The music panel does not need to become Spotify.
It is tempting to keep adding things to a now-playing panel until it becomes a tiny, worse copy of the music app already on the phone. RETUI took a different route: show the track, give it some movement, keep the useful controls, and stop there.
It should look like it belongs here
The music module is a terminal window labelled `NOW PLAYING`. It shows the title, artist, animated bars, and the same border language used by the rest of RETUI's modules. It is not album art dropped into a terminal-shaped rectangle.
The visualizer moves while playback is active and uses the module text colour, so it remains part of the current Launcher theme rather than carrying a second visual identity into the screen.
module -show music
Small does not have to mean passive
The current panel has `PREV`, `PLAY/PAUSE`, and `NEXT`. Those controls follow the active source: RETUI's local player, the podcast player, or an external Android media session.
The module suggestion row offers the same actions as commands, plus information and stop:
music -previous music -play music -next music -info music -stop
This is enough control to stay in the Launcher while a song is already playing. Choosing a queue, browsing a library, and managing playlists still belong in the real player.
External music remains the normal case
With RETUI's internal music player disabled, the `music` transport commands are sent to Android's active player. The music panel listens for external media metadata and playback state, then shows the title and artist it receives.
When RETUI knows which external app owns the active session, it displays that app beneath the track. Tap the app name and RETUI opens it. That feels like the right escape hatch: quick controls here, the complete experience there.
A preferred player resolves the noisy cases
Android can expose several media sessions at once. A paused podcast, a browser tab, and the app actually making sound may all claim some relevance.
Leave Preferred Music App empty and RETUI ranks the available sessions, putting active playback first. Choose an app under `Settings > Integrations` and external music is filtered to that package. The panel will not quietly borrow metadata from a different player just because it was also available.
debug -settings # music_preferred_package: ...
The current app name in the panel is also a useful check. If it names the wrong player, fix the preference instead of guessing which session RETUI selected.
Auto-show is permission, not a personality
`auto_show_music_widget` lets playback bring the music module into the active module space automatically. It is off by default. So is `show_music_widget`, which controls whether the music module begins visible in the context container.
show_music_widgetStart with the music module visible in the module area.
auto_show_music_widgetSwitch to the music module when playback begins.
preferred_music_appTrust one external package instead of automatic session selection.
enable_musicEnable RETUI's own local-track player and library commands.
These are separate decisions because “I want a music panel” does not automatically mean “music should interrupt whatever module I am using.”
The old local player is still a real path
Turn `enable_music` on and the same command grows a local library mode. RETUI can list discovered tracks, select one, seek by seconds, show playback information, and move through the local list.
music -ls music -select <song> music -seekto 90 music -info
I would not enable that merely to control an external app. The setting changes who owns playback. Keep it off when Android's current player should remain in charge.
When it feels wrong, inspect the four switches
debug -settings # music_enabled # music_widget # music_widget_auto_show # music_preferred_package
If those values match what you intended, check notification access and confirm the preferred app is actually producing an active media session. The broader Troubleshooting post covers the same source-versus-surface distinction.
The RETUI music panel is there to let the Launcher breathe with whatever is playing, then get out of the way before it becomes another app inside the app.