MPRIS MiniPlayer

MPRIS MiniPlayer is a small GTK4/libadwaita mini player for Linux media players that expose the MPRIS interface on the session D-Bus.

It is not tied to a specific player. It is intended to work with Sidra, Cider, VLC, Spotify, Strawberry, Rhythmbox, Elisa, browsers exposing media sessions, Mopidy, spotifyd, mpv with an MPRIS plugin, and similar clients.

Screenshot

Install

Download the latest release asset from the GitHub releases page.

For Flatpak, install the bundle with:

flatpak install --user ./MPRIS-MiniPlayer-<version>-x86_64.flatpak

For Debian or Ubuntu on amd64, install the Debian package with:

sudo apt install ./mpris-miniplayer_<version>_amd64.deb

Run it from your application launcher, or from a terminal.

For Flatpak:

flatpak run io.github.ChrisLauinger.MprisMiniPlayer

For the Debian package:

mpris-miniplayer

MPRIS MiniPlayer needs at least one running MPRIS-compatible media player to show playback controls. When it starts without a player, it can stay hidden in the background and show the window automatically later.

Features

• Detects MPRIS players on the session bus
• Selects the first available player automatically
• Shows track title, artist, album, and album art
• Provides previous, play/pause, and next controls
• Shows playback progress and time
• Lets you seek when the selected player supports it
• Lets you adjust volume when the selected player exposes MPRIS volume control
• Lets you choose between available players
• Provides a compact mode for a smaller window layout
• Updates the UI when player metadata changes
• Can keep running in the background when no player is available
• Can show and hide the window automatically as players appear or disappear
• Can show a status indicator with show, hide, compact mode, settings, about, and quit actions when the desktop supports it
• Provides preferences for compact mode, background notifications, automatic visibility, status indicators, and start on login
• Hides the window on close; use Quit to stop the app

Build from Source

Install the typical development dependencies on Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt install meson ninja-build valac libgtk-4-dev libadwaita-1-dev gettext desktop-file-utils appstream

Build and run:

meson setup build
meson compile -C build
meson devenv -C build ./src/mpris-miniplayer

meson devenv runs the build-tree binary with the generated GSettings schemas available, so preferences work before installing the app.

Install locally:

sudo meson install -C build

Uninstall the local build:

sudo ninja -C build uninstall

Maintainer Release

Pushing a version tag builds a Flatpak bundle, builds an amd64 Debian package, and creates a GitHub release:

git tag v1.2.0
git push origin v1.2.0

The release workflow attaches MPRIS-MiniPlayer-<tag>-x86_64.flatpak and mpris-miniplayer_<tag>_amd64.deb to the generated release.

License

MPRIS MiniPlayer is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

Roadmap

v0.1:

• Detect active MPRIS players on the session bus
• Select first usable player automatically
• Display track title, artist, album, and album art when available
• Provide previous, play/pause, and next controls
• Update UI when metadata changes
• Provide a small libadwaita window
• Provide a basic Meson build and working desktop file
• Add CI build workflow

v0.2:

• Run in the background when no MPRIS player is available
• Show and hide the window automatically when players appear or disappear
• Show an optional background notification with an Open action
• Add preferences for notifications, automatic visibility, status indicators, and start on login
• Hide the window on close and quit only through an explicit Quit action

v0.3:

• Add player volume control
• Add compact mode

v1.0:

• Polish AppStream metadata for clean validation
• Add icon package integration
• Add Debian packaging and amd64 release packages