**A soulseek client for the terminal. Built for agents and people who live
there.**
Search the network, share your files, browse someone's collection, join a room.
It runs over ssh on the machine where your music already lives.
Soulseek is a closed-source P2P network from the 2000s, still used by music
enthusiasts to share niche music. This repository is that client plus
[`soulseek-rs-lib`](./soulseek-rs-lib), the protocol library under it.
**[re-invention.nl/soulseek-rs](https://re-invention.nl/soulseek-rs/)**: what it
does, how to install it, and every `config.toml` setting.
## Demo
[](https://re-invention.nl/soulseek-rs/)
## Features
- **Search & download**: search the network and queue downloads in the TUI,
or fetch a track in one command with `get`; narrow results by bitrate, size,
file type, free slots, or terms to exclude
- **Wishlist**: `wish add` something the network doesn't have today, and
`wish run` (or `serve --wishlist`) keeps looking for it on the interval the
server sets
- **Sharing**: `shares add` a directory and your files show up in searches;
`serve` stays online so peers can browse and download them
- **Upload queue**: a slot cap with users the server lists as privileged served
first, and peers get a truthful answer when they ask their place in line
- **Browse**: list any user's shared files and download straight from the tree
- **Resumable downloads**: a transfer that dies leaves a `.part` file, and
re-running the download asks the peer to send only what is missing
- **Chat rooms**: list, join, and talk in public rooms, several open at once
- **Private messages**: send and receive messages, with an inbox in the TUI
- **Firewalled peers**: downloads and browsing fall back to server-brokered
connections when a peer can't be reached directly
- **Automatic port mapping**: opens your listen port via UPnP-IGD and
NAT-PMP, with a `portmap` subcommand to test your router
- **TUI and CLI**: a full terminal interface, plus one-shot commands for
scripts and agents: every feature reachable without a terminal, stdout
carrying records, the exit code saying what happened
## Project Goals
A learning exercise in Rust. I've been on Soulseek since the early 2000s, and
its closed-source protocol is a good way to learn asynchronous network
programming and reverse engineering.
The library stays lean on dependencies and has none today; the client takes
them freely.
## Planned Features
- [x] Headless daemon mode with remote control
## Project Structure
A Cargo workspace with two crates:
- **soulseek-rs-lib** - the protocol implementation, for anyone building their
own client
- **soulseek-rs** - the client built on it, installable with Homebrew or
`cargo install`
## Installation
### For Users
Homebrew, on macOS or Linux. A prebuilt binary, so no Rust toolchain:
```bash
brew install michel/tap/soulseek-rs
```
Or with cargo:
```bash
cargo install soulseek-rs
```
### For Developers
Clone and build from source:
```bash
git clone git@github.com:michel/soulseek-rs.git
cd soulseek-rs
cargo build --release
```
The binary lands at `target/release/soulseek-rs`.
### For Library Users
To build your own Soulseek client, add to your `Cargo.toml`:
```toml
[dependencies]
soulseek-rs-lib = "8"
```
## Usage
Run it with no subcommand for the interactive TUI:
```bash
soulseek-rs
```
Everything else is a one-shot command that runs headless.
### Daemon mode
A one-shot command logs in, does its job, and exits. Run a daemon instead and
it holds the session while everything else borrows it:
```bash
soulseek-rs daemon # stays in the foreground; leave it running
soulseek-rs search 'aphex twin' # no login, no flags; uses the daemon
soulseek-rs # the TUI attaches to the same session
```
**Why you want this.** The server allows one session per account. Without a
daemon, two commands at once either cut each other off, or push you into a
throwaway username per run. That second option is account churn on
infrastructure other people maintain and share. A daemon is one login for as
long as you work, and one share index instead of a rescan every invocation. It also lets a download
outlive the command that queued it, and keeps collecting chat while nothing is
attached. If you drive this from a script or an agent, start one.
Commands find it by themselves. It listens on a Unix socket only your user can
open, so there is nothing to configure and no secret to pass around. Docker and
ssh-agent make the same arrangement. With no daemon running, everything
behaves exactly as it did before; `--no-daemon` forces that for one run.
