404 only in CLI mode

[hakuoku]

Describe the bug
In player mode everything goes well, yet in CLI (especially a while after using the player) every attempt to play something or access playback fails. Similar problem exists in spotify-player but spotify-tui didin't show such problem.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install with winget
2. Complete authentication
3. Run spotatui and exit
4. After a while, run spotatui playback command
5. See error

Expected behavior
want to use CLI mode not only just after running the player but also anytime.

Screenshots

PS C:\Users\Y****\Desktop> spotatui list --devices
Logging to: /tmp/spotatui_logs/spotatuilog12600
57% DESKTOP-R******
PS C:\Users\Y****\Desktop> spotatui playback --toggle --device DESKTOP-R******
Logging to: /tmp/spotatui_logs/spotatuilog16792
Error: Spotify API 404 Not Found failed: {
  "error" : {
    "status" : 404,
    "message" : "Player command failed: No active device found",
    "reason" : "NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE"
  }
}
PS C:\Users\Y****\Desktop> spotatui playback --toggle --device spotatui
Logging to: /tmp/spotatui_logs/spotatuilog19244
Error: Spotify API 404 Not Found failed: {
  "error" : {
    "status" : 404,
    "message" : "Player command failed: No active device found",
    "reason" : "NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE"
  }
}

spotatuilog12600

[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::runtime][INFO] spotatui 0.40.3 starting up
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::runtime][INFO] audio backend initialized
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::runtime][INFO] panic hook configured
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::runtime][INFO] user config loaded successfully
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::runtime][INFO] client authentication config loaded
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] authentication token loaded from cache
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][rspotify_http::reqwest][INFO] Making request RequestBuilder { method: POST, url: Url { scheme: "https", cannot_be_a_base: false, username: "", password: None, host: Some(Domain("accounts.spotify.com")), port: None, path: "/api/token", query: None, fragment: None }, headers: {"content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"} }
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] token cached to C:\Users\Y****\.config\spotatui\.spotify_token_cache_d420a117.json
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][rspotify::clients::base][INFO] Token cache write ignored (not configured)
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] refreshed token cached to C:\Users\Y****\.config\spotatui\.spotify_token_cache_d420a117.json
[2026-08-14][23:02:20][rspotify_http::reqwest][INFO] Making request RequestBuilder { method: GET, url: Url { scheme: "https", cannot_be_a_base: false, username: "", password: None, host: Some(Domain("api.spotify.com")), port: None, path: "/v1/me/", query: None, fragment: None }, headers: {"authorization": "Bearer ******"} }
[2026-08-14][23:02:21][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] Using ncspot shared client ID. If it breaks in the future, configure fallback_client_id in client.yml.
[2026-08-14][23:02:21][spotatui::runtime][WARN] Spotify signed in with the shared ncspot client ID. Your own app (3edb62aa…) is set as the fallback, so it is only used if the shared one stops working.
[2026-08-14][23:02:21][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] token cached to C:\Users\Y****\.config\spotatui\.spotify_token_cache_d420a117.json
[2026-08-14][23:02:21][spotatui::runtime][INFO] app state initialized
[2026-08-14][23:02:21][spotatui::tui::cover_art][INFO] cover art rendered detected a Sixel backend
[2026-08-14][23:02:21][spotatui::runtime][INFO] running in cli mode with command: list
[2026-08-14][23:02:21][spotatui::core::app][INFO] navigating to SelectedDevice

spotatuilog16792

[2026-08-14][23:03:03][spotatui::runtime][INFO] spotatui 0.40.3 starting up
[2026-08-14][23:03:03][spotatui::runtime][INFO] audio backend initialized
[2026-08-14][23:03:03][spotatui::runtime][INFO] panic hook configured
[2026-08-14][23:03:03][spotatui::runtime][INFO] user config loaded successfully
[2026-08-14][23:03:03][spotatui::runtime][INFO] client authentication config loaded
[2026-08-14][23:03:03][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] authentication token loaded from cache
[2026-08-14][23:03:03][rspotify_http::reqwest][INFO] Making request RequestBuilder { method: GET, url: Url { scheme: "https", cannot_be_a_base: false, username: "", password: None, host: Some(Domain("api.spotify.com")), port: None, path: "/v1/me/", query: None, fragment: None }, headers: {"authorization": "Bearer ******"} }
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] Using ncspot shared client ID. If it breaks in the future, configure fallback_client_id in client.yml.
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::runtime][WARN] Spotify signed in with the shared ncspot client ID. Your own app (3edb62aa…) is set as the fallback, so it is only used if the shared one stops working.
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] token cached to C:\Users\Y****\.config\spotatui\.spotify_token_cache_d420a117.json
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::runtime][INFO] app state initialized
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::tui::cover_art][INFO] cover art rendered detected a Sixel backend
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::runtime][INFO] running in cli mode with command: playback
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::core::app][INFO] navigating to SelectedDevice
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::infra::network::requests][WARN] Spotify API PUT /v1/me/player/play -> 404 Not Found (attempt 1/4, token age 43s): {
  "error" : {
    "status" : 404,
    "message" : "Player command failed: No active device found",
    "reason" : "NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE"
  }
}
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::core::app][INFO] error occurred: Spotify API 404 Not Found failed: {
  "error" : {
    "status" : 404,
    "message" : "Player command failed: No active device found",
    "reason" : "NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE"
  }
}
[2026-08-14][23:03:04][spotatui::core::app][INFO] navigating to Error

