lucidadl

A small, fast music downloader for lucida.to, with both direct commands and an interactive terminal interface.

lucidadl downloads tracks and albums in parallel, organizes them from their metadata, can convert them locally with ffmpeg, accepts large .txt batches, and imports public Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer playlists with match checking and reliable resume. It intentionally remains a lightweight personal tool rather than a music-library or streaming-account platform.

Use lucidadl only for content you are entitled to download. You are responsible for complying with applicable law and with the terms of the services involved. This project is not affiliated with lucida.to, Apple, Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, Amazon, or any streaming service.

Highlights

• Track and album downloads from a search (Artist - Title) or a direct URL.
• Parallel HTTP downloads with no browser left running in the background.
• Qobuz search by default, with an automatic Amazon fallback.
• FLAC source downloads and optional local MP3, AAC, Opus, Ogg, WAV, or FLAC conversion.
• Tag-based organization under Artists/<Artist>/<Album>/.
• Batch downloads from any .txt file, without modifying the source list.
• Public Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer playlist imports with match checking, resume, ordered tracks, and a portable .m3u8 file.
• Existence-aware deduplication, safe matching, and one-command retry for failures.
• Guided first-run setup, diagnostics, progress bars, and a compact interactive menu.

Install

Python 3.10 or newer and a normal desktop session are required. Using pipx keeps the application isolated and available everywhere:

pipx install lucidadl
lucida setup
lucida

lucida setup installs the matching Playwright Chromium build when needed, opens lucida.to once for the Cloudflare check, then saves the resulting access locally.

Plain pip also works:

pip install lucidadl
lucida setup

Installing the package creates both lucida and lucidadl. If another application already owns the lucida command, use the lucidadl alias for every example below.

Three ways to download

1. A track or album

lucida track "Daft Punk - Around the World"
lucida album "Daft Punk - Discovery"

A direct Qobuz or Amazon URL can be used in place of the search text. Albums are expanded and downloaded track by track so the available parallelism is preserved.

Use interactive search when you want to choose the result yourself:

lucida search "Discovery Daft Punk"

2. Many tracks or albums from a text file

lucida tracks --file "D:/music-lists/tracks.txt"
lucida albums --file "D:/music-lists/albums.txt"

The format is deliberately simple: one search or direct URL per line. Blank lines and comments beginning with # are ignored.

# Road-trip additions
Daft Punk - Around the World
The Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
https://play.qobuz.com/track/24107150

The source file is never edited. Already downloaded items are skipped unless --force is used. When --file is omitted, the plural commands use ./inputs/tracks.txt or ./inputs/albums.txt; ready-to-copy examples are included in the repository.

3. A public streaming playlist

lucida playlist "https://music.apple.com/.../pl.xxxxxxxx"
lucida playlist "https://open.spotify.com/playlist/xxxxxxxx"
lucida playlist "https://www.deezer.com/playlist/xxxxxxxx"

lucidadl detects the service from the URL, reads its public track list, resolves each title through lucida.to, and stores the result under Playlists/<playlist name>/. An .m3u8 file is written beside the tracks so players and devices recognize the folder as an actual playlist.

Preview the extraction without downloading anything:

lucida playlist "https://music.apple.com/.../pl.xxxxxxxx" --dry-run

To verify what lucidadl will select on Qobuz or Amazon before starting a large download:

lucida playlist "https://music.apple.com/.../pl.xxxxxxxx" --check

The extracted list is saved in lucidadl's application-data folder. If a title is ambiguous or unavailable, edit that file (or remove the line), then download the reviewed version while preserving playlist order:

lucida playlist-file "C:/path/to/playlist.txt" --name "My playlist"

If a playlist is interrupted, lucida retry resumes it with its original folder, settings, and track numbers. Existing files are skipped, and the .m3u8 is rebuilt when the run finishes. Repeating the same song at two different positions is supported.

Only public playlists are read: lucidadl does not connect to or modify an Apple Music, Spotify, or Deezer account. Spotify's public player exposes at most 100 items; when the declared playlist is longer, lucidadl stops with an explicit message instead of importing an incomplete list. Cross-service playlist translation and account authorization remain the responsibility of a separate companion project.

