spopy

A production-quality Spotify CLI in a single Python file. Runs anywhere with uv — no install step, no virtualenv, no package manager.

Designed for both local use and self-hosting on a remote gateway (Dokku, VPS, etc.).

Features

• Single file — one script, zero config files, inline dependencies via PEP 723
• Two auth modes — local browser login or headless gateway bootstrap (paste-back flow)
• Persistent tokens — authenticate once, use forever (auto-refresh)
• Full playback control — play, pause, seek, volume, shuffle, repeat, queue
• Search and browse — tracks, albums, artists, playlists
• Playlist management — create, add, remove, reorder, clear, replace
• Library operations — save, unsave, check, list saved tracks/albums
• Discovery — top tracks/artists, recently played, genre/mood search
• Three output modes — rich (human), plain (pipes), JSON (machines)
• Honest API handling — unsupported endpoints are reported clearly, never faked
• Safe for servers — never leaks tokens, no secrets in logs or output

Install

PyPI (recommended)

uv tool install spopy

Or with pipx:

pipx install spopy

Script installer

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amitkot/spopy/main/install.sh | bash

Standalone script

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amitkot/spopy/main/spopy.py -o ~/.local/bin/spopy && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/spopy

The standalone script uses PEP 723 inline deps and runs with uv run spopy.py.

Quick Start

No setup required — spopy includes a built-in Spotify app.

spopy auth login
spopy status
spopy play "bohemian rhapsody"

Remote / headless server

spopy auth url
# Open the printed URL in a browser on another machine
# After approving, copy the command from the callback page
spopy auth callback-url '<paste_the_url>'

Transfer token from local to remote

# On local machine
spopy auth login
spopy auth export-token-info --raw --yes > token.json

# Copy token.json to remote, then:
spopy auth import-token-info token.json

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables. None are required — spopy works out of the box with PKCE auth.

Auth (all optional)

Variable	Default	Description
SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID	(built-in)	Override with your own Spotify app
SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET		Set to switch to classic OAuth flow
SPOTIFY_REDIRECT_URI	(auto)	Override redirect URI

Setting SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET switches spopy to the classic OAuth flow with your own Spotify app. See spopy auth setup-guide for details.

Runtime (all optional)

Variable	Default	Description
SPOTIFY_CACHE_PATH	~/.config/spopy/token_cache	Token cache file path
SPOTIFY_USERNAME		Spotify username (for multi-user)
SPOTIFY_SCOPES	(sensible defaults)	Override OAuth scopes
SPOTIFY_DEFAULT_DEVICE_ID		Fallback device ID
SPOTIFY_DEFAULT_DEVICE_NAME		Fallback device name
SPOTIFY_MARKET		ISO country code for market
SPOTIFY_OUTPUT	rich	Default output: rich, plain, json
SPOTIFY_TIMEOUT_SECONDS	15	API request timeout
SPOTIFY_RETRIES	3	Max retry attempts
SPOTIFY_BACKOFF_FACTOR	0.5	Exponential backoff factor
SPOTIFY_DEBUG	0	Enable debug logging (1)
SPOTIFY_OPEN_BROWSER	1	Allow browser opening (0 to disable)
SPOTIFY_NO_COLOR	0	Disable color output (1)
SPOTIFY_STATE_FILE		Path to persist auth state

Commands

Global flags

--json          JSON output
--plain         Plain text output (pipe-friendly)
--debug         Debug logging
--market CC     Spotify market (ISO country code)
--device-id ID  Target device ID
--device-name N Target device name
--limit N       Result limit
--offset N      Result offset
--yes           Skip confirmations
--exact         Prefer exact name matches
--interactive   Interactive selection from results
--version       Show version

Auth

Command	Description
auth setup-guide	First-time setup instructions
auth status	Show auth config and token status
auth url	Print authorization URL (for gateway flow)
auth login	Interactive login (local browser)
auth callback-url <url>	Exchange redirect URL for tokens
auth code <code>	Exchange raw auth code for tokens
auth import-token-info <path>	Import token JSON (- for stdin)
auth export-token-info	Export token JSON (--raw for real tokens)
auth whoami	Show current user
auth logout	Remove token cache

Playback

Command	Description
play [query]	Play or resume. Search query, URI, URL, or ID
pause	Pause playback
resume	Resume playback
stop	Stop (alias for pause — no true stop API)
next	Skip to next track
previous	Skip to previous
seek <pos>	Seek: 1:30, +10s, -15s, or milliseconds
volume <0-100>	Set volume
repeat <off|track|context>	Set repeat mode
shuffle <on|off|toggle>	Set shuffle

