Cliamp: retro player for terminal on Go

# Cliamp: Retro Terminal Music Player Built with Go for Linux, Windows, and macOS

The open-source project cliamp is a cross-platform music player with a retro terminal aesthetic, inspired by the classic Winamp. Built with Go, it supports Windows, Linux, and macOS. The source code is available on GitHub under the MIT license. The player is designed for terminal use, enabling playback of local files, streams, and services without a graphical interface.

Key features include a real-time spectrum visualizer, a parametric equalizer for fine-tuning audio, and full playlist management. The latest release has completely removed telemetry, boosting user privacy.

Supported Sources and Formats

Cliamp covers a wide range of audio sources:

• Local files in popular formats.
• Streaming broadcasts and podcasts.
• Platforms like YouTube, SoundCloud, and Bilibili.
• Services such as Spotify, Xiaoyuzhou FM, and Navidrome.

This lets you integrate the player into various setups, from listening to your personal collection to streaming content without needing a browser or desktop apps.

The project leverages proven open-source libraries:

• Bubbletea for building the TUI (text-based user interface).
• Lip Gloss for styling the terminal interface.
• Beep for audio processing.
• go-librespot for Spotify connectivity.

This architecture delivers high performance and minimal dependencies, typical of Go applications.

Architecture and Technical Highlights

Development in Go ensures fast compilation into standalone binaries for all platforms with no external runtime dependencies. The Bubbletea-based TUI creates a responsive interface that adapts to terminal size. The spectrum visualizer uses terminal characters to display real-time FFT analysis.

The parametric equalizer offers bands with adjustable frequency, Q width, and gain—perfect for audiophiles. Playlist management includes adding, removing, reordering tracks, and saving states.

The latest update removes all telemetry, eliminating any data collection network requests and making the player fully offline by default.

Integration into Dev Environments

For developers, cliamp is a handy tool for background music playback while coding in tmux or i3. Its cross-platform nature simplifies deployment: one binary works everywhere. Streaming via librespot enables Spotify Connect without a GUI.

Example basic usage after installation:

cliamp play /path/to/music.mp3
cliamp stream https://youtube.com/watch?v=...
cliamp eq enable

Commands are intuitive, with keyboard shortcuts supported in TUI mode.

Key Highlights

• Cross-platform: Single Go binary for Windows, Linux, macOS.
• Broad source support: From local files to Spotify and YouTube.
• TUI with visualization: Spectrum and equalizer in the terminal via Bubbletea.
• Privacy-focused: No telemetry whatsoever.
• MIT license: Free to use and modify.

— Editorial Team