<div align="center"> <img src="assets/icon.png" alt="mprisence logo" width="96" />

mprisence

Discord Rich Presence for Linux media players

Overview • Supported players • Quick start • Configuration • Web players • Development • Troubleshooting

</div>

Reads MPRIS metadata over D-Bus → renders Discord Rich Presence → syncs with current media.

Works with VLC, MPV, Rhythmbox, Strawberry, CMUS, MPD, and more. Has a browser bridge for web players (YouTube Music, SoundCloud, etc.) when browser MPRIS is not enough.

<p align="center"> <img src="assets/example.gif" alt="mprisence demo: Strawberry playing through Discord" width="548" /> <br/> <em>Local player → Discord status, no config needed</em> </p>

[!IMPORTANT]
Discord must allow activity sharing: Settings → Activity Privacy → Display current activity as a status message.

Overview

How it works

text
local player or browser tab
  → MPRIS metadata on D-Bus
  → mprisence
  → Discord Rich Presence

Browser bridge path (optional — see Web players):

text
supported website
  → browser extension
  → MPRIS bridge (native host)
  → mprisence
  → Discord Rich Presence

Highlights

No config required for common local-player setups
Handlebars templates for title, artist, album, player name, status, duration, IDs, and more
Per-player and per-site overrides for app ID, icon, activity type, streaming policy, and status text
Cover art from metadata, local files, Catbox/Litterbox, MusicBrainz, or ImgBB
Hot reload for most config changes
Browser bridge for better metadata, cover art, URLs, and controls on web players

Supported players

Bundled presets in config/config.default.toml. No setup needed — start mprisence and these appear in Discord automatically.

Local players (MPRIS): Audacious, Amberol, Clementine, CMUS, Elisa, Euphonica, Feishin, Fooyin, Gapless, Gelly, Haruna, Harmony Music, Kew, Lollypop, Media Player Classic Qute Theater, MPV, MPD, Musikcube, MusicBee, QMMP, Quod Libet, Quester, Rhythmbox, AmpCast, SMPlayer, Spotify (legacy), Strawberry, Supersonic, VLC.

Web players (browser bridge): YouTube Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Tidal, Apple Music, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Deezer, Yandex Music. Add your own under [web_player.*] with match_patterns.

Quick start

[!NOTE]
This covers local media players (VLC, MPV, Strawberry, etc.).
For web players (YouTube Music, SoundCloud, etc.), see Web players.

1. Install

Arch Linux

bash
yay -S mprisence
# or: yay -S mprisence-bin (maintained by choimadeleine)

Nix / NixOS

bash
# without flakes
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.mprisence

# with flakes
nix profile install nixpkgs#mprisence

Debian / Ubuntu

Download .deb from GitHub Releases, then:

bash
sudo dpkg -i /path/to/mprisence_*.deb

crates.io

bash
cargo install mprisence

From source

bash
git clone https://github.com/lazykern/mprisence.git
cd mprisence
cargo install --path .

2. Start it

bash
mprisence

Run in foreground first to verify it picks up your player. Stop with Ctrl+C.

3. Verify

Start media playback, then in another terminal:

bash
mprisence players list
mprisence players list --detailed

If you see your player listed, Discord shows your activity within seconds.

Example:

$ mprisence players list --detailed
Name       Identity               Bus Name                                    Source
────       ────────               ────────                                    ──────
VLC        vlc_media_player       org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.vlc                  D-Bus
Strawberry strawberry           org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.strawberry          D-Bus

4. Enable as a service (optional)

bash
systemctl --user enable --now mprisence.service

If your package did not include a service file:

bash
mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
curl -o ~/.config/systemd/user/mprisence.service \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lazykern/mprisence/main/mprisence.service
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now mprisence.service

Check service status:

bash
systemctl --user status mprisence
journalctl --user -u mprisence -f

Configuration

[!TIP]
No config file needed for first run. Create one for overrides.

Config path: ~/.config/mprisence/config.toml

Start from example config:

bash
mkdir -p ~/.config/mprisence
curl -o ~/.config/mprisence/config.toml \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lazykern/mprisence/main/config/config.example.toml

Reference files:

config/config.example.toml — documented example
config/config.default.toml — bundled player and web-player presets
src/metadata.rs — template variable reference

Common knobs

template.details, template.state, template.large_text, template.small_text
[player.*] — overrides for specific local players
[activity_type] and [time] — Discord display behavior
[cover.provider] — cover-art sources

Example: show track title in Discord status instead of player name:

toml
[player.default]
status_display_type = "details"

Status display types

status_display_type controls which text Discord shows in your status:

Mode	Preview
`name` — player/app name
`state` — `template.state` render (default: artists)
`details` — `template.details` render (default: title)

Inspect resolved config

bash
mprisence config

Web-player config options ([web_player.*]) are documented in the Web players section.

Web players

mprisence supports two paths for browser media. Try Browser MPRIS first; switch to the bridge if metadata or controls are lacking.

	Browser MPRIS	Bridge + extension
Setup	None	Native host + extension
Metadata	Title, maybe artist, URL	Title, artist, album, cover, canonical URL
Controls	Play/pause	Full (prev, next, seek)
Works with	Any browser with MPRIS support	Bundled sites + presets

Bridge + extension

Use this path for richer title, cover art, canonical URL, duration, and controls.