Search

Command	Description
search <query>	Search (--type track,album,artist,playlist)

Devices

Command	Description
devices list	List available devices
devices transfer <device>	Transfer playback (name or ID)

Track

Command	Description
track show <query>	Track details
track play <query>	Play a track
track queue <query>	Add to queue
track save <query>	Save to library
track unsave <query>	Remove from library
track check <query>	Check if saved
track open <query>	Print Spotify URL
track audio <query>	Audio features (restricted API)

Album

Command	Description
album show <query>	Album details
album play <query>	Play album
album tracks <query>	List album tracks
album save <query>	Save to library
album unsave <query>	Remove from library
album check <query>	Check if saved

Artist

Command	Description
artist show <query>	Artist details
artist top <query>	Top tracks (search-based)
artist albums <query>	List albums
artist follow <query>	Follow artist
artist unfollow <query>	Unfollow artist
artist related <query>	Related artists (restricted API)

Playlist

Command	Description
playlist list	Your playlists (--all for full list)
playlist show <pl>	Playlist details
playlist create <name>	Create (--description, --public/--private)
playlist rename <pl> <name>	Rename
playlist describe <pl> <desc>	Set description
playlist set-public <pl>	Make public
playlist set-private <pl>	Make private
playlist follow <pl>	Follow playlist
playlist unfollow <pl>	Unfollow playlist
playlist items <pl>	List items
playlist add <pl> <tracks...>	Add tracks
playlist remove <pl> <tracks...>	Remove tracks
playlist clear <pl>	Remove all items
playlist reorder <pl>	Reorder (--from, --to, --length)
playlist replace <pl> <tracks...>	Replace all items

Library

Command	Description
library tracks	Saved tracks
library albums	Saved albums
library save <query>	Save item
library unsave <query>	Remove item
library check <query>	Check if saved

Queue

Command	Description
queue list	Current queue
queue add <query>	Add to queue
queue clear	Not supported (no API)
queue remove	Not supported (no API)

Discovery

Command	Description
status	Current playback summary
current	Detailed now-playing info
recent	Recently played tracks
top tracks	Your top tracks (--time-range)
top artists	Your top artists (--time-range)
discover	Discovery suggestions from your history
radio <query>	Build a queue from a seed (search heuristic)
genre list	Well-known genres
genre search <genre>	Search by genre
mood search <mood>	Search by mood (heuristic)
doctor	Diagnose auth, config, devices, connectivity

Output Modes

Rich (default)

$ spopy status
╭─ Bohemian Rhapsody  —  Queen  (A Night at the Opera) ───╮
│ Playing  2:15 / 5:55                                     │
│ Device: MacBook Pro  |  Volume: 65%  |  Shuffle: off     │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

JSON

$ spopy --json status
{
  "ok": true,
  "command": "status",
  "data": {
    "name": "Bohemian Rhapsody",
    "artists": "Queen",
    "playing": true,
    "progress": "2:15",
    "duration": "5:55",
    "device": "MacBook Pro"
  }
}

Plain

$ spopy --plain status
Bohemian Rhapsody	Queen	A Night at the Opera	playing	2:15/5:55	MacBook Pro

AI Agent Skill

A Claude Code skill is included for AI agents.

To install it, copy the skills/ directory into your project or Claude Code config:

# Project-level
cp -r skills/ /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills/

# Or user-level
cp -r skills/ ~/.claude/skills/

The skill teaches the agent how to invoke the CLI, parse JSON output, and handle errors.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
2	Invalid user input
3	Auth/config error
4	Spotify API error (Premium required, no device, 403, 404)
5	Rate limit exhausted
10	Internal error

Device Selection

For playback commands, devices are selected in this order:

1. --device-id flag
2. --device-name flag
3. Currently active Spotify device
4. SPOTIFY_DEFAULT_DEVICE_ID env var
5. SPOTIFY_DEFAULT_DEVICE_NAME env var
6. Error with helpful message

Known Limitations

These are Spotify API limitations, not CLI bugs:

• Queue clear/remove — no API endpoint exists
• Recommendations — removed from Spotify API (Nov 2024)
• Audio features — restricted to apps with extended API access
• Related artists — restricted to apps with extended API access
• Artist top tracks — removed from API (Feb 2026); CLI uses search fallback
• Search limit — max 10 results per type (Spotify API limit)
• Volume control — some devices (phones, smart speakers) don't support remote volume
• Premium required — all playback control requires Spotify Premium

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.