Getting Started

# Getting Started

## Install

Choose your system on the [Download page](/download/) and follow its
installation steps. Then open **Spotifast**.

## Sign in

Press **Sign in with Spotify**. Your browser opens Spotify's sign-in page.
Approve access there, then return to Spotifast to see your library.
Spotifast never sees your Spotify password.

Spotifast remembers your sign-in using your computer's protected storage,
so you normally do not need to sign in each time you open the app.

## Enable playback on this computer

**Playing music requires Spotify Premium.** To listen on this computer,
open the device menu in the bottom player bar and select **Set up playback
here**, or find the same option in Settings.

Spotify asks you to approve playback separately from library access. Follow
the browser prompt once; Spotifast remembers this approval too.
[Read more about the two sign-ins](/how-it-connects/).

The computer then appears as a Spotify Connect device named **Spotifast**.
You can rename it in Settings.

## Basics

- **Closing the window does not stop the music.** Spotifast keeps playing
  from the system tray; reopen it from the tray icon and quit from the tray
  menu or Ctrl+Q. On macOS you can also reopen it from the Dock. Settings can
  turn this off. On Linux, including Flatpak, a desktop with a working system
  tray is required for this behavior.
- **Play and Pause fade.** With the default audio settings, music played on
  this computer fades in or out to avoid a hard cut.
- **Play buttons show progress.** The button spins until Spotify responds.
- **Artist names are links.** Click a credited artist in the player bar to
  open their page, even while the rest of the song's details are loading.
- **Common actions have shortcuts.** Space plays and pauses, Ctrl+F or `/`
  searches, and `Q` opens the queue. Ctrl+/ shows the full list.
- **Right-click for more actions.** Right-click a song, playlist, album,
  artist, or podcast to see its menu. These menus are available in Home,
  Search, Library, and artist pages. Your own playlists include **Edit details**
  and **Delete**. Opening a menu does not start playback.
  In **Add to playlist**, type a playlist name to find it, or choose
  **New playlist**. Typing chooses the first match, so `Enter` adds to it;
  the up and down arrows choose another. You can add one song or a selection.
  If the playlist already contains the song, Spotifast asks before adding
  another copy.
- **Spotify links open in Spotifast.** A `spotify:` link shared from another
  app opens its page, starting Spotifast if it is not running. Links to
  `open.spotify.com` go through the browser first, which hands them over the
  same way. `spotifast <link>` does the same from a terminal.

## Match your desktop theme

Open **Settings → Appearance → Theme** and choose **Light**, **Dark**, or
**Follow system**. Follow system matches your desktop's appearance.

On Omarchy, Spotifast matches your desktop theme from the first time you open
it; the AUR package also installs the theme hook. Choose **Follow system** or **Omarchy**, then change your
desktop theme: Spotifast's colours follow while the music keeps playing.
New installations already use Follow system. Updating keeps your previous
theme choice.

For your own colours or a manual installation, see
[custom themes and Omarchy setup](/settings-and-files/#custom-themes).

## If song titles show empty boxes

Spotifast uses your computer's fonts to display titles in different languages.
macOS and Windows already include fonts for most languages. On Linux,
install `noto-fonts` and `noto-fonts-cjk` (Arch) or `fonts-noto` and
`fonts-noto-cjk` (Debian or Ubuntu) if letters are missing.
For colour emoji, install the desktop's colour emoji font
(`noto-fonts-emoji` on Arch, `fonts-noto-color-emoji` on Debian or Ubuntu).

Titles can mix languages, including those written from right to left.
Long titles are shortened with dots to fit the available space.

![Japanese, Chinese, and Korean titles in a playlist](/assets/images/scripts.png)

## Choosing the interface language

Spotifast uses your computer's language when it has a translation for it, and
English otherwise. To pick another language, open **Settings → Appearance →
Language**. Each language is listed under its own name, and the change applies
at once. Choose **System** to follow the computer again. Spanish, Turkish and
Ukrainian are complete; other translations are in progress, and anything not yet
translated appears in English. See [Translating Spotifast](/translating/) to help.

## Choosing which app opens Spotify links

On macOS, opening Spotifast makes it available for Spotify links. If Spotify's
own app is installed too, macOS uses whichever app last registered for them.
On Windows, choose the app in **Settings → Apps → Default apps**.

On Linux, after installing the current app launcher:

```sh
xdg-mime default spotifast.desktop x-scheme-handler/spotify
```

## If your network needs a proxy

**In development, not included in 0.8.0:** you can configure a proxy, a server
your network uses to reach the internet, on the sign-in screen or in
**Settings → Proxy**. Enter the address, port, and any login details supplied
by your network administrator. Spotifast protects the saved proxy password.
If it cannot save the password, it tells you and uses it only until you quit.

Playing music on this computer supports only HTTP proxies without a login.
With other proxy types, music connects directly to Spotify even though
browsing uses the proxy. Your browser has separate proxy settings, which may
also need configuring for sign-in.
See [proxy options and limits](/how-it-connects/#proxy).

## Build from source

Build the single binary with Rust 1.98 or newer:

```bash
cargo install --git https://github.com/crmne/spotifast --locked
```

MilkDrop uses libprojectM, which is built from source. This needs CMake, a C++
compiler, and libclang. To build without MilkDrop or those tools, add
`--no-default-features`. On Linux, you also need the development packages for
ALSA, PulseAudio or PipeWire, and the windowing libraries. On Arch:

```bash
sudo pacman -S --needed alsa-lib libpulse libxkbcommon wayland cmake clang
```

On Debian or Ubuntu:

```bash
sudo apt install libasound2-dev libpulse-dev libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev \
  cmake clang libclang-dev
```

On Fedora:

```bash
sudo dnf install alsa-lib-devel pulseaudio-libs-devel libxkbcommon-devel \
  wayland-devel cmake clang clang-devel
```

On Windows, libprojectM is built with Visual Studio 2022, CMake, LLVM, and
vcpkg (`vcpkg install glew:x64-windows-static`, with
`VCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOT` pointing at the vcpkg folder).

