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Spotify (public playlists by link)

Paste the link to a public Spotify playlist and Trobar reads its track list and matches it against your own library. It works like YouTube Music links, in the same box on the same page. No account, no sign-in and no credentials of any kind, for you or for whoever runs the server.

This is separate from linking a Spotify account. A linked account brings in your own playlists, in full. A link brings in any public playlist, up to its first 100 tracks, and needs no account.

Read this before you rely on it

Spotify's API doesn't serve this. Its playlist endpoint returns the tracks only to the playlist's owner or a collaborator, whatever token asks. Trobar reads the playlist from Spotify's embed player page instead: the one websites put in a frame to show a playlist. That page is not an API. It is undocumented, and Spotify can change it at any time without notice.

When that happens, the link shows an error and nothing already imported is changed (see When it breaks). Trobar can't make the page reliable.

Adding a playlist

  1. Open Playlists.
  2. Paste the link into Add a public playlist by link and press Add.
  3. The import runs there and then, and the result appears under the link.

As with YouTube Music links, the playlist is yours and private by default. Flip its Shared/Private pill if you want the rest of the household to see it.

These link shapes work:

  • the playlist's Share link, https://open.spotify.com/playlist/…, with or without its ?si=… part;
  • the same with a language segment, such as …/intl-fr/playlist/…;
  • an embed link, …/embed/playlist/…;
  • a spotify:playlist:… URI.

A spotify.link/… short link is not accepted: it only says where it leads by redirecting. Open it, then copy the full link from the address bar or from the playlist's Share menu.

What you should expect it to find

  • At most 100 tracks. The embed page lists a playlist's first 100 tracks, and gives no total. A playlist that comes back with 100 says so under its link: "Spotify shares only the first 100 tracks of a playlist, so this one may be longer." Tracks past the 100th are never read, so they don't show as unmatched either.
  • Artist and title, no album. Matching uses artist and title only, as for YouTube Music. With several artists credited, they come through joined with commas.
  • Editorial playlists (Spotify's own) and playlists made by users both work.

The count under each link works as it does for YouTube Music: "0 of 50 tracks in your library" means the playlist's tracks aren't in your library, not that the import failed. Tracks that miss land in the usual unresolved-tracks review.

What it does not do

  • It never writes to Spotify and never signs in.
  • It downloads nothing. Trobar reads artist/title pairs and matches them against files you already have.
  • It does not do private playlists. Those would need an account; use a linked account for your own.
  • It sends nothing about you. The only request is for the playlist's embed page, made when you add a link and on each sync afterwards.

When it breaks

A playlist that has been deleted, made private, or whose link was wrong shows as Unavailable. Anything else, including the page changing shape, shows as "Couldn't read this playlist from Spotify". Either way:

  • Nothing already imported is changed. The playlist keeps its tracks, stays on any device it was synced to, and keeps its selections.
  • The error stays on the link until a fetch succeeds. Refresh retries at once.
  • Remove is the only thing that deletes the playlist.

For the person running the server

Nothing to configure, and no dependency beyond what the server already uses. With no Spotify links added, nothing is contacted. Each link costs one request per sync.

Verified in October 2026 against Spotify's live embed page.