Bundled site support includes:

YouTube Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, TIDAL, Apple Music
Plus presets for Deezer, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Yandex Music, and more

Install native host

bash
cargo build --release -p mprisence   # or install from Releases / AUR / Nix
./target/release/mprisence web install
./target/release/mprisence web doctor

Install extension

Firefox: mprisence bridge on AMO
Chrome / Chromium: mprisence bridge on Chrome Web Store

Open a supported site (e.g. music.youtube.com) and play a track. Check with playerctl -l | grep mprisence_web.

<details> <summary>Development: build and load unpacked</summary>

bash
cd extension
npm install
npm run build:firefox   # or: npm run build:chromium

Firefox: about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox → Load Temporary Add-on → extension/dist/firefox/manifest.json
Chromium: chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked → extension/dist/chromium/

Reloading the extension kills content scripts on existing tabs. Refresh media tabs after reload.

</details>

Debugging

bash
playerctl -l | grep mprisence_web
tail -f /tmp/bridge-stderr.log

For full detail: extension/README.md

Browser MPRIS

Some browsers expose media tabs as MPRIS players with page URL metadata. When quality is adequate, mprisence matches these against [web_player.*] presets.

Check what your browser exposes:

bash
playerctl -l
mprisence players list --detailed

Enable specific sites via config.

Bundled site (patterns inherited from bundled entry — un-ignore to activate):

toml
[web_player.youtube]
ignore = false

Custom site (not in bundle — provide match_pattern and app_id):

toml
[web_player.my_site]
match_pattern = "mysite.com"
name = "My Site"
app_id = "YOUR_DISCORD_APP_ID"
icon = "https://mysite.com/icon.png"
ignore = false

Development

Build workspace

bash
cargo build --release -p mprisence
./target/release/mprisence web install
cd extension && npm install && npm run build:firefox

Repository layout

Path	Purpose
`src/`	core daemon: MPRIS discovery, metadata, cover art, config, Discord presence
`src/web_bridge/`	native host mode for browser sources
`extension/`	browser extension for supported web players
`config/`	bundled defaults and example config
`tests/`	integration and metadata tests
`packaging/`	packaging scripts and distro assets

Useful commands

bash
# verbose logging
RUST_LOG=debug mprisence
RUST_LOG=trace mprisence

# validate version string logic
mprisence version validate 1.7.0-beta.3

Troubleshooting

Discord activity not showing

Check:

Discord desktop client running
Activity-sharing setting enabled
mprisence process or service running
Player visible in mprisence players list
Logs show no errors

bash
systemctl --user status mprisence
mprisence players list --detailed
journalctl --user -u mprisence -f

Player detected, but presence still hidden

Player may be ignored by config or blocked as streaming source.

bash
mprisence config
mprisence players list --detailed

Add matching [player.*] override or adjust [web_player.*] entry.

Browser tab missing or wrong

Browser MPRIS path: browser may not expose enough metadata
Bridge path: extension may not be loaded, native host may not be installed, or tab may need refresh after extension reload

Useful checks:

bash
playerctl -l
playerctl -l | grep mprisence_web
./target/release/mprisence web doctor
tail -f /tmp/bridge-stderr.log

Cover art missing

bash
RUST_LOG=debug mprisence
rm -rf ~/.cache/mprisence/cover_art

Then verify provider config and metadata quality.

Flatpak Discord clients

If you use Vesktop Flatpak, native IPC may need extra setup. See Vesktop guide for native applications:
https://github.com/flathub/dev.vencord.Vesktop?tab=readme-ov-file#native-applications

If problem persists, open an issue with:

player name and mprisence players list --detailed output
relevant config snippet
logs from journalctl --user -u mprisence -f
bridge logs if browser path involved

Mprisence

mprisence

Overview

How it works

Highlights

Supported players

Quick start

1. Install

Arch Linux

Nix / NixOS

Debian / Ubuntu

crates.io

From source

2. Start it

3. Verify

4. Enable as a service (optional)

Configuration

Common knobs

Status display types

Inspect resolved config

Web players

Bridge + extension

Install native host

Install extension

Debugging

Browser MPRIS

Development

Build workspace

Repository layout

Useful commands

Troubleshooting

Discord activity not showing

Player detected, but presence still hidden

Browser tab missing or wrong

Cover art missing

Flatpak Discord clients

Contributors

mprisence

Overview

How it works

Highlights

Supported players

Quick start

1. Install

Arch Linux

Nix / NixOS

Debian / Ubuntu

crates.io

From source

2. Start it

3. Verify

4. Enable as a service (optional)

Configuration

Common knobs

Status display types

Inspect resolved config

Web players

Bridge + extension

Install native host

Install extension

Debugging

Browser MPRIS

Development

Build workspace

Repository layout

Useful commands

Troubleshooting

Discord activity not showing

Player detected, but presence still hidden

Browser tab missing or wrong

Cover art missing

Flatpak Discord clients

Contributors

Related Repositories