Customize Spotify with Spicetify

This writing sample was an assignment for my study at the University of Washgington (2022-2023), it includes an installation guide of Spicetify (macOS) and how to customize Spotify themes with Spicetify. It was created based on Spicetify's original doc.

Tools: Visual Studio Code, GitHub Desktop
Language: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

If you have any questions regarding this documentation, please contact me via email.

* Last update: December 8, 2022.

Install Spicetify and Spicetify Marketplace

There are two ways to install Spicetify and Spicetify Marketplace. Spicetify Marketplace is where you can download the existing themes, extensions, and custom apps and apply them to your Spotify client.

The Spicetify team recommends macOS users install Spicetify with Homebrew as you may see the command not found: Spicetify error after install it from the shell. Usually, this error means Spicetify was not installed correctly. For more information on this, view the issue command not found #1108 on GitHub.

Install Spicetify from the Shell

To install Spicetify and Spicetify Marketplace, run the script below in your Terminal.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spicetify/spicetify-cli/master/install.sh | sh
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spicetify/spicetify-marketplace/main/resources/install.sh | sh

If Spicetify and Spicetify Marketplace are installed successfully, you will be able to see Marketplace in the left-hand sidebar in your Spotify client.

Install Spicetify with Homebrew

For macOS users, installing Spicetify with Homebrew is the recommended way. However, you need to install Spotify Marketplace manually.

Install Homebrew

If you do not have Homebrew on your machine, follow the steps below to install it:

  1. Install the command line tools for Xcode. Skip this if you already have Xcode.
    Run the script below in your macOS Terminal. Alternatively, you can Install Xcode from Mac AppStore if you prefer.

    xcode-select --install

  2. Install Homebrew.
    Run the script below in your Terminal.

    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

    See Installation - Homebrew for other installation options.

    Note: For users based in China, if you are having issues installing Homebrew by following the above instructions, try the steps listed in this post (in Chinese) on Zhihu.

If you have Homebrew, follow the steps below to install Spicetify and Spicetify Marketplace.

Install Spicetify

Run the script below in your Terminal to install Spicetify.

brew install khanhas/tap/spicetify-cli

Install Spicetify Marketplace

  1. Download the latest release from GitHub. The asset’s name is spicetify-marketplace.zip.

  2. Extract the zip file, and you will get the resulting folder spicetify-marketplace-dist.

  3. Move the resulting folder to your Spicetify CustomApps folder and rename it as marketplace. The path for the Spicetify CustomApps folder is

    Note: If you are having issues finding the Spicetify CustomApps folder, try to run the below command to go to the Spicetify Config directory. In the Config directory, open the folder CustomApps.

    spicetify config-dir

  4. Apply one theme first to ensure the Marketplace can install themes correctly. To do so, follow the steps below:

    1. Go to the Themes folder in the Spicetify Config directory. In the Themes folder, create a new folder and name it as marketplace.

    2. Create a new file with the TextEdit app on your Mac, name it as color.ini and save it in the Themes/marketplace folder.

    3. Copy the codes in the color scheme file and paste the copied content to the color.ini file. Save the color.ini file.

    4. Run the below commands in your Terminal to apply the ‘martketplace’ theme.

      spicetify config inject_css 1
      spicetify config replace_colors 1
      spicetify config current_theme marketplace

    Note: You can also manually edit the color.ini file and change the current theme using the command spicetify config current_theme marketplace. See details in Change themes manually.

  5. After you put the marketplace folder in the CustomApps directory and applied one theme, run the below command to enable Spicetify Marketplace:

    spicetify config custom_apps marketplace
    spicetify apply

    You will see Marketplace appear in the left-hand sidebar in Spotify Client.

After you install Spicetify, run spicetify upgrade in the Terminal to ensure your Spicetify is the latest version. To access the complete Spicetify command list, run spicetify -h