apple-music

Apple Music Integration

Guide for integrating with Apple Music. Covers AppleScript (macOS), MusicKit API (cross-platform), and the critical library-first requirement.

When to Use

Invoke when users ask to:

• Manage playlists (create, add/remove tracks, list)
• Control playback (play, pause, skip, volume)
• Search catalog or library
• Add songs to library
• Access listening history or recommendations

Critical Rule: Library-First Workflow

You CANNOT add catalog songs directly to playlists.

Songs must be in the user's library first:

• ❌ Catalog ID → Playlist (fails)
• ✅ Catalog ID → Library → Playlist (works)

Why: Playlists use library IDs (i.abc123), not catalog IDs (1234567890).

This applies to both AppleScript and API approaches.

Platform Comparison

Feature	AppleScript (macOS)	MusicKit API
Setup required	None	Dev account + tokens
Playlist management	Full	API-created only
Playback control	Full	None
Catalog search	No	Yes
Library access	Instant	With tokens
Cross-platform	No	Yes

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AppleScript (macOS)

Zero setup. Works immediately with the Music app.

Run via Bash:

osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to playpause'
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to return name of current track'

Multi-line scripts:

osascript <<'EOF'
tell application "Music"
    set t to current track
    return {name of t, artist of t}
end tell
EOF

Available Operations

Category	Operations
Playback	play, pause, stop, resume, next track, previous track, fast forward, rewind
Player State	player position, player state, sound volume, mute, shuffle enabled/mode, song repeat
Current Track	name, artist, album, duration, time, rating, loved, disliked, genre, year, track number
Library	search, list tracks, get track properties, set ratings
Playlists	list, create, delete, rename, add tracks, remove tracks, get tracks
AirPlay	list devices, select device, current device

Track Properties (Read)

tell application "Music"
    set t to current track
    -- Basic info
    name of t           -- "Hey Jude"
    artist of t         -- "The Beatles"
    album of t          -- "1 (Remastered)"
    album artist of t   -- "The Beatles"
    composer of t       -- "Lennon-McCartney"
    genre of t          -- "Rock"
    year of t           -- 1968

    -- Timing
    duration of t       -- 431.0 (seconds)
    time of t           -- "7:11" (formatted)
    start of t          -- start time in seconds
    finish of t         -- end time in seconds

    -- Track info
    track number of t   -- 21
    track count of t    -- 27
    disc number of t    -- 1
    disc count of t     -- 1

    -- Ratings
    rating of t         -- 0-100 (20 per star)
    loved of t          -- true/false
    disliked of t       -- true/false

    -- Playback
    played count of t   -- 42
    played date of t    -- date last played
    skipped count of t  -- 3
    skipped date of t   -- date last skipped

    -- IDs
    persistent ID of t  -- "ABC123DEF456"
    database ID of t    -- 12345
end tell

Track Properties (Writable)

tell application "Music"
    set t to current track
    set rating of t to 80          -- 4 stars
    set loved of t to true
    set disliked of t to false
    set name of t to "New Name"    -- rename track
    set genre of t to "Alternative"
    set year of t to 1995
end tell

Player State Properties

tell application "Music"
    player state          -- stopped, playing, paused, fast forwarding, rewinding
    player position       -- current position in seconds (read/write)
    sound volume          -- 0-100 (read/write)
    mute                  -- true/false (read/write)
    shuffle enabled       -- true/false (read/write)
    shuffle mode          -- songs, albums, groupings
    song repeat           -- off, one, all (read/write)
    current track         -- track object
    current playlist      -- playlist object
    current stream URL    -- URL if streaming
end tell

Playback Commands

tell application "Music"
    -- Play controls
    play                          -- play current selection
    pause
    stop
    resume
    playpause                     -- toggle play/pause
    next track
    previous track
    fast forward
    rewind

    -- Play specific content
    play (first track of library playlist 1 whose name contains "Hey Jude")
    play user playlist "Road Trip"

    -- Settings
    set player position to 60     -- seek to 1:00
    set sound volume to 50        -- 0-100
    set mute to true
    set shuffle enabled to true
    set song repeat to all        -- off, one, all
end tell

Library Queries

tell application "Music"
    -- All library tracks
    every track of library playlist 1

    -- Search by name
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose name contains "Beatles"

    -- Search by artist
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose artist contains "Beatles"

