Configuration file

Spotifyd is able to load configuration values from a TOML file too. The file has to be named spotifyd.conf and reside in the user's configuration directory (~/.config/spotifyd) or the system configuration directory (/etc or /etc/xdg/spotifyd). This also applies to macOS!

The configuration file consists of two sections, global and spotifyd, whereas spotifyd takes priority over global.

The configuration file has the following format:

[global]
# Your Spotify account name.
username = "username"

# Your Spotify account password.
password = "password"

# A command that gets executed and can be used to
# retrieve your password.
# The command should return the password on stdout.
#
# This is an alternative to the `password` field. Both
# can't be used simultaneously.
password_cmd = "command_that_writes_password_to_stdout"

# If set to true, `spotifyd` tries to look up your
# password in the system's password storage.
#
# Note, that the `password` field will take precedence, if set.
use_keyring = true

# If set to true, `spotifyd` tries to bind to dbus (default is the session bus)
# and expose MPRIS controls. When running headless, without the session bus,
# you should set this to false, to avoid errors. If you still want to use MPRIS,
# have a look at the `dbus_type` option.
use_mpris = true

# The bus to bind to with the MPRIS interface.
# Possible values: "session", "system"
# The system bus can be used if no graphical session is available
# (e.g. on headless systems) but you still want to be able to use MPRIS.
# NOTE: You might need to add appropriate policies to allow spotifyd to
# own the name.
dbus_type = "session"

# The audio backend used to play music. To get
# a list of possible backends, run `spotifyd --help`.
backend = "alsa" # use portaudio for BSD and macOS [homebrew]

# The alsa audio device to stream audio. To get a
# list of valid devices, run `aplay -L`,
device = "alsa_audio_device"  # omit for macOS

# The PCM sample format to use. Possible values 
# are F32, S32, S24, S24_3, S16. 
# Change this value if you encounter errors like
# "Alsa error PCM open ALSA function 'snd_pcm_hw_params_set_format' failed with error 'EINVAL: Invalid argument'"
audio_format = "S16"

# The alsa control device. By default this is the same
# name as the `device` field.
control = "alsa_audio_device"  # omit for macOS

# The alsa mixer used by `spotifyd`.
mixer = "PCM"  # omit for macOS

# The volume controller. Each one behaves different to
# volume increases. For possible values, run
# `spotifyd --help`.
volume_controller = "alsa"  # use softvol for BSD and macOS

# A command that gets executed in your shell after each song changes.
on_song_change_hook = "command_to_run_on_playback_events"

# The name that gets displayed under the connect tab on
# official clients.
device_name = "device_name_in_spotify_connect"

# The audio bitrate. 96, 160 or 320 kbit/s
bitrate = 160

# The directory used to cache audio data. This setting can save
# a lot of bandwidth when activated, as it will avoid re-downloading
# audio files when replaying them.
#
# Note: The file path does not get expanded. Environment variables and
# shell placeholders like $HOME or ~ don't work!
cache_path = "cache_directory"

# The maximal size of the cache directory in bytes
# The example value corresponds to ~ 1GB
max_cache_size = 1000000000

# If set to true, audio data does NOT get cached.
no_audio_cache = true

# Volume on startup between 0 and 100
# NOTE: This variable's type will change in v0.4, to a number (instead of string)
initial_volume = "90"

# If set to true, enables volume normalisation between songs.
volume_normalisation = true

# The normalisation pregain that is applied for each song.
normalisation_pregain = -10

# After the music playback has ended, start playing similar songs based on the previous tracks.
autoplay = true

# The port at which `spotifyd` is going to offer its service over the network (TCP).
# If not set, a random port > 1024 is used. For the service to be discoverable on the
# local network via mDNS, both the mDNS port (5353 UDP) and the random or fixed
# zeroconf port need to be allowed through any active firewall.
zeroconf_port = 1234

# The proxy `spotifyd` will use to connect to spotify.
proxy = "http://proxy.example.org:8080"

# The displayed device type in Spotify clients.
# Can be unknown, computer, tablet, smartphone, speaker, t_v,
# a_v_r (Audio/Video Receiver), s_t_b (Set-Top Box), and audio_dongle.
device_type = "speaker"

Alternatives to storing your password in the config file

  • use zeroconf authentication from Spotify Connect

    Spotifyd is able to advertise itself on the network without credentials. To enable this, you must omit / comment any username / username_cmd or password / password_cmd in the configuration. Spotifyd will receive an authentication blob from Spotify when you choose it from the devices list.

    Note: If you choose to go with this, it is also recommended to omit the cache_path and cache_directory options. Otherwise the first user to connect to the service will have its authentication blob cached by the service and nobody else will be able to connect to the service without clearing the cache.

    This way, a Spotifyd instance can also be made available to multiple users.

    For more information, have a look at the librespot documentation.

  • password_cmd config entry

    This feature allows you to provide a command that prints your password to stdout, which saves you from having to store your password in the config file directly. To use it, set the password_cmd config entry to the command you would like to use and remove the password config entry.

    For example (using the password-management utility pass).

    # ~/.config/spotifyd/spotifyd.conf
password_cmd = "pass spotify"

  • use_keyring config entry / --use-keyring CLI flag

    Note: If choosing the user's keyring to store login credentials, running spotifyd as a systemd system service is no longer possible. A system wide service cannot access a specific user's keyring. In this case, make sure to run spotifyd as a systemd user service. See systemd configuration.

    This features leverages Linux's DBus Secret Service API or native macOS keychain in order to forgo the need to store your password directly in the config file. To use it, compile with the dbus_keyring feature and set the use-keyring config entry to true or pass the --use-keyring CLI flag during start to the daemon. Remove the password and/or password_cmd config entries.

    Your keyring entry needs to have the following attributes set:

    application: rust-keyring
service: spotifyd
username: <your-spotify-username>

    To add such an entry into your keyring, you can use secret-tool, a CLI used to communicate with agents that support the Secret Service API:

    secret-tool store --label='name you choose' application rust-keyring service spotifyd username <your-username>

    You can use the keychain GUI on macOS to add an item respectively, or with the built-in security tool:

    security add-generic-password -s spotifyd -D rust-keyring -a <your username> -w

Shell used to run commands indicated by password_cmd or on_song_changed_hook

If either of these options is given, the shell spotifyd will use to run its commands is the shell indicated by the SHELL environment variable, if set. If the SHELL environment variable is not set, spotifyd will use the user's default shell, which, on Linux and BSD, is the shell listed in /etc/passwd. On macOS it is the shell listed in the output of dscl . -read /Users/<username> UserShell.