Install

From a release VSIX

Grab the latest .vsix from the Releases page:

code --install-extension playbar-<version>.vsix

The Linux x86_64 build bundles the playbar sidecar binary, so no extra setup is needed.

From source

See Development for building the sidecar and extension locally and running the Extension Development Host.

Verifying it works

1. Start any MPRIS-aware player (Spotify, mpv, VLC, Firefox, …).
2. Open VSCode. The status bar should show the current track.
3. If nothing appears, open the Command Palette and run PlayBar: Refresh, or check the Output panel for sidecar errors.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing in the status bar — confirm a player is running and exposes MPRIS: busctl --user list | grep mpris.
• Wrong player picked — set playbar.preferredPlayer to the suffix of the bus name (e.g. spotify).
• Custom sidecar build — point playbar.sidecarPath at the binary.