Commands

Note

Each command have a send_ and a fetch_ variant, which allows to send a MPD command and then fetch the result later. See Using the client library for examples and more information.

Querying

MPDClient.clearerror()

Clears the current error message in status (this is also accomplished by any command that starts playback).

MPDClient.currentsong()

Returns the song info of the current song (same song that is identified in status).

MPDClient.idle([subsystems])

(Introduced with MPD 0.14) Waits until there is a noteworthy change in one or more of MPD’s subsystems. As soon as there is one, it lists all changed systems in a line in the format changed:: SUBSYSTEM, where SUBSYSTEM is one of the following:

While a client is waiting for idle results, the server disables timeouts, allowing a client to wait for events as long as mpd runs. The idle command can be canceled by sending the command noidle (no other commands are allowed). MPD will then leave idle mode and print results immediately; might be empty at this time.

If the optional SUBSYSTEMS argument is used, MPD will only send notifications when something changed in one of the specified subsytems.

  • database: the song database has been modified after update.

  • update: a database update has started or finished. If the database was modified during the update, the database event is also emitted.

  • stored_playlist: a stored playlist has been modified, renamed, created or deleted

  • playlist: the current playlist has been modified

  • player: the player has been started, stopped or seeked

  • mixer: the volume has been changed

  • output: an audio output has been enabled or disabled

  • options: options like

  • partition: a partition was added, removed or changed

  • sticker: the sticker database has been modified.

  • subscription: a client has subscribed or unsubscribed to a channel

  • message: a message was received on a channel this client is subscribed to; this event is only emitted when the queue is empty

MPDClient.status()

Returns the current status of the player and the volume level.

  • partition: the name of the current partition

  • volume: 0-100

  • repeat: 0 or 1

  • random: 0 or 1

  • single: (Introduced with MPD 0.15) 0 or 1

  • consume: 0 or 1

  • playlist: 31-bit unsigned integer, the playlist version number

  • playlistlength: integer, the length of the playlist

  • state: play, stop, or pause

  • song: playlist song number of the current song stopped on or playing

  • songid: playlist songid of the current song stopped on or playing

  • nextsong: playlist song number of the next song to be played

  • nextsongid: playlist songid of the next song to be played

  • time: total time elapsed (of current playing/paused song)

  • elapsed: (Introduced with MPD 0.16) Total time elapsed within the current song, but with higher resolution.

  • duration: (Introduced with MPD 0.20) Duration of the current song in seconds.

  • bitrate: instantaneous bitrate in kbps

  • xfade: crossfade in seconds

  • mixrampdb: mixramp threshold in dB

  • mixrampdelay: mixrampdelay in seconds

  • audio: sampleRate:bits:channels

  • updating_db: job id

  • error: if there is an error, returns message here

MPDClient.stats()

Displays statistics.

  • artists: number of artists

  • albums: number of albums

  • songs: number of songs

  • uptime: daemon uptime in seconds

  • db_playtime: sum of all song times in the db

  • db_update: last db update in UNIX time

  • playtime: time length of music played

Playback options

MPDClient.consume(state)

Sets consume state to STATE, STATE should be 0 or 1. When consume is activated, each song played is removed from playlist.

MPDClient.crossfade(seconds)

Sets crossfading between songs.

MPDClient.mixrampdb(decibels)

Sets the threshold at which songs will be overlapped. Like crossfading but doesn’t fade the track volume, just overlaps. The songs need to have MixRamp tags added by an external tool. 0dB is the normalized maximum volume so use negative values, I prefer -17dB. In the absence of mixramp tags crossfading will be used. See http://sourceforge.net/projects/mixramp

MPDClient.mixrampdelay(seconds)

Additional time subtracted from the overlap calculated by mixrampdb. A value of “nan” disables MixRamp overlapping and falls back to crossfading.

MPDClient.random(state)

Sets random state to STATE, STATE should be 0 or 1.

MPDClient.repeat(state)

Sets repeat state to STATE, STATE should be 0 or 1.

MPDClient.setvol(vol)

Sets volume to VOL, the range of volume is 0-100.

