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ravachol/kew

A terminal music player that builds playlists from words in artist, album or song names, with gapless playback and no setup.

Open-source alternative to:Spotify

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What is it?

kew is a music player that runs in the terminal. You start it with a search term such as an artist or album name, and it builds an auto-generated playlist from matching words in your library. It is designed to need virtually no setup and runs offline, with no streaming service or recommendation algorithm involved.

Beyond basic playback, kew supports gapless playback, a spectrum visualizer, a music library explorer, playlist editing, search, and lyrics. Covers can be shown in full color in sixel-capable terminals, and themes can be generated from album colors or defined manually. It also offers desktop integration on Linux and macOS, and .m3u playlist import and export.

kew handles common formats including mp3, flac, opus, ogg, m4a (with ALAC), mp4, aac, wav and webm. It is available on Linux, FreeBSD, Android, macOS, Windows and other platforms. Discord listening status is supported as an opt-in feature.

Key features

  • 01Auto-generates playlists from words in artist, album or song names.
  • 02Gapless playback and crossfade (experimental).
  • 03Spectrum visualizer and full-color covers in sixel-capable terminals.
  • 04Lyrics display, search, and a music library explorer.
  • 05Playlist editing and .m3u import/export.
  • 06Replay gain, auto-resume, and custom layouts and themes.

Use cases

  • Listening to a local music collection from the terminal without a browser or streaming app.
  • Playing an album or artist quickly by typing a name at the command line.
  • Keeping listening private and offline on a Linux, macOS, or Windows machine.

Quick start

  1. 1

    Visit the kew website for installation instructions

  2. 2

    Play music by searching for an artist, album or song name

    kew nirvana

Things to know

  • Installation details are not in the README; they are only on the project website.
  • Crossfade is marked as experimental.
  • Some audio formats such as HE-AAC and E-AC-3 are not supported.

In collections

Terminal UI appsCLI & terminal toolsOpen-source Mac apps

Topics

#audio-player#terminal#tui#music#command-line#cli#kew#linux#macos#music-player

FAQ

What is kew?
A terminal music player that builds playlists from words in artist, album or song names, with gapless playback and no setup. kew is a music player that runs in the terminal. You start it with a search term such as an artist or album name, and it builds an auto-generated playlist from matching words in your library. It is designed to need virtually no setup and runs offline, with no streaming service or recommendation algorithm involved.
Is kew free to use? What license does it have?
kew is open source under the GPL-2.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is kew still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to kew was on Nov 6, 2026.
What can I use kew for?
Listening to a local music collection from the terminal without a browser or streaming app. Playing an album or artist quickly by typing a name at the command line. Keeping listening private and offline on a Linux, macOS, or Windows machine.
How do I install kew?
Visit the kew website for installation instructions Play music by searching for an artist, album or song name: kew nirvana
Where can I get kew?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/ravachol/kew

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