DevDJ for Spotify
Be the DJ while you code: your Spotify player inside VS Code. Play, search, browse your library and queue, and listen together with friends, all without leaving your editor.
DevDJ is an independent extension and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Spotify. Spotify Premium is required to control playback.
Features
Player: big album art with a matching background color, a draggable progress bar, shuffle, repeat, like, volume, and the current device with one-click Move here.
Queue: see what's playing now and what's coming next.
Library: Liked Songs and all your playlists with cover art. Filter them, open one, play any song, or ＋ add it to the queue.
Search: songs, artists, albums and playlists with artwork. Recent searches are remembered.
Listen Together: play the same song at the same moment with friends on the same Wi-Fi. The host decides what guests can do (play/pause, skip, seek, add to queue, change song), and can change it live.
Status bar: previous, play/pause, next and the current song, always visible.
Plays on this computer: pressing play starts the Spotify app here (minimized) instead of another device.
Keyboard friendly:
| Shortcut |
Action |
Ctrl+Alt+Space |
Play / pause |
Ctrl+Alt+→ / Ctrl+Alt+← |
Next / previous song |
| Media keys |
Play/pause, next, previous |
/, Shift+←/→ |
Inside the panel: search, previous/next |
Every action can get your own shortcut: like, search, shuffle, repeat, volume up/down, show queue, devices and more. Run DevDJ: Customize Keyboard Shortcuts (also in the panel's … menu) to change or add any of them.
Note: Ctrl+Alt+←/→ replace VS Code's "Move editor to previous/next group" shortcut. Change them there if you use that.
Getting started
- Install DevDJ and click the headphones icon in the Activity Bar.
- Follow the 2-minute setup, which you only do once:
- Click Open Spotify Dashboard and create a free app. DevDJ shows every value to paste, with copy buttons.
- Paste the app's Client ID back into DevDJ.
- Click Sign in. You're done, and sign-in is one click from then on.
Why do I create my own Spotify app?
Spotify only lets apps sign people in through an app a developer registers, and it caps every individual developer's app at a handful of users. With your own free app there's no limit, no shared keys, and nothing secret to manage. You never need the Client Secret. Sign-in uses OAuth PKCE, and your login is stored in VS Code's encrypted Secret Storage.
Listen Together
Works on your local network: everyone must be on the same Wi-Fi or office network. Nothing goes through any server except each person's own Spotify.
- Host: open the Together tab and click Start a session. The first time, Windows may ask whether VS Code can use the network. Click Allow.
- Friends: click Join a session. Your session appears automatically. They can also open the invite link you share.
- Permissions: use the switches to choose what guests can do. The host's VS Code enforces them.
Each guest's VS Code syncs its clock with the host, starts the same song at the host's position, and corrects any drift over 0.35 s. Every listener needs Spotify Premium and their own setup.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
spotify.clientId |
"" |
Client ID of your own Spotify app (set by the setup guide) |
spotify.redirectPort |
8888 |
Local sign-in callback port. It must match your app's Redirect URI. |
spotify.useDesktopApp |
true |
Play through the Spotify app on this computer when nothing is playing here |
spotify.pollIntervalSeconds |
3 |
How often playback refreshes while VS Code is focused |
spotify.listenTogether.port |
47321 |
Port used when hosting Listen Together |
spotify.statusBar.showTrack |
true |
Show the song name in the status bar |
spotify.statusBar.maxLength |
40 |
Maximum length of the status bar song label |
Privacy
DevDJ talks only to Spotify's official Web API, and to other DevDJ users on your local network during Listen Together. It collects no telemetry. Your Spotify tokens never leave your computer.
Troubleshooting
- "client_id: Invalid": the Client ID is wrong, or that Spotify app was deleted. Run DevDJ: Connect Spotify (setup) and paste the right one.
- "INVALID_CLIENT: Invalid redirect URI": your Spotify app's Redirect URI must be exactly
http://127.0.0.1:8888/callback.
- No sound: DevDJ is a remote control. Check the device shown under the player and click Move here.
- Friends can't find your session: make sure you're on the same network, and that Windows Firewall allows VS Code on Private networks.
- Logs: View → Output → DevDJ.
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