From a script, start it and *wait* for it: it takes a second or two to log in,
and a command that arrives early opens a session of its own instead.
```bash
soulseek-rs daemon status --json >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
soulseek-rs daemon >/dev/null 2>&1 &
for _ in $(seq 30); do
soulseek-rs daemon status --json >/dev/null 2>&1 && break
sleep 1
done
}
```
```bash
soulseek-rs daemon status # who it is, what it shares, who is attached
soulseek-rs daemon stop
```
Everything that touches the network goes through it. `config`, `skills`,
`completions` and `portmap` stay local, because they are about this machine
rather than a session. `shares add`/`remove` do both: they write the config
file *and* update a running daemon, so a folder is served straight away rather
than at its next start. Files land on the *daemon's* filesystem, and `daemon
status` reports where.
#### A download box you drive from your laptop
This is what daemon mode is really for. Put soulseek-rs on the machine that
should be doing the downloading: a home server, a NAS, a Raspberry Pi, a
seedbox. Then drive it from wherever you happen to be.
**On that machine**, run the daemon and let it accept connections from your
network:
```bash
soulseek-rs daemon --bind 0.0.0.0:5030
soulseek-rs daemon token # copy this, you need it once
```
It needs no terminal and no one logged in; hand it to systemd or launchd and
forget about it.
**On your laptop**, say once where it lives:
```bash
soulseek-rs config set daemon nas.local:5030
soulseek-rs config set daemon_token
```
That is the whole setup. Every command from now on is the normal command. Your
laptop needs no Soulseek account of its own, because it uses the server's:
```bash
soulseek-rs search 'aphex twin' --json
soulseek-rs get 'selected ambient works'
soulseek-rs daemon status # what it's doing right now
```
Then close the lid. **The downloads keep going**, because they belong to the
daemon, not to the command that asked for them or to the laptop that ran it.
Come back tomorrow, run `soulseek-rs daemon status` again, and pick up where
you left off. The files are on the download box, which is where you wanted
them.
When you are finished with it:
```bash
soulseek-rs daemon stop # shuts down the remote daemon
```
One caution: there is no encryption on that TCP port. On a home network that
is usually fine. Over the internet, don't expose it. Reach it through SSH
instead, either with a tunnel (`ssh -L 5030:localhost:5030 nas`) or by running
the commands over `ssh` on the box itself.
#### Build your own remote
The daemon's interface is open and documented, so nothing about it is specific
to this CLI. It speaks newline-delimited JSON-RPC 2.0 over a socket, described
by an [OpenRPC](https://open-rpc.org) document,
[`docs/openrpc.json`](docs/openrpc.json). The daemon serves that document
itself via `rpc.discover`, so a client can ask a running daemon what it can
do.
OpenRPC is the JSON-RPC counterpart to OpenAPI: point a client generator at
that document and you get typed bindings in whatever language you are working
in. If you want an Android or iOS app that queues downloads on your home
server from the sofa, or a small web page that shows what is transferring, you
have everything you need and no permission to ask for. Searches, transfers,
rooms, private messages and shares are all on the same interface this CLI
uses. There is no private back channel it keeps for itself, and live updates
are pushed to every connected client rather than polled for.
[`docs/daemon-protocol.md`](docs/daemon-protocol.md) covers the parts a schema
cannot state: the framing, the handshake, and how pushed events behave.
### Scripting
The one-shot commands follow three rules, so they compose with other tools:
- **stdout is data.** One record per line, and nothing else. Progress,
warnings, and errors go to stderr; `--quiet` silences the progress.
- **`--json` emits newline-delimited JSON**, one object per line. Without it,
records are tab-separated fields with no header and no decoration.
