WPCTL(1) WirePlumber WPCTL(1) NAME wpctl - WirePlumber Control CLI SYNOPSIS wpctl [COMMAND] [COMMAND_OPTIONS] DESCRIPTION wpctl is a command-line control tool for WirePlumber, the PipeWire session manager. It provides an interface to inspect, control, and configure audio and video devices, nodes, and their properties within a PipeWire media server. WirePlumber manages audio and video routing, device configuration, and session policies. wpctl allows users to interact with these components, change volume levels, set default devices, inspect object properties, and modify settings. COMMANDS status wpctl status [-k|--nick] [-n|--name] Displays the current state of objects in PipeWire, including devices, sinks, sources, filters, and streams. Shows a hierarchical view of the audio/video system. Options: -k, --nick Display device and node nicknames instead of descriptions -n, --name Display device and node names instead of descriptions get-volume wpctl get-volume ID Displays volume information about the specified node, including current volume level and mute state. Arguments: ID Node ID or special identifier (see SPECIAL IDENTIFIERS) inspect wpctl inspect ID [-r|--referenced] [-a|--associated] Displays detailed information about the specified object, including all properties and metadata. Arguments: ID Object ID or special identifier Options: -r, --referenced Show objects that are referenced in properties -a, --associated Show associated objects set-default wpctl set-default ID Sets the specified device node to be the default target of its kind (capture or playback) for new streams that require auto-connection. Arguments: ID Sink or source node ID set-volume wpctl set-volume ID VOL[%][-|+] [-p|--pid] [-l LIMIT|--limit LIMIT] Sets the volume of the specified node. Arguments: ID Node ID, special identifier, or PID (with --pid) VOL[%][-|+] Volume specification: o VOL - Set volume to specific value (1.0 = 100%) o VOL% - Set volume to percentage (50% = 0.5) o VOL+ - Increase volume by value o VOL- - Decrease volume by value o VOL%+ - Increase volume by percentage o VOL%- - Decrease volume by percentage Options: -p, --pid Treat ID as a process ID and affect all nodes associated with it -l LIMIT, --limit LIMIT Limit final volume to below this value (floating point, 1.0 = 100%) Examples: Set volume to 50%: wpctl set-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ 0.5 Increase volume by 10%: wpctl set-volume 42 10%+ Set volume for all nodes of PID 1234: wpctl set-volume --pid 1234 0.8 set-mute wpctl set-mute ID 1|0|toggle [-p|--pid] Changes the mute state of the specified node. Arguments: ID Node ID, special identifier, or PID (with --pid) 1|0|toggle Mute state: 1 (mute), 0 (unmute), or toggle current state Options: -p, --pid Treat ID as a process ID and affect all nodes associated with it set-profile wpctl set-profile ID INDEX Sets the profile of the specified device to the given index. Arguments: ID Device ID or special identifier INDEX Profile index (integer, 0 typically means 'off') set-route wpctl set-route ID INDEX Sets the route of the specified device to the given index. Arguments: ID Device node ID or special identifier INDEX Route index (integer, 0 typically means 'off') clear-default wpctl clear-default [ID] Clears the default configured node. If no ID is specified, clears all default nodes. Arguments: ID (optional) Settings ID to clear (0-2 for Audio/Sink, Audio/Source, Video/Source). If omitted, clears all defaults. settings wpctl settings [KEY] [VAL] [-d|--delete] [-s|--save] [-r|--reset] Shows, changes, or removes WirePlumber settings. Arguments: KEY (optional) Setting key name VAL (optional) Setting value (JSON format) Options: -d, --delete Delete the saved setting value (no KEY means delete all) -s, --save Save the setting value (no KEY means save all, no VAL means current value) -r, --reset Reset the setting to its default value Behavior: o No arguments: Show all settings o KEY only: Show specific setting value o KEY and VAL: Set specific setting value set-log-level wpctl set-log-level [ID] LEVEL Sets the log level of a client. Arguments: ID (optional) Client ID. If omitted, applies to WirePlumber. Use 0 for PipeWire server. LEVEL Log level (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, E, W, N, I, D, T). Use - to unset the log level. SPECIAL IDENTIFIERS Instead of numeric IDs, wpctl accepts these special identifiers for commonly used defaults: @DEFAULT_SINK@, @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SINK@ The current default audio sink (playback device) @DEFAULT_SOURCE@, @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SOURCE@ The current default audio source (capture device) @DEFAULT_VIDEO_SOURCE@ The current default video source (camera) These identifiers are resolved at runtime to the appropriate node IDs. EXIT STATUS wpctl returns the following exit codes: 0 Success 1 General error (e.g., invalid arguments, connection failure) 2 Could not connect to PipeWire 3 Command-specific error (e.g., object not found) EXAMPLES Display system status: wpctl status Set default audio sink: wpctl set-default 42 Set volume to 75% on default sink: wpctl set-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ 75% Increase volume by 5% on a specific node: wpctl set-volume 42 5%+ Mute the default source: wpctl set-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ 1 Toggle mute on default sink: wpctl set-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle Inspect a device with associated objects: wpctl inspect --associated 30 Show all WirePlumber settings: wpctl settings Set a specific setting: wpctl settings bluetooth.autoswitch true Save all current settings: wpctl settings --save Set log level for WirePlumber to debug: wpctl set-log-level D Set log level for a specific client: wpctl set-log-level 42 W NOTES Object IDs can be found using the status command. The hierarchical display shows IDs for devices, nodes, and other objects. Volume values are floating-point numbers where 1.0 represents 100% volume. Values can exceed 1.0 to introduce volume amplification. When using the --pid option, wpctl will find all audio nodes associated with the specified process ID and apply the operation to all of them. SEE ALSO pipewire(1), pw-cli(1), pw-dump(1), wireplumber(1) WirePlumber Documentation: https://pipewire.pages.freedesktop.org/wireplumber/ AUTHOR The WirePlumber Developers COPYRIGHT 2020-2025, Collabora & contributors 0.5.12 October 10, 2025 WPCTL(1)