MPDClient.volume(vol_change)

Changes volume by amount VOL_CHANGE, the range is -100 to +100. A negative value decreases volume, positive value increases volume.

MPDClient.single(state)

Sets single state to STATE, STATE should be 0 or 1. When single is activated, playback is stopped after current song, or song is repeated if the ‘repeat’ mode is enabled.

MPDClient.replay_gain_mode(mode)

Sets the replay gain mode. One of off, track, album, auto (added in MPD 0.16) .

Changing the mode during playback may take several seconds, because the new settings does not affect the buffered data.

This command triggers the options idle event.

MPDClient.replay_gain_status()

Returns replay gain options. Currently, only the variable replay_gain_mode is returned.

Controlling playback

MPDClient.next()

Plays next song in the playlist.

MPDClient.pause(pause)

Toggles pause/resumes playing, PAUSE is 0 or 1.

MPDClient.play(songpos)

Begins playing the playlist at song number SONGPOS.

MPDClient.playid(songid)

Begins playing the playlist at song SONGID.

MPDClient.previous()

Plays previous song in the playlist.

MPDClient.seek(songpos, time)

Seeks to the position TIME (in seconds; fractions allowed) of entry SONGPOS in the playlist.

MPDClient.seekid(songid, time)

Seeks to the position TIME (in seconds; fractions allowed) of song SONGID.

MPDClient.seekcur(time)

Seeks to the position TIME (in seconds; fractions allowed) within the current song. If prefixed by ‘+’ or ‘-’, then the time is relative to the current playing position.

MPDClient.stop()

Stops playing.

The current playlist

MPDClient.add(uri)

Adds the file URI to the playlist (directories add recursively). URI can also be a single file.

MPDClient.addid(uri, position)

Adds a song to the playlist (non-recursive) and returns the song id.

URI is always a single file or URL. For example:

addid "foo.mp3"
Id: 999
OK
MPDClient.clear()

Clears the current playlist.

MPDClient.delete(index_or_range)

Deletes a song, or a range of songs, from the playlist based on the song’s position in the playlist.

A range can be specified by passing a tuple.

MPDClient.deleteid(songid)

Deletes the song SONGID from the playlist

MPDClient.move(to)

Moves the song at FROM or range of songs at START:END to TO in the playlist. (Ranges are supported since MPD 0.15)

MPDClient.moveid(from, to)

Moves the song with FROM (songid) to TO (playlist index) in the playlist. If TO is negative, it is relative to the current song in the playlist (if there is one).

MPDClient.playlist()

Displays the current playlist.

MPDClient.playlistfind(tag, needle)

Finds songs in the current playlist with strict matching.

MPDClient.playlistid(songid)

Returns a list of songs in the playlist. SONGID is optional and specifies a single song to display info for.

MPDClient.playlistinfo()

Returns a list of all songs in the playlist, or if the optional argument is given, displays information only for the song SONGPOS or the range of songs START:END

MPDClient.playlistsearch(tag, needle)

Returns case-insensitive search results for partial matches in the current playlist.

MPDClient.plchanges(version, start: end)

Returns changed songs currently in the playlist since VERSION. Start and end positions may be given to limit the output to changes in the given range.

To detect songs that were deleted at the end of the playlist, use playlistlength returned by status command.

MPDClient.plchangesposid(version, start: end)

Returns changed songs currently in the playlist since VERSION. This function only returns the position and the id of the changed song, not the complete metadata. This is more bandwidth efficient.

To detect songs that were deleted at the end of the playlist, use playlistlength returned by status command.

MPDClient.prio(priority, start: end)

Set the priority of the specified songs. A higher priority means that it will be played first when “random” mode is enabled.

A priority is an integer between 0 and 255. The default priority of new songs is 0.

MPDClient.prioid(priority, id)

Same as prio, but address the songs with their id.

MPDClient.rangeid(id, start: end)

(Since MPD 0.19) Specifies the portion of the song that shall be played. START and END are offsets in seconds (fractional seconds allowed); both are optional. Omitting both (i.e. sending just “:”) means “remove the range, play everything”. A song that is currently playing cannot be manipulated this way.

