astal/docs/libraries/mpris.md

Mpris

Library and CLI tool for interacting and monitoring media players exposing an mpris interface through dbus.

An alternative for playerctl that better integrates with astal.

Installation

1. install dependencies

:::code-group

sudo pacman -Syu meson vala json-glib gobject-introspection

sudo dnf install meson gcc valac json-glib-devel gobject-introspection-devel

sudo apt install meson valac libjson-glib-dev gobject-introspection

:::

2. clone repo

git clone https://github.com/aylur/astal.git
cd astal/lib/mpris

3. install

meson setup build
meson install -C build

:::tip Most distros recommend manual installs in /usr/local, which is what meson defaults to. If you want to install to /usr instead which most package managers do, set the prefix option:

meson setup --prefix /usr build

:::

Usage

You can browse the Mpris reference.

CLI

astal-mpris --help

Library

:::code-group

import Mpris from "gi://AstalMpris"

const spotify = Mpris.Player.new("spotify")

if (spotify.available)
    print(spotify.title)

from gi.repository import AstalMpris as Mpris

spotify = Mpris.Player.new("spotify")

if spotify.get_available():
    print(spotify.get_title())

local Mpris = require("lgi").require("AstalMpris")

local spotify = Mpris.Player.new("spotify")

if spotify.available then
    print(spotify.title)
end

// Not yet documented

:::