- **The exit code is the verdict.** No output plus exit 0 never means failure.
| Code | Meaning |
| ---- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| 0 | success |
| 1 | unexpected error |
| 2 | bad arguments, missing credentials, unusable configuration |
| 3 | could not reach the server, or the login was rejected |
| 4 | the command worked but found nothing |
| 5 | timed out waiting for a response or a transfer |
| 6 | a transfer started but did not finish |
| 7 | the session ended mid-command; nothing it saw is reliable |
#### Commands
```bash
soulseek-rs search # print matching files
soulseek-rs download # fetch one known file
soulseek-rs download --stdin # fetch files listed on stdin
soulseek-rs get # search, pick, and download
soulseek-rs wish add|remove|list # keep looking for something
soulseek-rs wish run # search every stored wish once
soulseek-rs browse # list a user's shared files
soulseek-rs room list # public rooms and user counts
soulseek-rs room say # post to a room
soulseek-rs room listen # stream room messages and joins
soulseek-rs message send # send a private message
soulseek-rs message read # stream incoming private messages
soulseek-rs room users # who is in a room
soulseek-rs serve [--follow] # stay online sharing, stream uploads
soulseek-rs whoami # confirm credentials and connection
soulseek-rs user # a peer's status and share counts
soulseek-rs shares list|add|remove|status|reindex
soulseek-rs config path|list|get|set
soulseek-rs portmap # test automatic port mapping
soulseek-rs skills install|uninstall|list # teach a coding agent this CLI
soulseek-rs completions install|uninstall # tab completion for bash/zsh/fish
```
`whoami`, `config` and `shares list|add|remove` are the ones a script runs
first: the config commands need no account at all, and `whoami` answers
"are these credentials good and what am I offering" in one call.
Thirteen of these need no credentials, because they never touch the network:
`config path|list|get|set`, `shares list|add|remove`, `portmap`,
`skills install|uninstall|list` and `completions install|uninstall`.
`shares status` and `shares reindex` are not among them: they report what the
network will see, which means logging in and scanning the folders.
Every command emits records except the four that perform an action.
`room say`, `message send`, `shares add` and `shares remove` say nothing on
stdout and answer with their exit code alone. `room listen`, `message read`
and `serve` stream records as they arrive, until `--duration` seconds pass or,
with `--follow`, until they are interrupted.
#### Record shapes
Text mode puts the identifying fields first and the remote path last, because
a path may contain anything except a tab (tabs and newlines in peer-supplied
text are replaced with spaces so a record is always exactly one line):
```
search user size bitrate path
browse user size path
download / get local-path
room list users room
room users user
room listen type room user message
message read timestamp user message
serve status user sent/size path
user user status average-speed shared-files
whoami user server shared-folders shared-files
shares list ok|missing directory
shares status folders files
config get|set|list|path key value
portmap ok|failed backend external
```
`room listen`'s `type` is `message`, `join` or `leave`; a join or leave leaves
the message field empty. `serve`'s `status` is `uploading`, `completed`,
`cancelled` or `failed`. `user`'s `status` is `online`, `away` or `offline`,
and any field the server did not answer prints as `-`.
`--json` carries more than text does: `search` adds `duration`, `slots`,
`speed` and `free_slot`; `browse` adds `directory`; `download` adds the `user`,
remote `path` and `size` alongside the local `file`; `whoami` adds `listening`,
`listen_port` and `download_dir`; `user` adds `privileged` and
`shared_folders`; `shares status` adds the `directories` array; `serve` adds
`bytes_sent`, `size`, `speed` and a `reason` on failure; `portmap` adds
`port`. Fields the server never answered are `null` rather than absent, so a
missing reply cannot be misread as a zero.
`download --stdin` reads back either shape it emits: a JSON object per line,
or tab-separated text whose first field is the user and last field is the
path. That is why `search` and `browse` pipe straight into it.
