jay-babu/dotfiles/spotify

Spotify

Control the user's Spotify account via the Hermes Spotify toolset (7 tools). Setup guide: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/spotify

When to use this skill

The user says something like "play X", "pause", "skip", "queue up X", "what's playing", "search for X", "add to my X playlist", "make a playlist", "save this to my library", etc.

The 7 tools

• spotify_playback — play, pause, next, previous, seek, set_repeat, set_shuffle, set_volume, get_state, get_currently_playing, recently_played
• spotify_devices — list, transfer
• spotify_queue — get, add
• spotify_search — search the catalog
• spotify_playlists — list, get, create, add_items, remove_items, update_details
• spotify_albums — get, tracks
• spotify_library — list/save/remove with kind: "tracks"|"albums"

Playback-mutating actions require Spotify Premium; search/library/playlist ops work on Free.

Canonical patterns (minimize tool calls)

"Play <artist/track/album>"

One search, then play by URI. Do NOT loop through search results describing them unless the user asked for options.

spotify_search({"query": "miles davis kind of blue", "types": ["album"], "limit": 1})
→ got album URI spotify:album:1weenld61qoidwYuZ1GESA
spotify_playback({"action": "play", "context_uri": "spotify:album:1weenld61qoidwYuZ1GESA"})

For "play some <artist>" (no specific song), prefer types: ["artist"] and play the artist context URI — Spotify handles smart shuffle. If the user says "the song" or "that track", search types: ["track"] and pass uris: [track_uri] to play.

"What's playing?" / "What am I listening to?"

Single call — don't chain get_state after get_currently_playing.

spotify_playback({"action": "get_currently_playing"})

If it returns 204/empty (is_playing: false), tell the user nothing is playing. Don't retry.

"Pause" / "Skip" / "Volume 50"

Direct action, no preflight inspection needed.

spotify_playback({"action": "pause"})
spotify_playback({"action": "next"})
spotify_playback({"action": "set_volume", "volume_percent": 50})

"Add to my <playlist name> playlist"

1. spotify_playlists list to find the playlist ID by name
2. Get the track URI (from currently playing, or search)
3. spotify_playlists add_items with the playlist_id and URIs

spotify_playlists({"action": "list"})
→ found "Late Night Jazz" = 37i9dQZF1DX4wta20PHgwo
spotify_playback({"action": "get_currently_playing"})
→ current track uri = spotify:track:0DiWol3AO6WpXZgp0goxAV
spotify_playlists({"action": "add_items",
                   "playlist_id": "37i9dQZF1DX4wta20PHgwo",
                   "uris": ["spotify:track:0DiWol3AO6WpXZgp0goxAV"]})

"Create a playlist called X and add the last 3 songs I played"

spotify_playback({"action": "recently_played", "limit": 3})
spotify_playlists({"action": "create", "name": "Focus 2026"})
→ got playlist_id back in response
spotify_playlists({"action": "add_items", "playlist_id": <id>, "uris": [<3 uris>]})

"Save / unsave / is this saved?"

Use spotify_library with the right kind.

spotify_library({"kind": "tracks", "action": "save", "uris": ["spotify:track:..."]})
spotify_library({"kind": "albums", "action": "list", "limit": 50})

"Transfer playback to my <device>"

spotify_devices({"action": "list"})
→ pick the device_id by matching name/type
spotify_devices({"action": "transfer", "device_id": "<id>", "play": true})

Critical failure modes

`403 Forbidden — No active device found` on any playback action means Spotify isn't running anywhere. Tell the user: "Open Spotify on your phone/desktop/web player first, start any track for a second, then retry." Don't retry the tool call blindly — it will fail the same way. You can call spotify_devices list to confirm; an empty list means no active device.

`403 Forbidden — Premium required` means the user is on Free and tried to mutate playback. Don't retry; tell them this action needs Premium. Reads still work (search, playlists, library, get_state).

`204 No Content` on `get_currently_playing` is NOT an error — it means nothing is playing. The tool returns is_playing: false. Just report that to the user.

`429 Too Many Requests` = rate limit. Wait and retry once. If it keeps happening, you're looping — stop.

`401 Unauthorized` after a retry — refresh token revoked. Tell the user to run hermes auth spotify again.

URI and ID formats

Spotify uses three interchangeable ID formats. The tools accept all three and normalize:

• URI: spotify:track:0DiWol3AO6WpXZgp0goxAV (preferred)
• URL: https://open.spotify.com/track/0DiWol3AO6WpXZgp0goxAV
• Bare ID: 0DiWol3AO6WpXZgp0goxAV

When in doubt, use full URIs. Search results return URIs in the uri field — pass those directly.

Entity types: track, album, artist, playlist, show, episode. Use the right type for the action — spotify_playback.play with a context_uri expects album/playlist/artist; uris expects an array of track URIs.

What NOT to do

• Don't call `get_state` before every action. Spotify accepts play/pause/skip without preflight. Only inspect state when the user asked "what's playing" or you need to reason about device/track.
• Don't describe search results unless asked. If the user said "play X", search, grab the top URI, play it. They'll hear it's wrong if it's wrong.
• Don't retry on `403 Premium required` or `403 No active device`. Those are permanent until user action.
• Don't use `spotify_search` to find a playlist by name — that searches the public Spotify catalog. User playlists come from spotify_playlists list.
• Don't mix `kind: "tracks"` with album URIs in spotify_library (or vice versa). The tool normalizes IDs but the API endpoint differs.