MCP server for controlling mpv media player — playback, playlists, YouTube streaming and downloading
MCP server for controlling mpv media player — playback, playlists, YouTube streaming and downloading. The mpv mcp server wraps that behind the Model Context Protocol, so an assistant can use it through 4 defined tools rather than through you.
MCP server for controlling mpv media player. Browse your music library, control playback, stream from YouTube, and download tracks — all from inside an MCP client like Claude Code.
The server ships on npm as mpv-mcp-server, so your MCP client can launch it on demand — there is no separate build step. Add the server block to your client's configuration, restart it, and the tools register themselves.
Everything the assistant can do here goes through one of these:
Playback — The Playback tool exposed by this serverLibrary — The Library tool exposed by this serverYouTube — The YouTube tool exposed by this serverMetadata — Both tools infer artist/title from the "Artist - Title" filename pattern. Requires ffmpeg (includes ffprobe)You will need 4 environment variables: MPV_PATH, MPV_MEDIA_DIRS, MPV_DOWNLOAD_DIR, MPV_IPC_PATH. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than in a file you might commit.
MPV_PATH) - Node.js 22+ - yt-dlp (optional) — required for YouTube streaming and downloading - ffmpeg (optional) — required for audio extraction, metadata reading (ffprobe), and taggingAmong the developer tooling options, the useful question is rarely "what can it do" but "what does it cost you to run" — permissions, credentials, and how much of your context its toolset consumes. Mpv's toolset — Playback, Library, YouTube and 1 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by arijit-gogoi; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.
This entry was verified against Mpv's own documentation before publication; SyncDev keeps the directory reviewed rather than auto-generated.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Playback | The Playback tool exposed by this server. |
| Library | The Library tool exposed by this server. |
| YouTube | The YouTube tool exposed by this server. |
| Metadata | Both tools infer artist/title from the "Artist - Title" filename pattern. Requires [ffmpeg](https://ffmpeg.org/) (includes ffprobe). |
{
"mcpServers": {
"mpv": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mpv-mcp-server"]
}
}
}Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| MPV_PATH | Filesystem location the server is allowed to use. | Optional |
| MPV_MEDIA_DIRS | Filesystem location the server is allowed to use. | Optional |
| MPV_DOWNLOAD_DIR | Filesystem location the server is allowed to use. | Optional |
| MPV_IPC_PATH | Filesystem location the server is allowed to use. | Optional |
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