A modern, Linux-first YouTube Music player built with GTK4 and Libadwaita.
formerly known as Muse
This software is in alpha. Expect bugs and missing features. It is not affiliated with, funded, authorized, endorsed, or in any way associated with YouTube, Google LLC or any of their affiliates and subsidiaries. Help is always appreciated through donations or contributions - feel free to open an issue or a pull request!
This is the recommended way to install Mixtapes on Linux, as it avoids issues with your distribution's packaging.
Add the automated repository and install:
flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists mixtapes https://m-obeid.github.io/Mixtapes/mixtapes.flatpakrepo flatpak install --user mixtapes com.pocoguy.Muse
If you previously installed under the old "Muse" repository name, remove the old remote first:
flatpak remote-delete --user muse
Download the latest artifact from GitHub Actions, then:
unzip Mixtapes-x86_64-flatpak.zip flatpak install --user ./Mixtapes-x86_64.flatpak
Both x86_64 and aarch64 builds are available.
Get the installer from the latest Windows build, or the portable folder from the same CI run. The installer adds the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which the sign-in page needs, where Windows lacks it (Windows 10 LTSC, for one).
yay -S mixtapes-git
If you are using CachyOS, you will also need to reinstall webkitgtk-6.0 from the Arch 'extra' repo, not the CachyOS repo:
sudo pacman -S extra/webkitgtk-6.0
This is not extensively tested, if there are any issues to fix, please open a PR!
nix run github:m-obeid/Mixtapes # run directly from GitHub nix run # run from local checkout nix develop # enter dev shell
Mixtapes is written in Rust. The original Python app was retired once the port reached feature parity. ARCHITECTURE.md describes how it is put together.
Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S git rust gtk4 libadwaita webkitgtk-6.0 sqlite gstreamer gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-bad yt-dlp yt-dlp-ejs nodejs ffmpeg
Fedora:
sudo dnf install git cargo gtk4-devel libadwaita-devel webkitgtk6.0-devel sqlite-devel gstreamer1-devel gstreamer1-plugins-base-devel gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free yt-dlp nodejs ffmpeg-free
Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install git cargo libgtk-4-dev libadwaita-1-dev libwebkitgtk-6.0-dev libsqlite3-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad yt-dlp nodejs ffmpeg
The build needs Rust 1.85 or newer, GTK 4.18, libadwaita 1.8 and GStreamer 1.24. On Debian/Ubuntu, consider the Flatpak to avoid outdated packages.
git clone https://github.com/m-obeid/Mixtapes.git cd Mixtapes cargo build --release ./target/release/mixtapes
What the helper programs are for. Most songs play through YouTube's
player endpoint directly and need none of them. yt-dlp (with nodejs) is
the fallback for what that endpoint declines, such as your uploaded songs,
and it does the downloads, with ffmpeg converting formats.
The tokens uploads need are minted inside the app (the rustypipe-botguard
crate, which runs YouTube's BotGuard in an embedded V8). A clean build
downloads a prebuilt V8 library of about 28 MB from GitHub once. If that
download stalls, fetch the file yourself and point the build at it:
curl -LO https://github.com/denoland/rusty_v8/releases/download/v130.0.7/librusty_v8_release_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.a.gz RUSTY_V8_ARCHIVE=$PWD/librusty_v8_release_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.a.gz cargo build --release
flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Platform//50 org.gnome.Sdk//50 org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.node24//25.08 org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.rust-stable//25.08 git clone https://github.com/m-obeid/Mixtapes.git && cd Mixtapes flatpak-builder --user --install --force-clean build-dir com.pocoguy.Muse.yaml flatpak run com.pocoguy.Muse
| Dependency | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Rust 1.85+ | Builds the app |
| GTK 4.18 + libadwaita 1.8 | UI toolkit |
| WebKitGTK 6.0 | Embedded browser for sign-in |
| GStreamer + plugins (base, good, bad) | Audio playback |
| SQLite | Download library and listening history |
| yt-dlp, yt-dlp-ejs, Node.js | Fallback stream resolver (uploads) and downloads |
| ffmpeg | Audio conversion for downloads |
Nothing to do here for a normal build. This section explains where the key comes from.
Last.fm requires every client to ship its own API key. ListenBrainz needs no app credentials and works out of the box.
The key and secret live in EMBEDDED_LASTFM_API_KEY and EMBEDDED_LASTFM_API_SECRET at the top of src/scrobbler.rs, and they are committed on purpose. The AUR package builds from a git clone on the user's own machine, and a Flathub build runs on Flathub's infrastructure, so neither one receives a secret from CI. A credential shipped inside a desktop client is extractable from the binary no matter how it got there, so injecting it at build time would protect nothing while leaving AUR and Flathub users without Last.fm.