MPDClient.shuffle(start: end)

Shuffles the current playlist. START:END is optional and specifies a range of songs.

MPDClient.swap(song1, song2)

Swaps the positions of SONG1 and SONG2.

MPDClient.swapid(song1, song2)

Swaps the positions of SONG1 and SONG2 (both song ids).

MPDClient.addtagid(songid, tag, value)

Adds a tag to the specified song. Editing song tags is only possible for remote songs. This change is volatile: it may be overwritten by tags received from the server, and the data is gone when the song gets removed from the queue.

MPDClient.cleartagid(songid[, tag])

Removes tags from the specified song. If TAG is not specified, then all tag values will be removed. Editing song tags is only possible for remote songs.

Stored playlists

Playlists are stored inside the configured playlist directory. They are addressed with their file name (without the directory and without the

Some of the commands described in this section can be used to run playlist plugins instead of the hard-coded simple

MPDClient.listplaylist(name)

Returns a list of the songs in the playlist. Playlist plugins are supported.

MPDClient.listplaylistinfo(name)

Returns a list of the songs with metadata in the playlist. Playlist plugins are supported.

MPDClient.listplaylists()

Returns a list of the playlist in the playlist directory.

After each playlist name the server sends its last modification time as attribute “Last-Modified” in ISO 8601 format. To avoid problems due to clock differences between clients and the server, clients should not compare this value with their local clock.

MPDClient.load(name[, start:end])

Loads the playlist into the current queue. Playlist plugins are supported. A range may be specified to load only a part of the playlist.

MPDClient.playlistadd(name, uri)

Adds URI to the playlist

MPDClient.playlistclear(name)

Clears the playlist

MPDClient.playlistdelete(name, songpos)

Deletes SONGPOS from the playlist

MPDClient.playlistmove(name, from, to)

Moves the song at position FROM in the playlist

MPDClient.rename(name, new_name)

Renames the playlist

MPDClient.rm(name)

Removes the playlist

MPDClient.save(name)

Saves the current playlist to

The music database

MPDClient.albumart(uri)

Returns the album art image for the given song.

URI is always a single file or URL.

The returned value is a dictionary containing the album art image in its 'binary' entry. If the given URI is invalid, or the song does not have an album cover art file that MPD recognizes, a CommandError is thrown.

MPDClient.count(tag, needle[, ..., "group", grouptype])

Returns the counts of the number of songs and their total playtime in the db matching TAG exactly.

The group keyword may be used to group the results by a tag. The following prints per-artist counts:

count group artist
MPDClient.find(type, what[, ..., startend])

Returns songs in the db that are exactly WHAT. TYPE can be any tag supported by MPD, or one of the special parameters:

*WHAT* is what to find.

window can be used to query only a portion of the real response. The parameter is two zero-based record numbers; a start number and an end number.

  • any checks all tag values

  • file checks the full path (relative to the music directory)

  • base restricts the search to songs in the given directory (also relative to the music directory)

  • modified-since compares the file’s time stamp with the given value (ISO 8601 or UNIX time stamp)

MPDClient.findadd(type, what[, ...])

Returns songs in the db that are exactly WHAT and adds them to current playlist. Parameters have the same meaning as for find.

MPDClient.list(type[, filtertype, filterwhat, ..., "group", grouptype, ...])

Returns a list of unique tag values of the specified type. TYPE can be any tag supported by MPD or file.

Additional arguments may specify a filter like the one in the find command.

The group keyword may be used (repeatedly) to group the results by one or more tags. The following example lists all album names, grouped by their respective (album) artist:

list album group albumartist
MPDClient.listall(uri)

Returns a lists of all songs and directories in URI.

Do not use this command. Do not manage a client-side copy of MPD’s database. That is fragile and adds huge overhead. It will break with large databases. Instead, query MPD whenever you need something.

MPDClient.listallinfo(uri)

Returns a lists of all songs and directories with their metadata info in URI.

Same as listall, except it also returns metadata info in the same format as lsinfo.

Do not use this command. Do not manage a client-side copy of MPD’s database. That is fragile and adds huge overhead. It will break with large databases. Instead, query MPD whenever you need something.

