Spotifast (formerly Fastpotify)

Lightweight Spotify client (Premium)

WHO USES ITSpotify Premium listeners, Linux users especially · Keyboard and launcher fans · The Winamp generation

Install to use

Native Rust Spotify client, 100-250 MB RAM, Linux/macOS/Windows; playback needs Premium

★ 4.1k▲ +13 / 7d▲ 1 HNlast 14 days · stars per dayhollow = no dataAs of 09-16 21:00 UTC

4,145 stars · checked on GitHub 09-15 19:34 UTC GitHub check 30 h late · 7-day +13 observed via GH Archive (as of 09-16 21:00 UTC) · 1 Show HN points observed 09-13 14:04 UTC

RANKS MEDIA #20 As of 09-16 21:00 UTC

CROSS-SIGNAL Show HN + GitHub BACK CATALOG

The Spotifast Home page: playlists in the left Library, 'Good afternoon' shortcuts with Made for you and Recently played shelves in the middle, a Queue panel with Now playing and Next up on the right, and the player bar below

TESIGN TAKE

A third-party client that puts a number on 'it could be lighter'; just note that without Premium you can browse but not listen.

AT A GLANCE

WHY IT MATTERS

Where Spotify's own desktop app often uses 600 MB to over 1 GB of RAM, Spotifast typically runs the same library, search and playback in 100-250 MB and starts in well under a second. It plays through librespot and appears as a Spotify Connect device, so you can pick this computer from your phone or control a speaker from the desktop. It was renamed from Fastpotify to Spotifast at 0.8.0, and the repository now redirects to crmne/spotifast.

BUILD FROM THIS

Read playback state through subcommands like fastpotify now-playing --raw on macOS and Windows or MPRIS on Linux to build Stream Deck, Raycast, hotkey or status-bar integrations, and ship JSON palettes in the themes folder beside settings.json.

WHO IT'S FOR

Spotify Premium listeners, Linux users especially: a native player that uses less memory
Keyboard and launcher fans: control playback with shortcuts and CLI subcommands
The Winamp generation: a .wsz-skin mini player and the MilkDrop visualiser

START IN 5 MINUTES

# # Windows installer / macOS DMG / Linux deb, rpm, Flatpak: https://spotifast.rocks/download/
# yay -S spotifast-bin      # Arch Linux (AUR)
# brew install --cask crmne/tap/spotifast   # macOS (Homebrew)
# cargo install --path . --locked           # elsewhere: Rust 1.95 or newer, inside a clone
# # Without MilkDrop: cargo install --path . --locked --no-default-features

CAVEATS

Licence MIT. Playback requires Spotify Premium; free accounts can only browse and search. It is unaffiliated with Spotify, and the author only says they are 'not aware' of account suspensions, which is not a guarantee.
Renamed from Fastpotify to Spotifast at 0.8.0; the repository and site moved to crmne/spotifast and spotifast.rocks, and the command is spotifast (fastpotify still works).
Windows installers, a macOS DMG and Linux deb/rpm/Flatpak ship on GitHub Releases and spotifast.rocks/download; elsewhere build from source with Rust 1.95 or newer. The MilkDrop build needs CMake, a C++ compiler and libclang, and opening MilkDrop for the first time downloads about 26 MB of presets.

RECEIPT

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Up to five from MEDIA by ★ total: edited entries first, then repository cards; this entry is highlighted. Drawn from the same stored snapshot as the rankings — a comparison, not a recommendation. As of 09-16 21:00 UTC

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