grouping in your library. The song grouping type is dictated by the flag you pass. By calling play without specifying a title after the flag, you are prompted to select a title of that flag's collection type on the fly via [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf). Unfortunately there is no simple way to play, for example, a specific album or songs from a specific artist with AppleScript, but I was able to modify code shared by a "jccc" [here](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1053355), as a workaround which involves automatically creating a single temporary playlist in your library that is utilized by play().
Dependencies: [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) (unless you always play groupings by name)
Usage (aliased): `am play [-grouping] [name]`
Usage (not aliased): `zsh am.sh play [-grouping] [name]`
```
play -s Fzf for a song and begin playback.
play -s PATTERN Play the song PATTERN.
play -r Fzf for a record and begin playback.
play -r PATTERN Play from the record PATTERN.
play -a Fzf for an artist and begin playback.
play -a PATTERN Play from the artist PATTERN.
play -p Fzf for a playlist and begin playback.
play -p PATTERN Play from the playlist PATTERN.
play -g Fzf for a genre and begin playback.
play -g PATTERN Play from the genre PATTERN.
play -l Play from your entire library.
```
Example: `am play -a Radiohead` (not case-sensitive)
Notes:
* Music.app does not need to be open or closed; it should launch itself silently when `play` is called
* Only works on tracks saved to your Library (but they do not need to be downloaded)
* Remember to escape any special characters or punctuation if passing a title (or wrap it in double quotes)
* calling `-p Library` will result in quite a delay, unlike `-l`, because it requires copying all the songs in your library into the temporary playlist
### Optional AirPlay Snippet (not in src)
Toggle the Music.app AirPlay audio output for a specific device.
Configuration:
* Adjust the device strings to a device hostname of your choosing
* Ideally adapt the argument name to match
```
if [ $1 = "atv" ]
then
isActive=$(osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get selected of AirPlay device "Apple TV"')
if [ $isActive = 'false' ]
then
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set selected of AirPlay device "Apple TV" to true'
else
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set selected of AirPlay device "Apple TV" to false'
fi
fi
```
Example: `zsh ap.sh atv`
### Known Problems
- Error: `execution error: Music got an error: Application isn’t running. (-600)`
- Solution: Reboot. It seems to occur occasionally after having had Music.app open for too long while your Mac has slept. Other potential solutions can be found [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19957268/applescript-fails-with-error-600-when-launched-over-ssh-on-mavericks)
- Blinking for each output refresh when running np()
- Consider using a lighter-weight terminal emulator, or even Terminal.app, where this doesn't seem to occur. I am not sure how to mitigate this for heavier terminal emulators such as iTerm2
### Ideas For Improvement
* am.sh could be expanded with a function to call new AppleScript snippets to create, delete, or refine playlists; it would also be nice to be able to queue (as apposed to immediately play) a song or a group of songs, which is possible (though there is no native corresponding AppleScript function to accomplish this at present)
* This project could be forked and used in the backend to create a full client alternative to Music.app, though it would not be possible to browse for and save tracks outside of the user's library
* See the Script Editor.app's dictionary API (Music.sdef) for an exhaustive reference of all the native Music.app variables and functions that can be interfaced via AppleScript