spotatuilog19244

[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][INFO] spotatui 0.40.3 starting up
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][INFO] audio backend initialized
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][INFO] panic hook configured
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][INFO] user config loaded successfully
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][INFO] client authentication config loaded
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] authentication token loaded from cache
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][rspotify_http::reqwest][INFO] Making request RequestBuilder { method: GET, url: Url { scheme: "https", cannot_be_a_base: false, username: "", password: None, host: Some(Domain("api.spotify.com")), port: None, path: "/v1/me/", query: None, fragment: None }, headers: {"authorization": "Bearer ******"} }
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] Using ncspot shared client ID. If it breaks in the future, configure fallback_client_id in client.yml.
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][WARN] Spotify signed in with the shared ncspot client ID. Your own app (3edb62aa…) is set as the fallback, so it is only used if the shared one stops working.
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::core::auth][INFO] token cached to C:\Users\Y****\.config\spotatui\.spotify_token_cache_d420a117.json
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][INFO] app state initialized
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::tui::cover_art][INFO] cover art rendered detected a Sixel backend
[2026-08-14][23:03:15][spotatui::runtime][INFO] running in cli mode with command: playback
[2026-08-14][23:03:16][spotatui::core::app][INFO] navigating to SelectedDevice
[2026-08-14][23:03:16][spotatui::infra::network::requests][WARN] Spotify API PUT /v1/me/player/play -> 404 Not Found (attempt 1/4, token age 55s): {
  "error" : {
    "status" : 404,
    "message" : "Player command failed: No active device found",
    "reason" : "NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE"
  }
}
[2026-08-14][23:03:16][spotatui::core::app][INFO] error occurred: Spotify API 404 Not Found failed: {
  "error" : {
    "status" : 404,
    "message" : "Player command failed: No active device found",
    "reason" : "NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE"
  }
}
[2026-08-14][23:03:16][spotatui::core::app][INFO] navigating to Error

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 11 Pro 25H2 26200.9168
• Terminal PowerShell 7.6.3
• Version spotatui 0.40.3

[spotatui]

🎧 spotatui triage

Auto-triaged with DeepSeek V4-Flash.

Label: bug
Likely area: CLI playback device handling

Summary

In CLI mode, after using the player UI, running commands like spotatui playback --toggle or spotatui list --devices fails with a Spotify API 404 'No active device found' error, even when passing a device name. The player mode works fine, but CLI playback commands become unusable after some time, preventing remote control of playback from the terminal.

Key points

• OS: Windows (PowerShell, paths like C:\Users.config\spotatui), installed via winget.
• spotatui version 0.40.3 from logs.
• Reproduction: install, authenticate, run spotatui and exit, wait, then run spotatui playback --toggle or similar.
• spotatui list --devices still lists devices, but playback --toggle --device <name> returns 404 with reason NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE.
• Logs show PUT /v1/me/player/play returning 404 for device commands.

What would help

• Exact command syntax used for devices besides the examples (e.g., whether device ID vs name is used).
• Whether the same issue occurs on other OSes or terminal emulators.
• Whether the issue persists after relaunching the player UI or after a token refresh.

Possible duplicates: none found

_{Compared against the 23 most recently updated open issues.}

[LargeModGames]

Thanks for the detailed report, the logs made this easy to pin down.

Root cause: the CLI resolves --device into the saved config, but the playback commands never sent it to Spotify. A bare PUT me/player/play only works when some device is already active; passing device_id is what activates an idle one. While the TUI runs, its Connect device keeps the account in an active state, which is why the CLI worked right after using the player. Once that device disappears and the active state expires, every CLI playback command 404s, even though list --devices still shows your (idle) desktop client. Your --device flag was being resolved and then silently ignored.

Fix: #465 makes every CLI-reachable player command (play/pause, next/previous, seek, shuffle, repeat, volume) retry once with the saved device_id when Spotify answers NO_ACTIVE_DEVICE, which targets and wakes the device you named (or the first listed one if you did not name any). It will be in the next release.

Workaround until then: spotatui playback --transfer <device-name> is the one command that already sends the device id. Run it once to activate the device, and the other playback commands work again from anywhere.