pyLast

A Python interface to Last.fm and other API-compatible websites such as Libre.fm.

Use the pydoc utility for help on usage or see tests/ for examples.

Installation

Install via pip:

python3 -m pip install pylast

Install latest development version:

python3 -m pip install -U git+https://github.com/pylast/pylast

Or from requirements.txt:

-e https://github.com/pylast/pylast.git#egg=pylast

Note:

• pyLast 5.2+ supports Python 3.8-3.12.
• pyLast 5.1 supports Python 3.7-3.11.
• pyLast 5.0 supports Python 3.7-3.10.
• pyLast 4.3 - 4.5 supports Python 3.6-3.10.
• pyLast 4.0 - 4.2 supports Python 3.6-3.9.
• pyLast 3.2 - 3.3 supports Python 3.5-3.8.
• pyLast 3.0 - 3.1 supports Python 3.5-3.7.
• pyLast 2.2 - 2.4 supports Python 2.7.10+, 3.4-3.7.
• pyLast 2.0 - 2.1 supports Python 2.7.10+, 3.4-3.6.
• pyLast 1.7 - 1.9 supports Python 2.7, 3.3-3.6.
• pyLast 1.0 - 1.6 supports Python 2.7, 3.3-3.4.
• pyLast 0.5 supports Python 2, 3.
• pyLast < 0.5 supports Python 2.

Features

• Simple public interface.
• Access to all the data exposed by the Last.fm web services.
• Scrobbling support.
• Full object-oriented design.
• Proxy support.
• Internal caching support for some web services calls (disabled by default).
• Support for other API-compatible networks like Libre.fm.

Getting started

Here's some simple code example to get you started. In order to create any object from pyLast, you need a Network object which represents a social music network that is Last.fm or any other API-compatible one. You can obtain a pre-configured one for Last.fm and use it as follows:

import pylast

# You have to have your own unique two values for API_KEY and API_SECRET
# Obtain yours from https://www.last.fm/api/account/create for Last.fm
API_KEY = "b25b959554ed76058ac220b7b2e0a026"  # this is a sample key
API_SECRET = "425b55975eed76058ac220b7b4e8a054"

# In order to perform a write operation you need to authenticate yourself
username = "your_user_name"
password_hash = pylast.md5("your_password")

network = pylast.LastFMNetwork(
    api_key=API_KEY,
    api_secret=API_SECRET,
    username=username,
    password_hash=password_hash,
)

Alternatively, instead of creating network with a username and password, you can authenticate with a session key:

import pylast

SESSION_KEY_FILE = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser("~"), ".session_key")
network = pylast.LastFMNetwork(API_KEY, API_SECRET)
if not os.path.exists(SESSION_KEY_FILE):
    skg = pylast.SessionKeyGenerator(network)
    url = skg.get_web_auth_url()

    print(f"Please authorize this script to access your account: {url}\n")
    import time
    import webbrowser

    webbrowser.open(url)

    while True:
        try:
            session_key = skg.get_web_auth_session_key(url)
            with open(SESSION_KEY_FILE, "w") as f:
                f.write(session_key)
            break
        except pylast.WSError:
            time.sleep(1)
else:
    session_key = open(SESSION_KEY_FILE).read()

network.session_key = session_key

And away we go:

# Now you can use that object everywhere
track = network.get_track("Iron Maiden", "The Nomad")
track.love()
track.add_tags(("awesome", "favorite"))

# Type help(pylast.LastFMNetwork) or help(pylast) in a Python interpreter
# to get more help about anything and see examples of how it works

More examples in hugovk/lastfm-tools and tests/.

Testing

The tests/ directory contains integration and unit tests with Last.fm, and plenty of code examples.

For integration tests you need a test account at Last.fm that will become cluttered with test data, and an API key and secret. Either copy example_test_pylast.yaml to test_pylast.yaml and fill out the credentials, or set them as environment variables like:

export PYLAST_USERNAME=TODO_ENTER_YOURS_HERE
export PYLAST_PASSWORD_HASH=TODO_ENTER_YOURS_HERE
export PYLAST_API_KEY=TODO_ENTER_YOURS_HERE
export PYLAST_API_SECRET=TODO_ENTER_YOURS_HERE

To run all unit and integration tests:

python3 -m pip install -e ".[tests]"
pytest

Or run just one test case:

pytest -k test_scrobble

To run with coverage:

pytest -v --cov pylast --cov-report term-missing
coverage report # for command-line report
coverage html   # for HTML report
open htmlcov/index.html

Logging

To enable from your own code:

import logging
import pylast

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)


network = pylast.LastFMNetwork(...)

To enable from pytest:

pytest --log-cli-level info -k test_album_search_images

To also see data returned from the API, use level=logging.DEBUG or --log-cli-level debug instead.