MPDClient.listfiles(uri)

Returns a list of the contents of the directory URI, including files are not recognized by MPD. URI can be a path relative to the music directory or an URI understood by one of the storage plugins. The response contains at least one line for each directory entry with the prefix “file: ” or “directory: “, and may be followed by file attributes such as “Last-Modified” and “size”.

For example, “smb://SERVER” returns a list of all shares on the given SMB/CIFS server; “nfs://servername/path” obtains a directory listing from the NFS server.

MPDClient.lsinfo(uri)

Returns a list of the contents of the directory URI.

When listing the root directory, this currently returns the list of stored playlists. This behavior is deprecated; use “listplaylists” instead.

This command may be used to list metadata of remote files (e.g. URI beginning with “http://” or “smb://”).

Clients that are connected via UNIX domain socket may use this command to read the tags of an arbitrary local file (URI is an absolute path).

MPDClient.readcomments(uri)

Returns “comments” (i.e. key-value pairs) from the file specified by “URI”. This “URI” can be a path relative to the music directory or an absolute path.

This command may be used to list metadata of remote files (e.g. URI beginning with “http://” or “smb://”).

The response consists of lines in the form “KEY: VALUE”. Comments with suspicious characters (e.g. newlines) are ignored silently.

The meaning of these depends on the codec, and not all decoder plugins support it. For example, on Ogg files, this lists the Vorbis comments.

MPDClient.readpicture(uri)

Returns the embedded cover image for the given song.

URI is always a single file or URL.

The returned value is a dictionary containing the embedded cover image in its 'binary' entry, and potentially the picture’s MIME type in its 'type' entry. If the given URI is invalid, a CommandError is thrown. If the given song URI exists, but the song does not have an embedded cover image that MPD recognizes, an empty dictionary is returned.

MPDClient.search(type, what[, ..., startend])

Returns results of a search for any song that contains WHAT. Parameters have the same meaning as for find, except that search is not case sensitive.

MPDClient.searchadd(type, what[, ...])

Searches for any song that contains WHAT in tag TYPE and adds them to current playlist.

Parameters have the same meaning as for find, except that search is not case sensitive.

MPDClient.searchaddpl(name, type, what[, ...])

Searches for any song that contains WHAT in tag TYPE and adds them to the playlist named NAME.

If a playlist by that name doesn’t exist it is created.

Parameters have the same meaning as for find, except that search is not case sensitive.

MPDClient.update([uri])

Updates the music database: find new files, remove deleted files, update modified files.

URI is a particular directory or song/file to update. If you do not specify it, everything is updated.

Prints “updating_db: JOBID” where JOBID is a positive number identifying the update job. You can read the current job id in the status response.

MPDClient.rescan([uri])

Same as update, but also rescans unmodified files.

Mounts and neighbors

A “storage” provides access to files in a directory tree. The most basic storage plugin is the “local” storage plugin which accesses the local file system, and there are plugins to access NFS and SMB servers.

Multiple storages can be “mounted” together, similar to the mount command on many operating systems, but without cooperation from the kernel. No superuser privileges are necessary, because this mapping exists only inside the MPD process

MPDClient.mount(path, uri)

Mount the specified remote storage URI at the given path. Example:

mount foo nfs://192.168.1.4/export/mp3
MPDClient.unmount(path)

Unmounts the specified path. Example:

unmount foo
MPDClient.listmounts()

Returns a list of all mounts. By default, this contains just the configured music_directory. Example:

listmounts
mount:
storage: /home/foo/music
mount: foo
storage: nfs://192.168.1.4/export/mp3
OK
MPDClient.listneighbors()

Returns a list of “neighbors” (e.g. accessible file servers on the local net). Items on that list may be used with the mount command. Example:

listneighbors
neighbor: smb://FOO
name: FOO (Samba 4.1.11-Debian)
OK

Stickers

“Stickers” are pieces of information attached to existing MPD objects (e.g. song files, directories, albums). Clients can create arbitrary name/value pairs. MPD itself does not assume any special meaning in them.

