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pw-cli(1) General Commands Manual pw-cli(1)

pw-cli - The PipeWire Command Line Interface

pw-cli [command]

Interact with a PipeWire instance.

When a command is given, pw-cli will execute the command and exit

When no command is given, pw-cli starts an interactive session with the default PipeWire instance pipewire-0.

Connections to other, remote instances can be made. The current instance name is displayed at the prompt.

Note that pw-cli also creates a local PipeWire instance. Some commands operate on the current (remote) instance and some on the local instance, such as module loading.

Use the 'help' command to list the available commands.

help | h

Show a quick help on the commands available. It also lists the aliases for many commands.

quit | q

Exit from pw-cli

Modules are loaded and unloaded in the local instance, thus the pw-cli binary itself and can add functionality or objects to the local instance. It is not possible in PipeWire to load modules in another instance.

load-module name [arguments...]

Load a module specified by its name and arguments in the local instance. For most modules it is OK to be loaded more than once.

This command returns a module variable that can be used to unload the module.

The locally module is not visible in the remote instance. It is not possible in PipeWire to load modules in a remote instance.

unload-module module-var

Unload a module, specified either by its variable.

list-objects

List the objects of the current instance.

Objects are listed with their id, type and version.

info id | all

Get information about a specific object or all objects.

Requesting info about an object will also notify you of changes.

connect [remote-name]

Connect to a remote instance and make this the new current instance.

If no remote name is specified, a connection is made to the default remote instance, usually pipewire-0.

The special remote name called internal can be used to connect to the local pw-cli PipeWire instance.

This command returns a remote var that can be used to disconnect or switch remotes.

disconnect [remote-var]

Disconnect from a remote instance.

If no remote name is specified, the current instance is disconnected.

list-remotes

List all remote instances.

switch-remote [remote-var]

Make the specified remote the current instance.

If no remote name is specified, the first instance is made current.

create-node factory-name [properties...]

Create a node from a factory in the current instance.

Properties are key=value pairs separated by whitespace.

This command returns a node variable.

export-node node-id [remote-var]

Export a node from the local instance to the specified instance. When no instance is specified, the node will be exported to the current instance.

create-device factory-name [properties...]

Create a device from a factory in the current instance.

Properties are key=value pairs separated by whitespace.

This command returns a device variable.

create-link node-id port-id node-id port-id [properties...]

Create a link between 2 nodes and ports.

Port ids and Node ids can be set to - to automatically select a node or a port.

Port ids can be * to automatically link matching ports ids in the nodes.

Properties are key=value pairs separated by whitespace.

This command returns one or more link variables.

destroy object-id

Destroy a global object.

enum-params object-id param-id

Enumerate params of an object.

param-id can also be given as the param short name.

set-param object-id param-id param-json

Set param of an object.

param-id can also be given as the param short name.

permissions client-id object-id permission

Set permissions for a client.

object-id can be -1 to set the default permissions.

get-permissions client-id

Get permissions of a client.

send-command object-id

Send a command to an object.

The PipeWire Developers <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/issues>; PipeWire is available from <https://pipewire.org>

pipewire(1), pw-mon(1),

1.2.6 PipeWire