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All apps/beets

beets

The media library management system for obsessive music geeks.

Runs as beet|macOS, Linux, Windows|beets.io

Open form in Otty otty.toml

Sync rules

What travels, what stays, what never leaves

beets in your home directory Every rule on this page, by file

directorylibrary

Each machine keeps its own copy of these.

discogs.user_tokendiscogs.apikeyspotify.client_secret

Lifted into your secret store; the rest of the file syncs.

Only what the catalog names. A directory that syncs brings everything inside it except what is listed as excluded here.

apps/beets/otty.tomlThe file this page is generated from

id = "beets"

name = "beets"

homepage = "https://beets.io"

description = "The media library management system for obsessive music geeks."

# The beet, from the documentation's static assets.

icon = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beetbox/beets/master/docs/_static/beets_logo_nobg.png"

executables = ["beet"]

[dotfiles]

# https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/config.html, "Location":

# the config file is ~/.config/beets/config.yaml on Unix,

# ~/Library/Application Support/beets/config.yaml on macOS and

# %APPDATA%\beets\config.yaml on Windows — the three spellings of one place,

# which is what [appData] names. (The same page notes macOS also honours

# ~/.config/beets, and $BEETSDIR overrides all of it.)

paths = ["[appData]/beets/config.yaml"]

# library.db (the library database) and state.pickle sit in the same directory

# and are data, not configuration. Neither is named above, so there is nothing

# to carve out of what is.

exclude = []

# config.yaml is not a credential end to end — it is the import policy, the

# path formats and the plugin list. Only the plugin keys are lifted out below.

secret = []

# The library location. "directory: The path to the directory where you'd like

# to keep your music" and "library: The path to the beets library file"

# (reference/config.html) — both absolute paths into this machine's disk, and

# the one thing in the file that does not survive a move to another machine.

# They are also where the user's music and library actually sit, which is the

# first thing they would need back after a rebuild, so both are kept: backup.

[[dotfiles.machine_lines]]

file = "[appData]/beets/config.yaml"

match = { key_path = ["directory", "library"] }

scope = "backup"

# Plugin credentials that live in the same file: the Discogs plugin documents

# `user_token` and `apikey`

# (https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/plugins/discogs.html) and the Spotify

# plugin documents `client_secret`

# (https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/plugins/spotify.html).

[[dotfiles.secret_paths]]

file = "[appData]/beets/config.yaml"

match = { key_path = ["discogs.user_token", "discogs.apikey", "spotify.client_secret"] }

[commands]

format = 1

label = "beets"

description = "Import music into the library and query it. Other beet subcommands and plugin options are left out."

quality = "ai-draft"

parser = { end_of_options = "--", interleave = "permute", long_equals = true, short_attached = true, short_bundles = false }

[[commands.subcommand]]

path = ["import"]

label = "Import music"

description = "Import files or directories into the library. Archives, incremental and resume options are left out."

[[commands.subcommand.source]]

id = "cli"

kind = "manual"

url = "https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/cli.html"

revision = "master 2026-10-27"

evidence = """

beet import [-CMWAPRqst] [-l LOGPATH] PATH...

the ``-m`` (move) option.

``-C`` (don't copy), ``-M`` (don't move), and ``-W`` (don't write tags) options.

using ``-A`` (don't

the ``-l`` option to

the ``-q`` (quiet) option

the ``-t`` (for *timid*) option.

supplying the ``-s`` option.

use the ``--flat`` option.

use the ``--pretend``

``--set field=value``

"""

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "copy"

label = "Move files instead of copying"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-m"]

effect = "overwrite"

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "no_copy"

label = "Don't copy files"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-C"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "no_write"

label = "Don't write tags"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-W"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "no_autotag"

label = "Don't autotag"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-A"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "quiet"

label = "Quiet (no prompts)"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-q"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "timid"

label = "Timid (confirm every match)"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-t"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "singletons"

label = "Import as singletons"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-s"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "flat"

label = "Flat (one album per directory)"

type = "boolean"

option = ["--flat"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "pretend"

label = "Preview only"

type = "boolean"

option = ["--pretend"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "logpath"

label = "Log skipped items to file"

type = "path"

option = ["-l"]

path = { kind = "file", role = "output" }

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "paths"

label = "Files or directories"

type = "path"

position = 0

multiple = true

min = 1

path = { kind = "any", role = "input", must_exist = true }

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.task]]

id = "import"

label = "Import (copy files)"

fields = ["paths", "quiet", "pretend"]

required = ["paths"]

[[commands.subcommand.group]]

id = "basic"

label = "Basic"

fields = ["paths", "copy", "pretend", "quiet"]

[[commands.subcommand.group]]

id = "advanced"

label = "Advanced"

fields = ["no_copy", "no_write", "no_autotag", "timid", "singletons", "flat", "logpath"]

[[commands.subcommand]]

path = ["list"]

label = "Query the library"

description = "List matching tracks or albums. Query syntax is passed through as typed."

[[commands.subcommand.source]]

id = "cli"

kind = "manual"

url = "https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/cli.html"

revision = "master 2026-10-27"

evidence = """

beet list [-apf] [-l LIMIT] QUERY

You can use the ``-a`` switch to search for albums instead of individual items.

Use the ``-l LIMIT`` (``--limit=LIMIT``) flag

The ``-p`` option makes beets print out filenames of matched items

the ``-f`` option lets you specify a specific format

"""

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "albums"

label = "Albums instead of tracks"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-a"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "paths"

label = "Print file paths"

type = "boolean"

option = ["-p"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "format"

label = "Output format"

description = "Template such as '$album: $albumtotal'."

type = "string"

option = ["-f"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "limit"

label = "Limit"

type = "integer"

option = ["--limit", "-l"]

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.field]]

id = "query"

label = "Query"

type = "string"

position = 0

multiple = true

sources = ["cli"]

[[commands.subcommand.task]]

id = "search"

label = "Search"

fields = ["query", "albums"]

required = ["query"]

[[commands.subcommand.group]]

id = "basic"

label = "Basic"

fields = ["query", "albums", "paths", "format", "limit"]

Use it with your dotfile manager

Same data, in the shape your tool already reads

Opens Otty and adds this tool to what it syncs

Opens otty://sync/add/beets. Otty ships with this catalog, so the link only has to name the tool — nothing is downloaded.

Every one of these is generated from the same rules as this page. None of them splits directory and library for you — that part is Otty’s own sync, or a template you write by hand.