tidal-cli

CLI for Tidal music streaming. Search catalog, manage playlists, control library, play tracks, explore artists, discover new music.

First-Time Setup

If tidal-cli is not authenticated, run auth first. This opens the user's browser for Tidal login (one-time):

tidal-cli auth

Credentials persist at ~/.tidal-cli/session.json and auto-refresh.

Search

tidal-cli --json search artist "Radiohead"
tidal-cli --json search album "OK Computer"
tidal-cli --json search track "Karma Police"
tidal-cli --json search video "Paranoid Android"
tidal-cli --json search playlist "90s Rock"

JSON output returns [{id, type, name, extra: {popularity, duration, ...}}].

Artist

tidal-cli --json artist info <id>        # name, bio, genres, popularity
tidal-cli --json artist tracks <id>      # top tracks
tidal-cli --json artist albums <id>      # discography
tidal-cli --json artist similar <id>     # similar artists

Track

tidal-cli --json track info <id>         # title, artists, album, duration, ISRC, BPM, key
tidal-cli --json track similar <id>      # similar tracks

Playlists

tidal-cli --json playlist list
tidal-cli --json playlist create --name "My Playlist" --desc "Description"
tidal-cli --json playlist rename --playlist-id <id> --name "New Name"
tidal-cli --json playlist delete --playlist-id <id>
tidal-cli --json playlist add-track --playlist-id <id> --track-id <track-id>
tidal-cli --json playlist remove-track --playlist-id <id> --track-id <track-id>
tidal-cli --json playlist add-album --playlist-id <id> --album-id <album-id>

Library / Favorites

tidal-cli --json library add --artist-id <id>
tidal-cli --json library add --album-id <id>
tidal-cli --json library add --track-id <id>
tidal-cli --json library remove --artist-id <id>

Recommendations & User

tidal-cli --json recommend              # My Mixes, Discovery, New Arrivals
tidal-cli --json user profile           # account info

Playback

tidal-cli playback play <track-id>
tidal-cli playback play <track-id> --quality LOSSLESS
tidal-cli --json playback info <track-id>
tidal-cli --json playback url <track-id>

Quality options: LOW, HIGH, LOSSLESS, HI_RES.

Agent Patterns

Always use --json for programmatic access. Place it before the subcommand.

Search then act:

TRACK_ID=$(tidal-cli --json search track "Bohemian Rhapsody" | jq -r '.[0].id')
tidal-cli --json playlist add-track --playlist-id <id> --track-id "$TRACK_ID"

Create themed playlist:

PL_ID=$(tidal-cli --json playlist create --name "Road Trip" | jq -r '.id')
# search and add tracks using $PL_ID

Discovery workflow (search artist -> similar -> top tracks -> add to playlist):

ARTIST_ID=$(tidal-cli --json search artist "Portishead" | jq -r '.[0].id')
SIMILAR=$(tidal-cli --json artist similar "$ARTIST_ID" | jq -r '.[0].id')
TRACK_ID=$(tidal-cli --json artist tracks "$SIMILAR" | jq -r '.[0].id')
tidal-cli --json playlist add-track --playlist-id <id> --track-id "$TRACK_ID"

Cover art: track info and album info return a coverUrl field (640x640 JPEG). Always show it to the user when displaying track or album details — render it as an image.

Exit codes: 0 = success, 1 = error, 2 = missing argument. Errors go to stderr with Error: prefix.