wiremix

wiremix is a simple TUI audio mixer for PipeWire. You can use it to adjust volumes, route audio between devices and applications, and configure audio device settings like input/output ports and profiles.

wiremix's interface is more or less a clone of the wonderful ncpamixer which was itself inspired by pavucontrol, so users of either should find it familiar.

Issues and pull requests are welcome!

Installation

Package Managers

• Arch Linux (AUR): Install wiremix-git with your AUR helper. For example, yay -S wiremix-git
• Nix: nix run github:tsowell/wiremix or add wiremix to your configuration using the provided flake.nix

Manual Installation

wiremix depends on Rust and the PipeWire libraries. To install all dependencies:

• Ubuntu: sudo apt install cargo libpipewire-0.3-dev pkg-config clang
• Debian: sudo apt install libpipewire-0.3-dev pkg-config clang (you will also need to install a somewhat recent Rust toolchain - rustup is one way)
• Fedora: sudo dnf install cargo pipewire-devel clang

Then install wiremix with cargo install wiremix

Quick Start

1. Run wiremix to launch with default settings
2. Use mouse and keyboard bindings to operate the mixer
   • Arrow keys or hjkl to navigate and adjust volume
   • Tab or HL to change tabs
   • c to open a dropdown to route audio to a different destination
   • m to mute/unmute
   • d set an input or output device as the default source/sink

Command-line Options

PipeWire mixer

Usage: wiremix [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -c, --config <FILE>    Override default config file path
  -r, --remote <NAME>    The name of the remote to connect to
  -f, --fps <FPS>        Target frames per second (or 0 for unlimited)
  -s, --char-set <NAME>  Character set to use [built-in sets: default, compat, extracompat]
  -t, --theme <NAME>     Theme to use [built-in themes: default, nocolor, plain]
  -p, --peaks <PEAKS>    Audio peak meters [possible values: off, mono, auto]
      --no-mouse         Disable mouse support
      --mouse            Enable mouse support
  -v, --tab <TAB>        Initial tab view [possible values: playback, recording, output, input, configuration]
  -h, --help             Print help
  -V, --version          Print version

Command-line options override corresponding settings in the configuration file.

Input Bindings

Everything except quitting can also be done with the mouse. Some of the less-intuitive mouse controls are:

• Click the numeric volume percentage to toggle muting.
• Scroll through lists and dropdowns with the mouse wheel or click on scroll buttons (default appearence: •••)
• Right-click to set as the default source/sink

Default Keyboard Bindings

Configuration

wiremix can be configured through a TOML configuration file.

It searches for the configuration file in these locations (in order of precedence):

1. Path specified on the command-line via -c/--config
2. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wiremix/wiremix.toml
3. ~/.config/wiremix/wiremix.toml

This README only describes basic capabilities. Please see wiremix.toml in this repository for detailed documentation on configuring wiremix. It also provides a reference for all of wiremix's defaults.

The configuration specified in the file is merged with wiremix's defaults, so it only needs to specify the options that need to be changed. It is recommended to start with an empty configuration file and use this repository's wiremix.toml as a reference.

Basic Configuration

Everything that can specified on the command-line has a corresponding option in the configuration file.

#remote = "pipewire-0"
#fps = 60.0
mouse = true
peaks = "auto"
char_set = "default"
theme = "default"
tab = "playback"

Keybindings

The configuration file can customize keyboard controls for all wiremix actions. See wiremix.toml for more details.

Examples

keybindings = [
 # Use ncpamixer-style absolute volume bindings
 { key = { Char = "`" }, action = "Nothing" },
 { key = { Char = "0" }, action = { SetAbsoluteVolume = 0.0 } },
 # Chars 1-9 already work like ncpamixer
]

keybindings = [
 # Use F-keys to select tabs
 { key = { F = 1 }, action = { SelectTab = 0 } },
 { key = { F = 2 }, action = { SelectTab = 1 } },
 { key = { F = 3 }, action = { SelectTab = 2 } },
 { key = { F = 4 }, action = { SelectTab = 3 } },
 { key = { F = 5 }, action = { SelectTab = 4 } },
]

Character Sets

Character sets define the symbols used in the user interface. You can define multiple character sets and switch between them using the char_set configuration option or the -s/--char-set command-line argument.

There are three built-in character sets.

1. default is the default set. It may contain symbols that can't be rendered with your terminal or console.
2. compat uses only symbols from cross-platform-terminal-characters.
3. extracompat uses only ASCII symbols.

The configuration file allows for both modifying built-in character sets and creating custom ones.

See wiremix.toml for more details.

Themes

Themes define colors and other text attributes for UI elements. They are similar to character sets in that you can define your own themes and switch between them with the theme configuration option or the -t/--theme command-line arguments.

There are three built-in themes:

1. default is the default theme.
2. nocolor uses no color, only attributes.
3. plain uses only the default style - no colors or attributes.

The configuration file allows for both modifying built-in themes and creating custom ones.

See wiremix.toml for more details.

Names

You can customize how streams, endpoints, and devices are displayed in the user interface using a template system to generate names from PipeWire properties.

It's likely that any particular naming scheme won't work well with 100% of your software and devices, so you can also specify alternate name templates to use for PipeWire nodes matching configurable criteria.

See wiremix.toml for more details.

Examples

The default naming scheme is:

[names]
stream = [ "{node:node.name}: {node:media.name}" ]
endpoint = [ "{device:device.nick}", "{node:node.description}" ]
device = [ "{device:device.nick}", "{device:device.description}" ]

Not all nodes and devices have the same properties present, so if multiple naming templates are specified, wiremix will try to resolve them in order and use the first one that works.

For ncpamixer-style names you can use:

[names]
stream = [ "{node:node.name}: {node:media.name}" ]
endpoint = [ "{node:node.description}" ]
device = [ "{device:device.description}" ]

I use these overrides with the default names:

# This device's device.name is truncated to "USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack
# A". This override makes wiremix use device.description instead, which for
# this device is "USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter".
[[names.overrides]]
types = [ "endpoint", "device" ]
property = "device:device.name"
value = "alsa_card.usb-Apple__Inc._USB-C_to_3.5mm_Headphone_Jack_Adapter_DWH841302FEJKLTA3-00"
templates = [ "{device:device.description}" ]

# The Spotify client's node.name is "spotify", and it also uses "Spotify" for
# media.name. This override makes wiremix use just the node.name, so it shows
# as "spotify" instead of "spotify: Spotify".
[[names.overrides]]
types = [ "stream" ]
property = "node:node.name"
value = "spotify"
templates = [ "{node:node.name}" ]

# mpv is also a bit redundant with the default naming scheme - it suffixes
# media.name with "- mpv". This override makes it show as "foo - mpv" instead
# of "mpv: foo - mpv".
[[names.overrides]]
types = [ "stream" ]
property = "node:node.name"
value = "mpv"
templates = [ "{node:media.name}" ]