Media Player

This module displays the current media playback status in the status bar. It only appears when at least one media player is active.

You can configure the max text length after which the indicator and menu text will be truncated using the max_text_length field (default: 100).

Indicator Format

The tray indicator can show configured metadata text, the media icon together with that text, or only the media icon. Configure this with the indicator_format field:

Value	Description
Text	Displays only the configured text in the status bar.
IconAndText	Displays the icon followed by the text (default).
Icon	Displays only the media icon in the status bar.

Use Icon if you want a compact indicator or have limited space.

Indicator Fields

When indicator_format is Text or IconAndText, configure the metadata fields shown in the status bar with indicator_fields (default: ["Artist", "Title"]).

Available fields:

• Artist
• Title
• Album

Fields are joined with -. For example, use ["Title"] to show only the current song title. An empty list uses the default fields.

Visualizer

The module can render an optional audio visualizer powered by CAVA. It animates only while a player is actively playing. Two independent settings control it.

indicator_visualizer places the visualizer in the status bar indicator. Omit the field to disable it.

Value	Description
Background	Draws the bars as a background behind the indicator content.
Before	Draws the bars before (to the left of) the content.
After	Draws the bars after (to the right of) the content.

menu_visualizer (bool, default false) draws the bars as the background of the currently playing card in the media menu. Because those bars are only visible while the menu is up, cava runs only while the media menu is open — unless indicator_visualizer is also set, which keeps it running whenever a player is playing.

visualizer_framerate (integer, default 30, clamped to 1–144) sets how many frames per second CAVA produces. Every frame redraws the bar on every monitor, so raising this measurably increases CPU use; lower it if the bar feels sluggish while the visualizer is active.

[media_player]
indicator_visualizer = "Background"
menu_visualizer = true
visualizer_framerate = 30

The bars are coloured with a gradient built from the active theme palette (primary at the bottom, warning in the middle, danger at the peak).

CAVA visualizes the system audio output, not the individual stream of the active player (MPRIS carries only metadata and playback controls, not audio samples). The visualizer is therefore shown only while a player is playing, and cava is started on demand and stopped again while playback is paused. Frames that are visually identical to the previous one are discarded rather than redrawn, so silence costs nothing.

Requires cava to be installed and available on your $PATH. If cava is missing the visualizer stays hidden.

Menu

The menu shows all active media players with playback controls:

• Previous, Play/Pause, and Next buttons
• Volume slider (if supported by the player)

Example

[media_player]
max_text_length = 50
indicator_format = "Text"
indicator_fields = ["Title"]
indicator_visualizer = "Background"
menu_visualizer = true
visualizer_framerate = 30