The goal is to allow clients to share additional (possibly dynamic) information about songs, which is neither stored on the client (not available to other clients), nor stored in the song files (MPD has no write access).

Client developers should create a standard for common sticker names, to ensure interoperability.

Objects which may have stickers are addressed by their object type (“song” for song objects) and their URI (the path within the database for songs).

MPDClient.sticker_get(type, uri, name)

Reads and returns a sticker value for the specified object.

MPDClient.sticker_set(type, uri, name, value)

Adds a sticker value to the specified object. If a sticker item with that name already exists, it is replaced.

MPDClient.sticker_delete(type, uri[, name])

Deletes a sticker value from the specified object. If you do not specify a sticker name, all sticker values are deleted.

MPDClient.sticker_list(type, uri)

Lists the stickers for the specified object.

MPDClient.sticker_find(type, uri, name)

Searches the sticker database for stickers with the specified name, below the specified directory (URI). For each matching song, it prints the URI and that one sticker’s value.

MPDClient.sticker_find(type, uri, name, "=", value)

Returns the results of a search for stickers with the given value.

Other supported operators are: “<”, “>”

Connection settings

MPDClient.close()

Closes the connection to MPD. MPD will try to send the remaining output buffer before it actually closes the connection, but that cannot be guaranteed. This command will not generate a response.

MPDClient.kill()

Kills MPD.

MPDClient.password(password)

This is used for authentication with the server. PASSWORD is simply the plaintext password.

MPDClient.ping()

Does nothing but return “OK”.

Partition commands

These commands allow a client to inspect and manage “partitions”. A partition is one frontend of a multi-player MPD process: it has separate queue, player and outputs. A client is assigned to one partition at a time.

MPDClient.partition(name)
Switch the client to a different partition.
MPDClient.listpartitions()
Return a list of partitions.
MPDClient.newpartition(name)
Create a new partition.
MPDClient.delpartition(name)
Delete a partition.  The partition must be empty (no connected
clients and no outputs).
MPDClient.moveoutput(output_name)
Move an output to the current partition.

Audio output devices

MPDClient.disableoutput(id)

Turns an output off.

MPDClient.enableoutput(id)

Turns an output on.

MPDClient.toggleoutput(id)

Turns an output on or off, depending on the current state.

MPDClient.outputs()

Returns information about all outputs:

outputid: 0
outputname: My ALSA Device
outputenabled: 0
OK

  • outputid: ID of the output. May change between executions

  • outputname: Name of the output. It can be any.

  • outputenabled: Status of the output. 0 if disabled, 1 if enabled.

Reflection

MPDClient.config()

Returns a dump of all configuration values that may be interesting for the client. This command is only permitted to “local” clients (connected via UNIX domain socket).

The following response attributes are available:

MPDClient.commands()

Returns which commands the current user has access to.

MPDClient.notcommands()

Returns which commands the current user does not have access to.

MPDClient.tagtypes()

Returns a list of available song metadata.

MPDClient.urlhandlers()

Returns a list of available URL handlers.

MPDClient.decoders()

Returns a list of decoder plugins, followed by their supported suffixes and MIME types. Example response:

plugin: mad
suffix: mp3
suffix: mp2
mime_type: audio/mpeg
plugin: mpcdec
suffix: mpc

Client to client

Clients can communicate with each others over “channels”. A channel is created by a client subscribing to it. More than one client can be subscribed to a channel at a time; all of them will receive the messages which get sent to it.

Each time a client subscribes or unsubscribes, the global idle event subscription is generated. In conjunction with the channels command, this may be used to auto-detect clients providing additional services.

New messages are indicated by the message idle event.

MPDClient.subscribe(name)

Subscribe to a channel. The channel is created if it does not exist already. The name may consist of alphanumeric ASCII characters plus underscore, dash, dot and colon.

MPDClient.unsubscribe(name)

Unsubscribe from a channel.

MPDClient.channels()

Obtains and returns a list of all channels. The response is a list of “channel:” lines.

MPDClient.readmessages()

Reads messages for this client. The response is a list of “channel:” and “message:” lines.

MPDClient.sendmessage(channel, text)

Send a message to the specified channel.