Spotify Player Skill

Control Spotify playback and manage your music library via the Spotify Web API.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

Play/pause/skip music
Get currently playing track info
Search for songs, albums, artists
Manage playlists
Control volume
Get recently played tracks

❌ DON'T use this skill when:

Need real-time playback sync
Need device selection (basic API limitations)
Need lyrics display (not available in API)

Prerequisites

Create app at https://developer.spotify.com/dashboard
Get Client ID and Client Secret
Set redirect URI in app settings
Get access token (see below)

export SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID="your_client_id" export SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET="your_client_secret"

Getting Access Token

Get access token (valid 1 hour)

TOKEN=$(curl -s -X POST "https://accounts.spotify.com/api/token"
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=$SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=$SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET"
| jq -r '.access_token')

Or use user authentication for full access

(requires user login - more complex setup)

Commands

Currently Playing

Get current track (requires user token)

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/currently-playing"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get recently played

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/recently-played?limit=10"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get user devices

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/devices"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Playback Control

Play/pause (requires user token)

curl -s -X PUT "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/pause"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

curl -s -X PUT "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/play"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Next track

curl -s -X POST "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/next"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Previous track

curl -s -X POST "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/previous"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Seek to position (milliseconds)

curl -s -X PUT "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/seek?position_ms=30000"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Set volume (0-100)

curl -s -X PUT "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/volume?volume_percent=75"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Toggle shuffle

curl -s -X PUT "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/shuffle?state=true"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Set repeat mode (off, context, track)

curl -s -X PUT "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/repeat?state=context"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Search for tracks

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?q=track:Shape+of+You&type=track&limit=5"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
| jq '.tracks.items[] | {name: .name, artist: .artists[0].name, album: .album.name}'

Search for artist

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?q=taylor+swift&type=artist&limit=3"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
| jq '.artists.items[] | {name: .name, followers: .followers.total}'

Search for album

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?q=album:1989&type=album&limit=5"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get Track/Artist/Album Info

Get track details

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/tracks/TRACK_ID"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get artist details

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/artists/ARTIST_ID"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get album details

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/albums/ALBUM_ID"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get artist albums

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/artists/ARTIST_ID/albums?limit=10"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Playback Queue

Get queue

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/queue"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Add to queue

curl -s -X POST "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/queue?uri=spotify:track:TRACK_ID"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

User Playlists

Get user playlists

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/playlists?limit=50"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get playlist tracks

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/playlists/PLAYLIST_ID/tracks?limit=50"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get playlist details

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/playlists/PLAYLIST_ID"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Create playlist (requires user token)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.spotify.com/v1/users/USER_ID/playlists"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-d '{"name": "My New Playlist", "description": "Created by agent", "public": false}'

Add track to playlist

curl -s -X POST "https://api.spotify.com/v1/playlists/PLAYLIST_ID/tracks?uris=spotify:track:TRACK_ID"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

User Profile

Get current user profile

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get user saved tracks

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/tracks?limit=50"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get user saved albums

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/albums?limit=50"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Get user saved artists

curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/artists?limit=50"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Helper Functions

Get access token

spotify_token() { curl -s -X POST "https://accounts.spotify.com/api/token"
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=$SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=$SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET"
| jq -r '.access_token' }

Search and play first result (requires user token + device)

spotify_play_track() { QUERY=$1 TRACK_URI=$(curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?q=$QUERY&type=track&limit=1"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
| jq -r '.tracks.items[0].uri')

curl -s -X PUT "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/play?device_id=DEVICE_ID"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-d "{"uris": ["$TRACK_URI"]}" }

Get now playing info

spotify_now() { curl -s "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player/currently-playing"
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
| jq '{song: .item.name, artist: .item.artists[0].name, album: .item.album.name, progress: .progress_ms, duration: .item.duration_ms}' }

Quick Reference

Action Method Endpoint

Get current track GET /v1/me/player/currently-playing

Play PUT /v1/me/player/play

Pause PUT /v1/me/player/pause

Next POST /v1/me/player/next

Previous POST /v1/me/player/previous

Volume PUT /v1/me/player/volume

Search GET /v1/search?q={query}&type=track

Get track GET /v1/tracks/{id}

Playlists GET /v1/me/playlists

Notes

Client credentials flow = no user-specific features (just search, get track info)
User authorization flow = full control but more complex setup
API rate limits: 180 requests/minute for user endpoints
Device ID required for playback control
Many endpoints require user authentication, not just app authentication