#### Recipes
```bash
# Everything above 320kbps from peers with a free slot, best first
soulseek-rs search "aphex twin xtal" --min-bitrate 320 --free-slots
# One command, start to finish: search, pick the best, download it
soulseek-rs get "aphex twin xtal"
# Filter with jq, then fetch what survived
soulseek-rs search "rjd2" --json \
| jq -c 'select(.size > 5000000 and .free_slot)' \
| soulseek-rs download --stdin
# Grab a peer's whole FLAC folder
soulseek-rs browse someuser | grep -i '\.flac$' | soulseek-rs download --stdin
# Branch on the outcome
if soulseek-rs get "some rare track" --quiet; then
echo "got it"
elif [ $? -eq 4 ]; then
echo "nobody has it"
fi
# Nobody has it today: keep looking, and fetch it the day someone does
soulseek-rs wish add "some rare 12 inch"
soulseek-rs wish run --json | soulseek-rs download --stdin
# Only lossless, nothing from a bootleg folder, album-sized files only
soulseek-rs search "boards of canada" \
--extension flac --exclude bootleg --min-size 20000000
# Log room chat as JSON until interrupted
soulseek-rs room listen lobby --follow --json >> lobby.ndjson
# Be a peer: share a folder and log every upload served
soulseek-rs shares add ~/Music
soulseek-rs serve --follow --json | tee -a uploads.ndjson
# Decide whether a peer is worth queueing to before committing
soulseek-rs user someuser --json | jq -e '.status != "offline"'
```
### Agent skills
[](https://re-invention.nl/soulseek-rs/#agents)
Coding agents drive the surface above as readily as shell scripts do, but
`--help` cannot tell an agent which JSON keys a record carries or what exit 4
means. That lives in a skill file shipped inside the binary, so `cargo install`
is all it takes to hand it over:
```bash
soulseek-rs skills install
```
That writes `SKILL.md` into every agent it finds in your home directory,
currently Claude Code (`~/.claude/skills`) and opencode
(`~/.config/opencode/skill`), and prints one record per target:
```
installed claude /home/you/.claude/skills/soulseek-rs/SKILL.md
unchanged opencode /home/you/.config/opencode/skill/soulseek-rs/SKILL.md
```
Running it again is how you update after upgrading the binary; an identical
copy reports `unchanged` rather than rewriting it. `skills list` shows what is
there without touching anything, and `skills uninstall` removes it again, but
only when the file it finds is the one this binary wrote.
For an agent this table does not cover, name the directory yourself, or commit
the skill next to a project so everyone working on it gets the same brief:
```bash
soulseek-rs skills install --dir ~/.config/some-agent/skills
soulseek-rs skills install --dir .claude/skills # commit it with the repo
```
### Shell completions
Tab completion is generated from the same `clap` definition the binary parses
with, so it never drifts from `--help`:
```bash
soulseek-rs completions install
```
That covers whichever of bash, zsh and fish this machine uses, writing each
script where that shell already looks — `~/.config/fish/completions` is scanned
unprompted, while bash and zsh also get one marked `source` line appended to
`~/.bashrc` or `~/.zshrc`, because nothing else puts a per-user directory on
their search path. Open a new shell and `soulseek-rs sh` completes.
```
installed zsh /home/you/.local/share/zsh/site-functions/_soulseek-rs
installed fish /home/you/.config/fish/completions/soulseek-rs.fish
```
`completions uninstall` removes the scripts and takes back exactly the lines it
added, leaving the rest of your rc file alone. Pass `--shell bash` (repeatable)
to act on one shell rather than the ones detected.
### Sharing
`serve` is the mode that makes this client a source: it stays logged in, keeps
the listener and the share index alive, answers searches and browse requests
from the network, and prints one record per upload as it changes state
(`uploading`, `completed`, `cancelled`, `failed`). It ends after `--duration`
seconds (an hour by default), or runs until interrupted with `--follow`.
```bash
soulseek-rs shares add ~/Music # remembered in config.toml
soulseek-rs shares status # what the network will see
soulseek-rs shares reindex # after adding files on disk
soulseek-rs serve --follow # add --upload-slots N to widen the queue
```
Uploads only show up inside a running `serve`; every other command is
short-lived with nothing to serve, so there is no `uploads list`. Managing
transfers across commands (pause, resume, a queue that outlives one
invocation) is what [daemon mode](#daemon-mode) is for.
Downloads run under a deadline (`--timeout`, 300s by default) and
`--max-concurrent-downloads` at a time, so an unattended run always ends.
An interrupted download is picked up where it stopped. Bytes stream into
`.part` as they arrive and it is renamed only once the file is whole, so
re-running the same `download` asks the peer to start at the offset already on
disk. Partial files are never offered to other peers, and deleting the `.part`
starts the transfer over.