To build against your own Last.fm app, register one at last.fm/api/account/create, then either replace the two constants or set these before launching:
export MIXTAPES_LASTFM_API_KEY=your_key export MIXTAPES_LASTFM_API_SECRET=your_secret
The environment variables are read when the app starts, not when it is compiled. Exporting them during makepkg or flatpak-builder has no effect on the resulting package.
With no credentials the Last.fm row in Preferences stays disabled and says so. ListenBrainz is unaffected.
Mixtapes asks on first launch whether to sign in. The sign-in window is Google's own page. Once you are signed in, Mixtapes keeps its own copy of the session and clears the window's cookies.
The session is stored in headers_auth.json in the data folder (~/.local/share/muse, or ~/.var/app/com.pocoguy.Muse/data/muse for the Flatpak). Treat it like a password.
Mixtapes opens YouTube and YouTube Music links. Songs play, and playlists, albums and artists open their page.
mixtapes <link>. A running Mixtapes takes the link.mixtapes://open?url=<link> link. Mixtapes registers the mixtapes:// scheme, so any app or browser hands these over.To open YouTube Music pages from your browser, install the Open in Mixtapes userscript with Violentmonkey or Tampermonkey. A song, playlist, album or artist page you open in the browser goes straight to Mixtapes. Browsing within the site stays in the browser, and an "Open in Mixtapes" button hands over the page you are on. The script's menu switches the automatic handover off. The browser asks once before it lets a page open Mixtapes.
Your desktop sends every https:// link to the browser and has no way to hand one site to another app, so links clicked outside the browser still open there first.
| Status | Feature | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | Built-in Google sign-in page — Optional: skip it and use the app without an account, Brand account channels | |
| Library | Playlists, Liked songs, Artists, Albums, Uploads (browse, upload, delete), Playlists and likes on this device when signed out | |
| Search | Songs, videos, albums, artists, playlists and podcasts, plus offline search of downloads | |
| Exploration | Home page with Quick picks, New Releases, Moods & Moments, Genres, Trending, Charts | |
| Artist Page | Basic info, Related artists, Top tracks, Albums, Singles/EPs, Videos, Play, Shuffle, Subscribe/Unsubscribe | |
| Playlist Page | Info, Tracks, Play, Shuffle, Order, Multi-Selection Editing, Cover Change, Change Visibility, Change Description, Change Name, Create and delete playlists | |
| Album Page | Basic info, Tracks, Play, Shuffle | |
| Player | Play/Pause, Seeking, Volume, Queue (Previous/Next, Reorder, Shuffle, Repeat modes), Gapless playback, Visualizer | |
| Podcasts | Shows, episodes and Episodes for Later | |
| Live Stations | Live radio streams play; needs more testing | |
| History | View history, Share history with Google account, Delete songs from history | |
| Offline Mode | Downloaded songs, cached playlists, library and covers work without a connection | |
| Caching | Cache data to reduce latency | |
| Responsive Design | Adaptive layout from desktop down to phones, tested on postmarketOS | |
| MPRIS Support | Control playback from system media controls | |
| Download Support | Download tracks for offline playback, even as local files | |
| Radio / Mixes | Start a radio station from a song, album, playlist, or artist | |
| Link Handling | Open YouTube Music links from the search field, the command line, mixtapes:// links or the browser userscript | |
| Dedicated Data Directory | Cookies, cache, etc. in a dedicated directory | |
| Background Playback | Music keeps playing when the window is closed | |
| Setup & Release Notes | First-run setup wizard and a What's New dialog after updates | |
| Settings | General, Appearance, Lyrics, Services and Advanced pages | |
| Cover Art Tint | Tint Libadwaita to match cover art, kinda like Material You, with an optional blurred cover background | |
| Scrobbling | Submit plays to Last.fm and ListenBrainz — Now Playing, Offline backlog with retries | |
| Discord RPC | Show your current track on Discord — Linux, Windows | |
| Lyrics | Synchronized lyrics using a bunch of providers (Apple Music, BetterLyrics, BiniLyrics, NetEase, LRCLIB, native YT Music) — Reorderable provider search queue, Second line: romanization, translation or background vocals, Word-level karaoke timing with duration-aware fades | |
| Rust Rewrite | Rewritten in Rust for speed and memory use; the Python app is retired | |
| AUR | Available as mixtapes-git | |
| Flatpak | Flatpak build (x86_64 and aarch64), App icon, Flathub release (planned) | |
| Nix | Flake builds; not extensively tested | |
| Windows | Installer and portable builds from CI, with media controls, tray and sign-in | |
| macOS | Can build it for macOS, just need to test, there's a PR for auto-builds. | |
| GNOME Circle | Still considering it, might not happen |
Have an idea or found a bug? Open an issue!
Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues for bug reports or feature requests, and submit pull requests.
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.
This page is the project's README, rendered here. Last read from GitHub on 18 October 2026 at 14:02 UTC.
