Windblows2000/Nexa

Nexa

---------------------------------------------

Description

A modern media controller written in Rust. Nexa works with any MPRIS-compatible media player (Spotify, MPV, Firefox, Chromium, etc.). This project was born out of the desire for a "better" media controller. Especially in window managers where your only option is Playerctl.

Features

• Blazingly fast — Daemon + CLI design for maximum speed.
• Event-driven — Subscribes to daemon signals instead of polling for metadata updates.
• Real-time progress — Efficient local ticker provides smooth, accurate playback progress.
• Integrated album art caching — A single command exposes a stable local path to album art / thumbnails.
• Structured output — Supports JSON (default), TOML, and template-based text output via --format.

Examples

  nexa follow --toml #Prints out metadata in TOML
  nexa command volume --set 0.60 #Sets audio to 60%
  nexa command play-pause #Play/Pause the media
  nexa metadata # Prints out metadata in JSON
  nexa metadata --format '{artist} - {title}' #Playerctl-like output
  nexad #Starts the daemon.

CLI

❯ nexa
A Powerful, Rust-Based CLI Linux Tool for your Media Needs.

Usage: nexa [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Commands:
  list      List detected MPRIS players
  status    Show current playback status
  metadata  Print current metadata once
  follow    Stream metadata updates
  command   Send a playback control command
  cache     Inspect or manage the album art cache

help Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options: -v, --verbose... Increase logging verbosity (-v, -vv, -vvv) -h, --help Print help -V, --version Print version

## Custom Output Formatting (--format)

The --format option allows you to define custom text output using a
template string. Any text is printed verbatim, while placeholders wrapped
in {} are replaced with live metadata from the active player.

example:

nexa metadata --format "Title: {title} ({elapsed}/{length})"

### Available Fields
Track Information
| Field      | Description  |
| ---------- | ------------ |
| `{title}`  | Track title  |
| `{artist}` | Track artist |
| `{album}`  | Album name   |

Playback State
| Field      | Description                                      |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------ |

| {player} | Active MPRIS player bus name |

Time & Playback | Field | Description | | ----------- | ---------------------------------------- | | {elapsed} | Elapsed playback time (MM:SS or H:MM:SS) | | {length} | Total track duration | | {rate} | Playback speed multiplier |

Volume & Modes | Field | Description | | ----------- | -------------------------------------------- | | {volume} | Volume as a floating-point value (0.0–1.0) | | {shuffle} | Shuffle state (on / off) | | {loop} | Loop mode (None, Track, Playlist) |