SoundCloud Integration

Enable SoundCloud to search, paste URLs to play, browse profiles, and stream subscriber-gated tracks with browser cookies. Playback uses yt-dlp. Put yt-dlp on PATH.

SoundCloud closed its OAuth program to new applications in 2014. You cannot use the Spotify-style bring-your-own-client_id pattern. cliamp uses the existing SoundCloud session in your browser. See Sign in via browser cookies.

Enable

SoundCloud is off by default. To enable it, add this to ~/.config/cliamp/config.toml:

[soundcloud]
enabled = true

After you enable it:

Search with Ctrl+F while SoundCloud is active. cliamp runs scsearch: against the SoundCloud public index.
Paste a URL (u). Any soundcloud.com/<artist>/<track> URL plays.
Browse list with curated genres. Without a configured profile, the playlists pane lists Trending, Hip-Hop, Electronic, House, Lo-Fi, Indie, and Pop. These are virtual playlists backed by real-time scsearch results, not editorial charts. SoundCloud official chart endpoints currently return 404 through yt-dlp.

Browse a profile

Set a username to show the profile content in the browse pane:

[soundcloud]
enabled = true
user = "yourname"

This replaces the curated Browse list with three playlists from soundcloud.com/yourname:

Tracks: All tracks the user uploaded.
Likes: Tracks the user liked.
Reposts: Tracks the user reposted.

This works for any public profile. It does not require SoundCloud sign-in.

For private likes, hidden uploads, or SoundCloud Go+ subscriber-gated tracks, point yt-dlp to the browser cookie jar:

[soundcloud]
enabled = true
user = "yourname"
cookies_from = "firefox"   # also: chrome, chromium, brave, edge, opera, safari, vivaldi

cliamp passes --cookies-from-browser <name> to every yt-dlp command for search, browse, and playback. Sign in to SoundCloud in that browser. You do not need to keep it open. yt-dlp then uses the account access permissions.

This is the same mechanism as [ytmusic] cookies_from. cliamp selects cookie sources by service. SoundCloud and YouTube can use different browsers or profiles in one cliamp process.

CLI

cliamp https://soundcloud.com/forss/flickermood   # play a track
cliamp https://soundcloud.com/forss/sets/album    # play a set / playlist
cliamp https://soundcloud.com/forss               # play a profile's tracks
cliamp --provider soundcloud                      # start with SoundCloud as the active provider
cliamp search-sc "lofi beats"                     # legacy: SoundCloud search from the shell

URL playback works whether or not [soundcloud] is enabled. yt-dlp resolves any SoundCloud link passed by cliamp. The enabled flag controls only the in-app provider entry.

When playback fails

Some tracks return 404 from the SoundCloud per-track format API even when the page and search index still list them. Common causes are Go+ subscriber-gated content, region-blocked streams, deleted cached entries, and temporary yt-dlp extractor errors. cliamp shows the yt-dlp exit message and the status notification "Couldn't play X — track is gated, restricted, or unavailable." This indicates an upstream issue.

If this occurs for an expected track, set cookies_from and confirm SoundCloud sign-in in that browser.

Requirements

yt-dlp on PATH
Optional: a browser with an active SoundCloud session, for cookies_from