SpotifyPlugin for InfoPanel

A plugin for InfoPanel that displays real-time Spotify playback information — track name, artist, album, cover art, elapsed/remaining time, and progress percentage.

Features

• Real-time track details: title, artist, album, cover art URL, elapsed/remaining time, and progress percentage
• Smart pause handling — track info stays visible when paused
• Customizable display messages for idle and paused states
• Configurable title truncation length
• Automatic background token refresh — authorize once and forget
• Built-in rate limiting to stay within Spotify API limits

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Quick Start

1. Create a Spotify App

You need a free Spotify Developer account to use this plugin.

1. Go to the Spotify Developer Dashboard and log in.
2. Click Create App.
3. Fill in a name (e.g., InfoPanel Spotify) and description.
4. Set the Redirect URI to:

   http://127.0.0.1:5543/callback
   

5. Save the app, then copy your Client ID — you'll need it in step 3.

2. Install the Plugin

1. Download the latest release ZIP from the Releases page.
2. Open InfoPanel and go to the Plugins page.
3. Click Import Plugin Archive and select the downloaded ZIP.

3. Configure

1. On the Plugins page, click Open Plugins Folder.
2. Close InfoPanel.
3. Open InfoPanel.Spotify.dll.ini in a text editor.
4. Replace <your-spotify-client-id> with the Client ID from step 1.
5. Save the file.

4. Authorize

1. Restart InfoPanel.
2. Click "Authorize with Spotify" in the plugin settings.
3. A browser window will open — log in and grant access.
4. Done! The plugin will start displaying your Spotify playback info.

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Configuration

Edit InfoPanel.Spotify.dll.ini in the plugin folder to customize the plugin.

[Spotify Plugin]
ClientID = <your-spotify-client-id>
MaxDisplayLength = 20
CallbackPort = 5543
NoTrackMessage = No music playing
PausedMessage =
NoTrackArtistMessage = -
ForceInvalidGrant = false

Options

Setting	Default	Description
ClientID	(required)	Your Spotify app Client ID from the Developer Dashboard.
MaxDisplayLength	20	Max characters for track/artist/album names. Longer text is truncated with ....
CallbackPort	5543	Local port for the OAuth callback server. Change this if port 5543 is already in use. Must also match the Redirect URI in your Spotify app settings.
NoTrackMessage	No music playing	Message shown when Spotify has no track loaded.
PausedMessage	(empty)	Message shown when paused. Leave empty to keep showing actual track info.
NoTrackArtistMessage	-	Artist field text when no track is playing or when a custom paused message is active.
ForceInvalidGrant	false	Debug builds only. Forces a token refresh failure for testing.

Examples

Keep track info visible when paused (default):

[Spotify Plugin]
ClientID = abc123xyz
MaxDisplayLength = 25

Custom idle and paused messages:

[Spotify Plugin]
ClientID = abc123xyz
MaxDisplayLength = 30
NoTrackMessage = ♪ Spotify idle
PausedMessage = ⏸ Music paused
NoTrackArtistMessage = No artist

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Troubleshooting

"Spotify client not initialized"

The plugin hasn't connected to Spotify yet.

Fix: Click "Authorize with Spotify" in the plugin settings and follow the browser prompt. If it persists, check that your ClientID is set correctly in the .ini file.

"Reauthorize Required"

The refresh token has expired or been revoked by Spotify.

Fix: Click "Authorize with Spotify" again. If it persists, delete spotifyrefresh.tmp from the plugin folder and reauthorize.

"Error updating Spotify info"

A network issue, rate limit, or token problem prevented the plugin from fetching track data.

Fix: Check your internet connection and wait 10–20 seconds for automatic retry. If it persists, restart InfoPanel or click "Authorize with Spotify".

"Rate limit exceeded"

Too many API requests in a short time.

Fix: Wait about a minute — the plugin retries automatically. If it keeps happening, close other apps using the Spotify API.

"Spotify ClientID is not set or is invalid"

The ClientID in your .ini file is missing or incorrect.

Fix: Open InfoPanel.Spotify.dll.ini, set your Client ID under [Spotify Plugin], save, and restart InfoPanel.

Authorization hangs or never completes

The OAuth callback server could not start, usually because the port is in use.

Fix: Change CallbackPort in InfoPanel.Spotify.dll.ini to a different port (e.g., 5544). Then update the Redirect URI in your Spotify Developer Dashboard to match (e.g., http://127.0.0.1:5544/callback). Restart InfoPanel and try again.

General tips

• Restart InfoPanel to fix most temporary issues.
• Delete spotifyrefresh.tmp and reauthorize if token-related errors persist.
• Check your Spotify account at spotify.com/account/apps to verify the app still has permission.
• For persistent issues, open a GitHub Issue with the error message and what you've tried.

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Exposed Data

The plugin provides the following data points to InfoPanel:

Type	ID	Name	Values
Text	current-track	Current Track	Track name or status message
Text	artist	Artist	Artist name
Text	album	Album	Album name
Text	elapsed-time	Elapsed Time	mm:ss format
Text	remaining-time	Remaining Time	mm:ss format
Text	cover-art	Cover URL	Spotify album art URL
Sensor	track-progress	Track Progress (%)	0.0 – 100.0
Sensor	auth-state	Auth State	0 = Not Authenticated, 1 = Authenticating, 2 = Authenticated, 3 = Error
Sensor	playback-state	Playback State	0 = Not Playing, 1 = Paused, 2 = Playing

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Development

Requirements

• .NET 8.0 SDK
• InfoPanel repository cloned locally (the project references InfoPanel.Plugins.csproj at an absolute path)
• Spotify API Client ID

Build

# Debug build
dotnet build -c Debug

# Release build (outputs to bin/Release/net8.0-windows/InfoPanel.Spotify-v{VERSION}/InfoPanel.Spotify/)
dotnet build -c Release

Contributing

Found a bug or have a feature idea? Open an issue or submit a pull request!