Execute on song change

Rmpc provides on_song_change property in the config file which can be used to run a command whenever the song changes. This can be used for various purposes like showing a desktop notification, automatic lyrics download and more.

All song metadata are available to the script as environment variables. For example $TITLE, $FILE, $DURATION, etc.

Additional environment variables available to the script are:

• $VERSION - rmpc’s version
• $PID - intended for use with the remote command and allows it to target specific rmpc instance
• $LRC_FILE - contains the path where rmpc expects to find the lrc file
• $HAS_LRC - indicates whether any lyrics were found for the current song.

Desktop notification on song change

Assuming you have a notification daemon with support for images like dunst running.

1. Create a script and place it somewhere. For example ~/.config/rmpc/notify. Below is an example of such script. Edit it to your needs or create a new one.

   ~/.config/rmpc/notify

   #!/usr/bin/env sh
   
   # Directory where to store temporary data
   TMP_DIR="/tmp/rmpc"
   
   # Ensure the directory is created
   mkdir -p "$TMP_DIR"
   
   # Where to temporarily store the album art received from rmpc
   ALBUM_ART_PATH="$TMP_DIR/notification_cover"
   
   # Path to fallback album art if no album art is found by rmpc/mpd
   # Change this to your needs
   DEFAULT_ALBUM_ART_PATH="$TMP_DIR/default_album_art.jpg"
   
   # Save album art of the currently playing song to a file
   if ! rmpc albumart --output "$ALBUM_ART_PATH"; then
       # Use default album art if rmpc returns non-zero exit code
       ALBUM_ART_PATH="${DEFAULT_ALBUM_ART_PATH}"
   fi
   
   # Send the notification
   notify-send -i "${ALBUM_ART_PATH}" "Now Playing" "$ARTIST - $TITLE"

2. Make the script executable

   chmod +x ~/.config/rmpc/notify

3. In your rmpc’s config.ron specify on_song_change property and point it at location of the script from step 1.

   config.ron

   #![enable(implicit_some)]
   #![enable(unwrap_newtypes)]
   #![enable(unwrap_variant_newtypes)]
   (
       address: "/tmp/mpd_socket",
       on_song_change: ["~/.config/rmpc/notify"],
   ...

4. Restart rmpc

Track song play count

This allows you to track and display song’s play count in the queue table (or header). Please note that rmpc has to be running for the script to execute and increment the play count.

1. Configure sticker_file in your mpd.conf

2. Create a script and place it somewhere. For example ~/.config/rmpc/playcount and make the script executable. Or append it to an existing on_song_change script.

3. Increment playCount sticker on the song inside the script. (requires jq)

   #!/usr/bin/env sh
   
   sticker=$(rmpc sticker get "$FILE" "playCount" | jq -r '.value')
   if [ -z "$sticker" ]; then
       rmpc sticker set "$FILE" "playCount" "1"
   else
       rmpc sticker set "$FILE" "playCount" "$((sticker + 1))"
   fi

4. Change your config.ron to execute the script you created on song change

   config.ron

   #![enable(implicit_some)]
   #![enable(unwrap_newtypes)]
   #![enable(unwrap_variant_newtypes)]
   (
       address: "/tmp/mpd_socket",
       on_song_change: ["~/.config/rmpc/playcount"],
   ...

5. Change your theme to include play count sticker, for example in the queue table

   theme.ron

   #![enable(implicit_some)]
   #![enable(unwrap_newtypes)]
   #![enable(unwrap_variant_newtypes)]
   (
       song_table_format: [
           (
               ...
           ),
           (
               prop: (kind: Sticker("playCount"), default: (kind: Text("0"))),
               width: "9",
               alignment: Right,
               label: "Playcount"
           ),
           (
               ...
           ),
       ],
   ...

Automatically fetch lyrics

Provided by wvffle on github. This script allows you to automatically download lrc files from lrclib.net. Status message is also displayed in rmpc when the operation finishes. The script assumes you have your lyrics_dir configured. The script is just an example and you are encouraged to create your own!

#!/bin/env sh

LRCLIB_INSTANCE="https://lrclib.net"

if [ "$HAS_LRC" = "false" ]; then
    mkdir -p "$(dirname "$LRC_FILE")"

    LYRICS="$(curl -X GET -sG \
        -H "Lrclib-Client: rmpc-$VERSION" \
        --data-urlencode "artist_name=$ARTIST" \
        --data-urlencode "track_name=$TITLE" \
        --data-urlencode "album_name=$ALBUM" \
        "$LRCLIB_INSTANCE/api/get" | jq -r '.syncedLyrics')"

    if [ -z "$LYRICS" ]; then
        rmpc remote --pid "$PID" status "Failed to download lyrics for $ARTIST - $TITLE" --level error
        exit
    fi

    if [ "$LYRICS" = "null" ]; then
        rmpc remote --pid "$PID" status "Lyrics for $ARTIST - $TITLE not found" --level warn
        exit
    fi

    echo "[ar:$ARTIST]" >"$LRC_FILE"
    {
        echo "[al:$ALBUM]"
        echo "[ti:$TITLE]"
    } >>"$LRC_FILE"
    echo "$LYRICS" | sed -E '/^\[(ar|al|ti):/d' >>"$LRC_FILE"

    rmpc remote --pid "$PID" indexlrc --path "$LRC_FILE"
    rmpc remote --pid "$PID" status "Downloaded lyrics for $ARTIST - $TITLE" --level info
fi