Media

Output #

Track title and artist from Apple Music or Spotify, separated by —, with a playback state icon. Omitting the media block is equivalent to media: {}. By default, the provider selects a source automatically from the two players.

Configuration #

Use the item-level text template to customise or hide the label.

Set these options inside media.

Source selection #

Automatic selection prefers playing sources over paused, then stopped, then unknown sources. Within the same playback state, the most recently received update wins. A pause notification from one player does not replace another playing source.

Select music or spotify to ignore the other player for that item. Different items can select different sources while sharing the same notification tracking.

States and labels #

Paused playback retains track details when a notification omits them. Stopped playback, unknown playback states, and app termination clear that player’s track. A new title with no artist does not inherit the previous track’s artist. The separator appears only between nonempty visible fields.

Setting top-level text to "" hides all text, including fallback text.

hideWhenNotPlaying hides every state except playing. hideWhenPaused and hideWhenStopped hide those individual states and leave waiting and unavailable states visible. All three options apply to the selected source. If any enabled option matches its state, the item is hidden and takes no layout or overflow space.

Symbols accept SF Symbol names or font glyph objects. Use symbolFontWeight to set SF Symbol weight independently of text.

An item-level symbol overrides state symbols. showSymbol: false hides all symbols, including this override. Icon-only items retain the source, playback state, and known metadata in their accessibility label.

To change media, edit the configuration file. sbar set cannot change this block.

Shared item options cover styling, symbols, actions, priority, and enabled state.

Text templates #

The item-level text setting supports id, value, symbol, title, artist, source, status, playing, available. See text templates for shared fields and syntax. Fields follow the selected source. Use the template to select title, artist, and separators; value contains the default title/artist label or the fallback text when metadata is absent, such as Paused or Waiting for playback. Playback hide rules still apply.

status is playing, paused, stopped, or unknown. Use state conditions to choose a label for each state.

The configuration setting media.source uses lowercase music or spotify, or automatic to select between them. The template field source uses Music or Spotify, including in equality comparisons. It is empty when no source has been selected.

available is false while waiting for a source or when the selected source has an unknown state. It is true for playing, paused, and stopped sources, even without track metadata. Use playing to test active playback.

Use conditions to add a separator only when both title and artist are present, and keep the default label when neither is available:

{
  "id": "media",
  "type": "media",
  "text": "{{title}}{{#artist}}{{#title}} / {{/title}}{{artist}}{{/artist}}{{^title}}{{^artist}}{{value}}{{/artist}}{{/title}}"
}

For a track named Daylight by Example Artist, this displays Daylight / Example Artist. With only a title or artist, it displays that field without a separator. With neither, it retains the default playback or waiting label. Playback hide rules still apply.

Updates #

The provider follows playback notifications. By default, startup displays Waiting for playback until the selected source sends an update, even if it was already playing when the bar started. With hideWhenNotPlaying: true, the item stays hidden until a playing update arrives. Start or change a track to display its details.

Refresh policies snapshot both players’ states together. Manual and interval items retain their track, state symbol, and visibility until refreshed, including after a player quits. Provider events use the default automatic selection and text. See refresh policies.

Current limits #

Supports Apple Music and Spotify notifications only. No initial playback query, playback controls, artwork, or dedicated state tints.

Example #

{
  "id": "media",
  "type": "media",
  "media": {
    "hideWhenNotPlaying": true
  }
}

This shows track details only while the selected source is playing. It hides the item while paused, stopped, waiting for playback, or unavailable. Set top-level text to "" for an icon-only item, or media.showSymbol: false for text-only output.