### Configuration
Every setting can come from a flag, an environment variable, or the config
file, in that order of precedence. Flags work before or after the subcommand.
| Flag | Environment variable | `config.toml` key | Default |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| `--username` | `SOULSEEK_USERNAME` | `username` | required |
| `--password` | `SOULSEEK_PASSWORD` | never stored in the file | required |
| `--password-cmd` | `SOULSEEK_PASSWORD_CMD` | `password_cmd` | unset |
| `--server` | `SOULSEEK_SERVER` | `server` | `server.slsknet.org:2416` |
| `--download-dir` | `SOULSEEK_DOWNLOAD_DIR` | `download_dir` | `/Soulseek` |
| `--shared-dir` (repeatable) | `SOULSEEK_SHARED_DIR` | `shared_dir` / `shared_dirs` | the download dir |
| `--listener-port` | `SOULSEEK_LISTENER_PORT` | `listener_port` | `2234` |
| `--no-listener` / `--listener` | `SOULSEEK_NO_LISTENER` | `disable_listener` | listener on |
| `--max-concurrent-downloads` | `SOULSEEK_MAX_CONCURRENT_DOWNLOADS` | `max_concurrent_downloads` | `20` |
| `--search-timeout` | `SOULSEEK_SEARCH_TIMEOUT` | `search_timeout` | `10` |
| `--log-file` | `SOULSEEK_LOG_FILE` | not a config key | stderr |
Boolean environment variables accept the usual `1`/`0`/`true`/`false`/`yes`/`no`.
`--config ` (or `SOULSEEK_CONFIG`) reads a different config file and
`--no-config` ignores it entirely, which is what an isolated or containerised
run wants. The config file lives at `~/.config/soulseek-rs/config.toml` on
macOS and Linux; `SOULSEEK_CONFIG_DIR` and `SOULSEEK_STATE_DIR` relocate the
config and state directories wholesale. Every variable above is also read from
a `.env` file in the working directory, which is often the tidiest way to hand
a container its credentials.
`config get` and `config set` cover the nine settings the file can hold
(`username`, `server`, `listener_port`, `disable_listener`, `download_dir`,
`shared_dirs`, `max_concurrent_downloads`, `search_timeout`, `password_cmd`),
and name the lot back at you when you ask for something else. Setting a key to
an empty string clears it, and `shared_dirs` takes a comma-separated list.
Every wait expressed in seconds (`--search-timeout`, each `--timeout`, each
`--duration`) is bounded to one day, so a mistyped flag is rejected rather than
hanging until the heat death of the universe.
#### Credentials for unattended runs
Four ways to supply a password, in the order they are consulted:
1. `--password-stdin`: read the first line of stdin, like `docker login`.
2. `--password` / `SOULSEEK_PASSWORD`: convenient, but visible in `ps`.
3. The **OS keychain** (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, Linux
Secret Service), under service `soulseek-rs` and your username. The TUI
stores your password here after a successful login.
4. `password_cmd` / `--password-cmd`: a shell command whose stdout is the
password, e.g. `pass show soulseek`. Best for headless boxes with no
keychain.
```bash
# Nothing sensitive on the command line or in the environment
pass show soulseek | soulseek-rs --username alice --password-stdin get "some track"
```
Logging stays at errors only unless you ask for more: `-v` through `-vvvv`
raise it, and `LOG_LEVEL`/`RUST_LOG` are honoured when no `-v` is given.
`NO_COLOR` and a non-terminal stderr both disable colour.
### Private messages
Send and read private messages from the command line:
```bash
soulseek-rs message send "hello there"
soulseek-rs message read --duration 60 # or --follow to run until killed
```
In the interactive TUI:
- press `m` to compose, then type `` and `Enter` to send;
- press `i` to open the inbox popup listing sent and received messages
(the TUI receives incoming messages while it is open). The `i`
shortcut shows an unread counter, e.g. `i inbox (3)`.
### Chat rooms
From the command line:
```bash
soulseek-rs room list # public rooms with user counts
soulseek-rs room listen # stream messages, joins, and leaves
soulseek-rs room say "hello room" # post one message and exit
```
In the interactive TUI, press `c` to open the chat-rooms popup:
- the **room list** is browsable and `/`-filterable and shows each room's
user count (busiest first); press `Enter` to join the highlighted room;
- several rooms can be **open at once** as tabs: `Tab`/`Shift-Tab` switch
between them, `x` leaves the active room, `l` returns to the room list;
- in a room, press `Enter` to type a message and `Enter` again to send;
- the room's **member list** is selectable with `↑`/`↓`; press `b` to browse
the highlighted user's shared files or `m` to send them a private message;
- **unread messages** bold a room's tab and add a `room (n)` badge, and the
`c chat (n)` shortcut counts unread across all open rooms.
