Spotify Widget for macOS
Product EngineerImpact
- Implemented full OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow with Spotify Web API including automatic token refresh
- Built Flask web server handling login redirect, callback token exchange, and real-time currently-playing retrieval
- Designed stateless two-file architecture separating OAuth handshake from API consumption logic
- Enabled cross-platform compatibility via PyAutoGUI with macOS-specific and Windows-specific hotkey support
Skills
Project Abstract & Details
A learning-focused macOS widget that integrates with the Spotify Web API via OAuth 2.0 to display and control currently playing music. Built as a utility project to explore OAuth Authorization Code Flow, automatic token refresh mechanisms, and REST API integration patterns. The widget retrieves real-time playback state (track title, artist, album art, progress), enables play/pause/skip controls, and displays recently played tracks. Note: This is a learning/utility project exploring Spotify API integration patterns — not a production-grade macOS widget.
Key Features
OAuth 2.0 Flow
Authorization Code Flow with PKCE — handles login redirect, callback token exchange, and automatic token refresh every 60 minutes
Spotify Web API
REST API integration for currently-playing, playback control (play/pause/skip), recently played, and user profile endpoints
Desktop Widget
PyAutoGUI-powered overlay widget with macOS and Windows hotkey support for seamless media control
Flask Auth Server
Lightweight Flask server handling the OAuth callback, token storage, and API proxy requests
Stateless Architecture
Two-file design cleanly separates OAuth handshake logic from Spotify API consumption — saves tokens as JSON
Token Refresh Pipeline
Automatic 401 detection triggers token refresh using refresh_token — seamless uninterrupted playback tracking
Architecture
Stateless two-file architecture: (1) spotify_oauth.py handles the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow — redirects user to Spotify login, exchanges authorization code for access/refresh tokens, and automatically refreshes expired tokens. (2) spotify_widget.py consumes the Spotify Web API using stored tokens — polls /v1/me/player/currently-playing every 5 seconds, displays track info in a PyAutoGUI overlay, and supports media control via keyboard shortcuts. No database required — tokens stored as JSON in user config directory.
Architecture diagram placeholder