    -- Search by album
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose album contains "Abbey Road"

    -- Combined search
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose name contains "Hey" and artist contains "Beatles"

    -- By genre
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose genre is "Rock"

    -- By year
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose year is 1969

    -- By rating
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose rating > 60  -- 3+ stars

    -- Loved tracks
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose loved is true

    -- Recently played (sort by played date)
    tracks of library playlist 1 whose played date > (current date) - 7 * days
end tell

Playlist Operations

tell application "Music"
    -- List all playlists
    name of every user playlist

    -- Get playlist
    user playlist "Road Trip"
    first user playlist whose name contains "Road"

    -- Create playlist
    make new user playlist with properties {name:"New Playlist", description:"My playlist"}

    -- Delete playlist
    delete user playlist "Old Playlist"

    -- Rename playlist
    set name of user playlist "Old Name" to "New Name"

    -- Get playlist tracks
    every track of user playlist "Road Trip"
    name of every track of user playlist "Road Trip"

    -- Add track to playlist (must be library track)
    set targetPlaylist to user playlist "Road Trip"
    set targetTrack to first track of library playlist 1 whose name contains "Hey Jude"
    duplicate targetTrack to targetPlaylist

    -- Remove track from playlist
    delete (first track of user playlist "Road Trip" whose name contains "Hey Jude")

    -- Playlist properties
    duration of user playlist "Road Trip"   -- total duration
    time of user playlist "Road Trip"       -- formatted duration
    count of tracks of user playlist "Road Trip"
end tell

AirPlay

tell application "Music"
    -- List AirPlay devices
    name of every AirPlay device

    -- Get current device
    current AirPlay devices

    -- Set output device
    set current AirPlay devices to {AirPlay device "Living Room"}

    -- Multiple devices
    set current AirPlay devices to {AirPlay device "Living Room", AirPlay device "Kitchen"}

    -- Device properties
    set d to AirPlay device "Living Room"
    name of d
    kind of d           -- computer, AirPort Express, Apple TV, AirPlay device, Bluetooth device
    active of d         -- true if playing
    available of d      -- true if reachable
    selected of d       -- true if in current devices
    sound volume of d   -- 0-100
end tell

String Escaping

Always escape user input:

def escape_applescript(s):
    return s.replace('\\', '\\\\').replace('"', '\\"')

safe_name = escape_applescript(user_input)
script = f'tell application "Music" to play user playlist "{safe_name}"'

Limitations

• No catalog access - only library content
• macOS only - no Windows/Linux

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MusicKit API

Cross-platform but requires Apple Developer account ($99/year) and token setup.

Authentication

Requirements:

1. Apple Developer account
2. MusicKit key (.p8 file) from developer portal
3. Developer token (JWT, 180 day max)
4. User music token (browser OAuth)

Generate developer token:

import jwt, datetime

with open('AuthKey_XXXXXXXXXX.p8') as f:
    private_key = f.read()

token = jwt.encode(
    {
        'iss': 'TEAM_ID',
        'iat': int(datetime.datetime.now().timestamp()),
        'exp': int((datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(days=180)).timestamp())
    },
    private_key,
    algorithm='ES256',
    headers={'alg': 'ES256', 'kid': 'KEY_ID'}
)

Get user token: Browser OAuth to https://authorize.music.apple.com/woa

Headers for all requests:

Authorization: Bearer {developer_token}
Music-User-Token: {user_music_token}

Base URL: https://api.music.apple.com/v1

Available Endpoints

Catalog (Public - dev token only)

Endpoint	Method	Description
/catalog/{storefront}/search	GET	Search songs, albums, artists, playlists
/catalog/{storefront}/songs/{id}	GET	Song details
/catalog/{storefront}/albums/{id}	GET	Album details
/catalog/{storefront}/albums/{id}/tracks	GET	Album tracks
/catalog/{storefront}/artists/{id}	GET	Artist details
/catalog/{storefront}/artists/{id}/albums	GET	Artist's albums
/catalog/{storefront}/artists/{id}/songs	GET	Artist's top songs
/catalog/{storefront}/artists/{id}/related-artists	GET	Similar artists
/catalog/{storefront}/playlists/{id}	GET	Playlist details
/catalog/{storefront}/charts	GET	Top charts
/catalog/{storefront}/genres	GET

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