### Connectivity (being reachable)
Browsing and downloading are peer-to-peer, so at least one side must accept an
incoming connection. When the listener is enabled (the default), the client
tries to open its listen port on your router via **UPnP-IGD** and **NAT-PMP**,
so firewalled peers and the server can connect back. This is best-effort: if
your router has UPnP/NAT-PMP disabled it's a no-op, and a log line tells you to
forward the port yourself.
- The mapped/forwarded port is your `--listener-port` (env
`SOULSEEK_LISTENER_PORT`, default `2234`); the client renews it while it runs
and removes it on exit.
- If auto-mapping can't get that port, forward **TCP 2234** (or whatever
`--listener-port` you chose) to this machine on your router.
- Pass `--no-listener` to turn the listener (and port mapping) off, or
`--listener` to force it on when the config file disables it.
- If another process on this machine already holds that port — the usual case
when several one-shot commands run at once — the client takes one the OS
picks instead, says so on stderr, and advertises and maps that one. `whoami`
reports the port it really holds.
Check whether it works on your network without launching the whole client:
```bash
soulseek-rs portmap # exits 0 when mapping works, 4 when it does not
soulseek-rs portmap --json # {"ok":true,"backend":"upnp","external":"…"}
```
It tries to open the port via UPnP/NAT-PMP, reports whether your router allowed
it (and your external address), then removes the test mapping. Because the
verdict is in the exit code, `soulseek-rs portmap || notify-me` works as a
health check.
If both you and a peer are behind routers with no forwarded port, browsing that
peer can't work. That's a fundamental Soulseek/peer-to-peer limitation, not a
bug.
## Development
```bash
RUST_LOG=trace cargo run # run with debug and trace output
cargo test
cargo clippy
cargo fmt
```
### End-to-end tests
Two suites exercise the client against a real Soulseek server using
[soulfind](https://github.com/soulfind-dev/soulfind), a local server
implementation: `soulseek-rs-lib/tests/e2e.rs` covers the protocol library, and
`soulseek-rs/tests/cli_e2e.rs` drives the actual binary the way a script would
(records on stdout, exit codes, real searches, downloads, and chat). The tests
are **server-optional**: they run when a server is available and otherwise skip
(so `cargo test` stays green everywhere).
They locate a server in this order:
1. `SOULSEEK_TEST_SERVER=host:port`: connect to an already-running server, or
2. `SOULFIND_BIN=/path/to/soulfind` (or a `soulfind/bin/soulfind` checkout in a
parent directory), which spawns soulfind on an ephemeral port with a
throwaway database.
```bash
# Build soulfind once (see its BUILDING.md), then:
SOULFIND_BIN=/path/to/soulfind/bin/soulfind \
cargo test --workspace -- --nocapture
```
> On macOS, soulfind's `sqlite3_config` call is rejected by the system SQLite
> and the server dies at startup with `SQLite error 7 (out of memory)`, which
> the suite reports as a skip. Run the tests with
> `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/opt/sqlite/lib` so soulfind picks up
> Homebrew's SQLite instead; no patching needed.
Set `SOULSEEK_E2E_REQUIRED=1` to turn a missing server into a hard failure
instead of a skip. CI sets it, so the e2e suite runs against a freshly built
soulfind instead of skipping.
### Continuous integration
`.github/workflows/ci.yml` runs on every push and pull request:
- **Format & Clippy**: `cargo fmt --all --check` and
`cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings`.
- **Test**: `cargo test --verbose` on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
- **End-to-end**: builds soulfind from source (LDC + `dub build :server`),
points `SOULFIND_BIN` at it, and runs both the library and CLI e2e suites
with `SOULSEEK_E2E_REQUIRED=1`, so a missing server fails instead of skipping.
## License
MIT. See [LICENSE](./LICENSE).
