Use

Playback

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Playback

All playback commands act on the currently active Spotify Connect device unless you pass --device. Use spogo device list to see what's available and spogo device set <name|id> to switch.

#play

spogo play [<id|url>] [--type <track|album|playlist|show|episode>] [--shuffle]

Accepts:

  • A Spotify URI: spotify:track:7hQJA50XrCWABAu5v6QZ4i, spotify:album:..., spotify:playlist:..., spotify:show:..., spotify:episode:..., spotify:artist:....
  • A web URL: https://open.spotify.com/track/7hQJA50XrCWABAu5v6QZ4i.
  • A bare ID — combine with --type to disambiguate.
  • No argument — resumes the current item.

Behavior:

  • Tracks start immediately.
  • Albums / playlists / shows start a context — spogo next walks through items.
  • Artists start with the artist's top tracks (first track first).
  • --shuffle enables shuffle on the device before play, randomizing the first track for context URIs.

Examples:

spogo play                                                      # resume
spogo play spotify:track:7hQJA50XrCWABAu5v6QZ4i                 # one track
spogo play https://open.spotify.com/album/4aawyAB9vmqN3uQ7FjRGTy
spogo play 37i9dQZF1DXcBWIGoYBM5M --type playlist               # bare ID
spogo play spotify:playlist:37i9dQZF1DXcBWIGoYBM5M --shuffle    # shuffle on
spogo play spotify:artist:6sFIWsNpZYqfjUpaCgueju                # top tracks

#pause / resume

spogo pause
spogo play              # no argument resumes

#next / prev

spogo next
spogo prev              # restart current track if past ~3s, else previous

#seek

spogo seek 90000        # milliseconds
spogo seek 1:30         # mm:ss
spogo seek 0            # back to start

#volume

spogo volume 60         # 0-100
spogo volume 0          # mute

Some devices ignore volume changes (e.g. Spotify Connect on hardware that exposes its own volume).

#shuffle / repeat

spogo shuffle on
spogo shuffle off

spogo repeat off
spogo repeat track       # loop current track
spogo repeat context     # loop current album/playlist

#status

spogo status             # human, color
spogo status --plain     # tab-separated key value
spogo status --json      # full payload

JSON shape includes is_playing, progress_ms, device, item (track or episode), context, repeat_state, shuffle_state. Use jq to pluck what you need:

spogo status --json | jq -r '.item.name + " — " + (.item.artists|map(.name)|join(", "))'

#Targeting a specific device

Every playback command accepts --device <name|id>:

spogo play spotify:track:... --device "Kitchen"
spogo volume 30 --device "MacBook Pro"
spogo pause --device 0d1841b0976bae2a3a310dd74c0f3df354899bc8

When Connect state has no origin device, spogo falls back to the Web API transfer endpoint instead of failing.

#Engine notes

  • connect (default) — playback control via Spotify's internal Connect endpoints. Best fidelity for transitions, queueing, and device transfer; auto-falls-back to Web API for transfers when no origin device exists.
  • web — the public Web API. Slower, rate-limited, but the only option for accounts with restrictive Connect availability.
  • auto — Connect first, fall back to Web on Connect-unsupported features.
  • applescript (macOS only) — drive Spotify.app directly via AppleScript. No network, but only sees the local Mac app.

See Engines for the full breakdown.

#Errors

  • no active device — open Spotify on a phone/desktop/Connect speaker first, or pass --device.
  • 403 PREMIUM_REQUIRED — playback requires a Spotify Premium account.
  • 429 too many requests — Connect engine handles rate limits internally; if you see this on web, switch to auto or connect.