Interactive menu

Run lucida without arguments (or lucida ui):

╭────────────────── lucidadl ──────────────────╮
│ 3 concurrent downloads · qobuz · original    │
│ Music: ~/Downloads/music                     │
│ Access: prepared                             │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────╯

► What do you want to do?
  ⬇   Download music
  🎶  Playlists — streaming link or an edited list
  📄  Download from a .txt file
  ⚙   Settings
  🧰  Help, access and diagnostics
  🚪  Quit

The menu remembers its download count, source service, conversion settings, and music folder. Each run ends with a readable summary and offers failed items for retry from the main menu.

Output and formats

Music is saved to ~/Downloads/music by default, independently of the directory from which lucidadl is launched:

music/
├── Artists/
│   └── Artist/
│       └── Album/
└── Playlists/
    └── Playlist name/
        ├── 01 - Track.flac
        └── Playlist name.m3u8

Change the main folder permanently or for one run:

lucida config --music "D:/Music"
lucida track "Artist - Title" --out "E:/Temporary music"

For local conversion, lucidadl downloads the best source first and invokes the bundled ffmpeg executable:

lucida album "Artist - Album" --to mp3 --bitrate 320k --jobs 8

If conversion fails, the source audio is kept and the item is reported as failed rather than silently counted as a success.

Useful download options:

Option	Purpose
-j, --jobs N	Parallel downloads, from 1 to 100 (default: 3)
-s, --service	Primary search service: qobuz or amazon
--to FORMAT	Local conversion to MP3, AAC/M4A, Opus, Ogg, FLAC, or WAV
--bitrate RATE	Conversion bitrate such as 320k or 192k
--keep-original	Keep the source FLAC after conversion
--flat	Place files under Music/ instead of organizing from tags
--force	Ignore download history and fetch the item again
--hidden	Move a necessary Cloudflare browser window off-screen

Run lucida <command> --help for the complete options of a command.

Access, failures, and diagnostics

Cloudflare access is prepared once in a real Chromium window. Downloads then use a lightweight HTTP client. If the saved access expires, lucidadl briefly opens the browser again and refreshes it.

lucida doctor          # quick local check; never opens a browser
lucida doctor --live   # browser and lucida.to connectivity check
lucida setup           # install/repair Chromium and refresh access
lucida retry           # retry failures or resume an interrupted playlist
lucida cleanup         # prune stale state and old partial downloads

Failed tracks and albums retain their original type; playlist failures also retain their folder and original position. Automated and scheduled commands return a non-zero status while work remains unresolved. The latest details are stored in run.log; lucida config prints its exact location along with the extracted playlist and recovery data.

Common fixes:

• No confident automatic match: use lucida search and choose the result manually.
• Cloudflare or browser failure: run lucida setup, then lucida doctor --live.
• Unexpected output folder: run lucida config and check LUCIDADL_MUSIC.
• Another program uses the lucida command: call this application with lucidadl.

Scheduling a batch

Once access has been prepared, a .txt batch can run unattended while its cached access remains valid. A Windows Scheduled Task helper is included:

.\schedule.ps1 -Mode tracks -Time 21:30 -WorkingDir "D:\music-lists"

The scheduled task uses inputs/tracks.txt or inputs/albums.txt under its working directory. A logged-in desktop session is still required if Cloudflare access must be renewed.

Application data

The browser profile, access data, configuration, deduplication state, last log, failed-item list, and playlist recovery data are stored outside the repository:

• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\lucidadl
• Linux: ~/.local/share/lucidadl
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/lucidadl

Advanced overrides are available through LUCIDADL_HOME and LUCIDADL_MUSIC.

Development

git clone https://github.com/Jude-A/lucidadl
cd lucidadl
python -m venv .venv
pip install -e ".[dev]"
python selftest.py

See CONTRIBUTING.md for platform-specific setup and validation. Release changes are recorded in CHANGELOG.md.

Credits

lucidadl takes inspiration from lucida-flow and lucida-downloader. The project started as a small, AI-assisted personal tool and remains intentionally focused on that scale.

License

MIT