macOS Music Integration

Control Music.app on macOS using AppleScript via osascript.

Prerequisites

• macOS with Music.app (Catalina 10.15+)
• Automation permission granted to your terminal (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation)

Playback Controls

Play / Pause / Stop

# Play (resume)
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to play'

# Pause
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to pause'

# Toggle play/pause
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to playpause'

# Stop
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to stop'

Next / Previous Track

# Next track
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to next track'

# Previous track
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to previous track'

Play a Specific Track

# Play a track by name
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to play (first track of playlist "Library" whose name is "Bohemian Rhapsody")'

Current Track Info

Get Now Playing

# Track name
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get name of current track'

# Artist
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get artist of current track'

# Album
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get album of current track'

# Duration (seconds)
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get duration of current track'

# Current position (seconds)
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get player position'

# Player state (playing, paused, stopped)
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get player state'

Get All Track Info at Once

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set t to current track
    set output to "Name: " & (name of t) & linefeed
    set output to output & "Artist: " & (artist of t) & linefeed
    set output to output & "Album: " & (album of t) & linefeed
    set output to output & "Duration: " & (duration of t) & "s" & linefeed
    set output to output & "Position: " & (player position) & "s"
    return output
end tell'

Searching the Library

Search by Name, Artist, or Album

# Search tracks by name
osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set results to (every track of playlist "Library" whose name contains "Yesterday")
    set output to ""
    repeat with t in results
        set output to output & (name of t) & " - " & (artist of t) & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell'

# Search tracks by artist
osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set results to (every track of playlist "Library" whose artist contains "Beatles")
    set output to ""
    repeat with t in results
        set output to output & (name of t) & " — " & (album of t) & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell'

# Search tracks by album
osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set results to (every track of playlist "Library" whose album contains "Abbey Road")
    set output to ""
    repeat with t in results
        set output to output & (name of t) & " - " & (artist of t) & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell'

Playlist Management

List All Playlists

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set output to ""
    repeat with p in (every user playlist)
        set output to output & (name of p) & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell'

Create a New Playlist

osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to make new playlist with properties {name:"My New Playlist"}'

Add a Track to a Playlist

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set t to (first track of playlist "Library" whose name is "Bohemian Rhapsody")
    duplicate t to playlist "My New Playlist"
end tell'

Play a Playlist

osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to play playlist "My New Playlist"'

Get Tracks in a Playlist

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set output to ""
    repeat with t in (every track of playlist "My New Playlist")
        set output to output & (name of t) & " - " & (artist of t) & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell'

Volume Control

# Get current volume (0-100)
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get sound volume'

# Set volume to 50
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set sound volume to 50'

# Mute (set to 0)
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set sound volume to 0'

# Max volume
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set sound volume to 100'

Shuffle and Repeat

# Get shuffle state
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get shuffle enabled'

# Enable shuffle
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set shuffle enabled to true'

# Disable shuffle
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set shuffle enabled to false'

# Get repeat mode (off, one, all)
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to get song repeat'

# Set repeat to all
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set song repeat to all'

# Set repeat to one
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set song repeat to one'

# Disable repeat
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set song repeat to off'

AirPlay Output

List AirPlay Devices

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set output to ""
    repeat with d in (every AirPlay device)
        set output to output & (name of d) & " — active: " & (selected of d) & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell'

Select an AirPlay Device

# Enable an AirPlay device
osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set targetDevice to (first AirPlay device whose name is "Living Room")
    set selected of targetDevice to true
end tell'

# Disable an AirPlay device
osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set targetDevice to (first AirPlay device whose name is "Living Room")
    set selected of targetDevice to false
end tell'

Seek / Set Position

# Jump to 30 seconds into the current track
osascript -e 'tell application "Music" to set player position to 30'

# Fast-forward 10 seconds
osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set player position to (player position + 10)
end tell'

Common Use Cases

Play an Artist

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    play (first track of playlist "Library" whose artist is "Queen")
end tell'

Show What Is Playing

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    if player state is playing then
        return (name of current track) & " by " & (artist of current track)
    else
        return "Nothing is playing"
    end if
end tell'

Create a Playlist from Search Results

osascript -e '
tell application "Music"
    set newPL to (make new playlist with properties {name:"Jazz Picks"})
    set jazzTracks to (every track of playlist "Library" whose genre contains "Jazz")
    repeat with t in jazzTracks
        duplicate t to newPL
    end repeat
    return "Added " & (count of jazzTracks) & " tracks to Jazz Picks"
end tell'

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
"Not authorized to send Apple events"	Grant Automation permission to terminal
No tracks found	Ensure your library is synced / not empty
AirPlay device not listed	Check device is on the same network and available
Player state returns "stopped" unexpectedly	Open Music.app manually first, then retry
Commands hang or timeout	Music.app may be unresponsive; restart it

Technical Notes

• All commands use AppleScript via osascript (no private APIs).
• Music.app is the successor to iTunes on macOS Catalina and later.
• Apple Music subscription is not required for local library playback.
• AppleScript tell application "Music" launches the app if it is not running.