With [Nix](https://nixos.org), `nix develop` in a checkout provides all of it,
along with the exact toolchain `rust-toolchain.toml` pins.

Install

Choose your system on the Download page and follow its installation steps. Then open Spotifast.

Press Sign in with Spotify. Your browser opens Spotify’s sign-in page. Approve access there, then return to Spotifast to see your library. Spotifast never sees your Spotify password.

Spotifast remembers your sign-in using your computer’s protected storage, so you normally do not need to sign in each time you open the app.

Enable playback on this computer

Playing music requires Spotify Premium. To listen on this computer, open the device menu in the bottom player bar and select Set up playback here, or find the same option in Settings.

Spotify asks you to approve playback separately from library access. Follow the browser prompt once; Spotifast remembers this approval too. Read more about the two sign-ins.

The computer then appears as a Spotify Connect device named Spotifast. You can rename it in Settings.

Basics

Closing the window does not stop the music. Spotifast keeps playing from the system tray; reopen it from the tray icon and quit from the tray menu or Ctrl+Q. On macOS you can also reopen it from the Dock. Settings can turn this off. On Linux, including Flatpak, a desktop with a working system tray is required for this behavior.
Play and Pause fade. With the default audio settings, music played on this computer fades in or out to avoid a hard cut.
Play buttons show progress. The button spins until Spotify responds.
Artist names are links. Click a credited artist in the player bar to open their page, even while the rest of the song’s details are loading.
Common actions have shortcuts. Space plays and pauses, Ctrl+F or / searches, and Q opens the queue. Ctrl+/ shows the full list.
Right-click for more actions. Right-click a song, playlist, album, artist, or podcast to see its menu. These menus are available in Home, Search, Library, and artist pages. Your own playlists include Edit details and Delete. Opening a menu does not start playback. In Add to playlist, type a playlist name to find it, or choose New playlist. Typing chooses the first match, so Enter adds to it; the up and down arrows choose another. You can add one song or a selection. If the playlist already contains the song, Spotifast asks before adding another copy.
Spotify links open in Spotifast. A spotify: link shared from another app opens its page, starting Spotifast if it is not running. Links to open.spotify.com go through the browser first, which hands them over the same way. spotifast <link> does the same from a terminal.

Match your desktop theme

Open Settings → Appearance → Theme and choose Light, Dark, or Follow system. Follow system matches your desktop’s appearance.

On Omarchy, Spotifast matches your desktop theme from the first time you open it; the AUR package also installs the theme hook. Choose Follow system or Omarchy, then change your desktop theme: Spotifast’s colours follow while the music keeps playing. New installations already use Follow system. Updating keeps your previous theme choice.

For your own colours or a manual installation, see custom themes and Omarchy setup.

If song titles show empty boxes

Spotifast uses your computer’s fonts to display titles in different languages. macOS and Windows already include fonts for most languages. On Linux, install noto-fonts and noto-fonts-cjk (Arch) or fonts-noto and fonts-noto-cjk (Debian or Ubuntu) if letters are missing. For colour emoji, install the desktop’s colour emoji font (noto-fonts-emoji on Arch, fonts-noto-color-emoji on Debian or Ubuntu).

Titles can mix languages, including those written from right to left. Long titles are shortened with dots to fit the available space.

Choosing the interface language

Spotifast uses your computer’s language when it has a translation for it, and English otherwise. To pick another language, open Settings → Appearance → Language. Each language is listed under its own name, and the change applies at once. Choose System to follow the computer again. Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian are complete; other translations are in progress, and anything not yet translated appears in English. See Translating Spotifast to help.

Choosing which app opens Spotify links

On macOS, opening Spotifast makes it available for Spotify links. If Spotify’s own app is installed too, macOS uses whichever app last registered for them. On Windows, choose the app in Settings → Apps → Default apps.

On Linux, after installing the current app launcher:

xdg-mime default spotifast.desktop x-scheme-handler/spotify

If your network needs a proxy

In development, not included in 0.8.0: you can configure a proxy, a server your network uses to reach the internet, on the sign-in screen or in Settings → Proxy. Enter the address, port, and any login details supplied by your network administrator. Spotifast protects the saved proxy password. If it cannot save the password, it tells you and uses it only until you quit.

Playing music on this computer supports only HTTP proxies without a login. With other proxy types, music connects directly to Spotify even though browsing uses the proxy. Your browser has separate proxy settings, which may also need configuring for sign-in. See proxy options and limits.

Build from source

Build the single binary with Rust 1.98 or newer:

cargo install --git https://github.com/crmne/spotifast --locked

MilkDrop uses libprojectM, which is built from source. This needs CMake, a C++ compiler, and libclang. To build without MilkDrop or those tools, add --no-default-features. On Linux, you also need the development packages for ALSA, PulseAudio or PipeWire, and the windowing libraries. On Arch:

sudo pacman -S --needed alsa-lib libpulse libxkbcommon wayland cmake clang

On Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libasound2-dev libpulse-dev libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev \
  cmake clang libclang-dev

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install alsa-lib-devel pulseaudio-libs-devel libxkbcommon-devel \
  wayland-devel cmake clang clang-devel

On Windows, libprojectM is built with Visual Studio 2022, CMake, LLVM, and vcpkg (vcpkg install glew:x64-windows-static, with VCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOT pointing at the vcpkg folder).

With Nix, nix develop in a checkout provides all of it, along with the exact toolchain rust-toolchain.toml pins.