go_librespot

go-librespot

Yet another open-source Spotify Connect compatible client, written in Go.

go-librespot gives you the freedom to have a Spotify Connect device wherever you want.

Getting Started

Using prebuilt binary

To get started you can download prebuilt binaries for the latest release.

Development prebuilt binaries are also available as GitHub Actions artifacts.

Using Docker

A lightweight Docker image for go-librespot is available on the GitHub Container Registry.

An example Docker Compose configuration for PulseAudio is available here.

Using Brew

You can also install go-librespot using Brew on macOS and Linux (thanks @kriive):

brew install go-librespot

Building from source

To build from source the following prerequisites are necessary:

• Go 1.25 or higher
• Libraries: libogg, libvorbis, flac, libasound2

To install Go, download it from the Go website.

To install the required libraries on Debian-based systems (Debian, Ubuntu, Raspbian), use:

sudo apt-get install libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libflac-dev libasound2-dev

Once prerequisites are installed you can clone the repository and run the daemon with:

go run ./cmd/daemon

Details about cross-compiling go-librespot are described here (thank you @felixstorm).

Configuration

The default directory for configuration files is ~/.config/go-librespot. On macOS devices, this is ~/Library/Application Support/go-librespot. You can change this directory with the -config_dir flag. The configuration directory contains:

• config.yml: The main configuration (does not exist by default)
• state.json: The player state and credentials
• lockfile: A lockfile to prevent running multiple instances on the same configuration

The full configuration schema is available here, only the main options are detailed below.

Zeroconf mode

This is the default mode. It uses mDNS auto discovery to allow Spotify clients inside the same network to connect to go-librespot. This is also known as Spotify Connect.

An example configuration (not required) looks like this:

zeroconf_enabled: false # Whether to keep the device discoverable at all times, even if authenticated via other means
zeroconf_port: 0 # The port to use for Zeroconf, 0 for random
credentials:
  type: zeroconf
  zeroconf:
    persist_credentials: false # Whether to persist zeroconf user credentials even after disconnecting

If persist_credentials is true, after connecting to the device for the first time credentials will be stored locally and you can switch to interactive mode without having to authenticate manually.

If zeroconf_interfaces_to_advertise is provided, you can limit interfaces that will be advertised. For example, if you have Docker installed on your host, you may want to disable advertising to its bridge interface, or you may want to disable interfaces that will not be reachable.

Interactive mode

This mode allows you to associate your account with the device and make it discoverable even outside the network. It requires some manual steps to complete the authentication:

1. Configure interactive mode

   zeroconf_enabled: false # Whether to keep the device discoverable at all times
   credentials:
     type: interactive
   

2. Start the daemon to begin the authentication flow

3. Open the authorization link in your browser and wait to be redirected

4. If go-librespot is running on the same device as your browser, authentication should complete successfully

5. (optional) If go-librespot is running on another device, you'll need to copy the URL from your browser and call it from the device, for example:

   curl http://127.0.0.1:36842/login?code=xxxxxxxx
   

API server

Optionally, an API server can be started to control and monitor the player. To enable this feature, add the following to your configuration:

server:
  enabled: true
  address: localhost # Which address to bind to
  port: 3678 # The server port
  allow_origin: '' # Value for the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header
  cert_file: '' # Path to certificate file for TLS
  key_file: '' # Path to key file for TLS
  image_size: 'default' # Album art image size (default, small, large, xlarge)

For detailed API documentation see here.

Volume synchronization

Various configurations for volume control are available:

1. No external volume without mixer: Spotify volume is controlled independently of the device volume, output samples are multiplied with the volume
2. No external volume with mixer: Spotify volume is synchronized with the device volume and vice versa, output samples are not volume dependant, Spotify volume changes are applied to the ALSA mixer and vice versa
3. External volume without mixer: Spotify volume is not synchronized with the device volume, output samples are not volume dependant
4. External volume with mixer: Device volume is synchronized with Spotify volume, output samples are not volume dependant, volume changes are not applied to the ALSA mixer

Audio normalization

go-librespot implements audio normalization according to Spotify's standards, which targets -14 dB LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) based on the ITU-R BS.1770 standard. Source

Normalization can be configured with the following options:

normalisation_disabled: false # Whether to disable normalization (default: false)
normalisation_use_album_gain: false # Whether to use album gain instead of track gain (default: false)
normalisation_pregain: 0 # Pregain in dB to apply before normalization (default: 0)

The pregain is applied on Spotify's -14 dB LUFS target. Spotify suggests the following presets for pregain:

• Loud: -11 dB LUFS, apply a pregain of +3 dB
• Normal: -14 dB LUFS, apply a pregain of 0 dB
• Quiet: -19 dB LUFS, apply a pregain of -5 dB

Additional configuration

The following options are also available:

log_level: info # Log level configuration (trace, debug, info, warn, error)
log_disable_timestamp: false # Whether to disable timestamps in log output
device_id: '' # Spotify device ID (auto-generated)
device_name: '' # Spotify device name
device_type: computer # Spotify device type (icon)
audio_backend: alsa # Audio backend to use (alsa, pipe, pulseaudio)
audio_device: default # ALSA audio device to use for playback
mixer_device: '' # ALSA mixer device for volume synchronization 
mixer_control_name: Master # ALSA mixer control name for volume synchronization
audio_buffer_time: 500000 # Audio buffer time in microseconds, ALSA only
audio_period_count: 4 # Number of periods to request, ALSA only
audio_output_pipe: '' # Path to a named pipe for audio output
audio_output_pipe_format: s16le # Audio output pipe format (s16le, s32le, f32le)
bitrate: 160 # Playback bitrate (96, 160, 320)
volume_steps: 100 # Volume steps count
initial_volume: 100 # Initial volume in steps (not applied to the mixer device)
ignore_last_volume: false # Whether to ignore the last saved volume and always use initial_volume
external_volume: false # Whether volume is controlled externally 
disable_autoplay: false # Whether autoplay of more songs should be disabled

Make sure to check here for the full list of options.

Development

Protobuf definitions are managed through Buf. To recompile, execute:

buf generate

or using Go:

go generate ./...