How to Install lowfi on Ubuntu: The No-Fuss Terminal Lofi Player

lowfi is a tiny Rust app with a single purpose: play lofi. There are no albums to browse, no playlists to build, no ads and no sign-ups — you type lowfi, a mellow lofi track starts in your terminal, and you carry on with whatever you were doing. It replaces the ritual of opening a browser tab, clearing a cookie banner and sitting through an advert just to get some background music going.

To stay smooth on imperfect connections it buffers several songs ahead, so a momentary network drop will not cut the music short. The whole thing is one small keyboard-driven widget, and it hooks into your desktop’s media keys and MPRIS so the play/pause key on your keyboard controls it like any native player.

A lofi streamer is never going to appear in Ubuntu’s official archives, and compiling a Rust binary by hand for background music is more effort than the task warrants. The unofficial deb.griffo.io repository ships a maintained prebuilt package, so a single apt install is all it takes.

Install the Latest lowfi on Ubuntu: The Short Version

If you only came for the commands, this adds the repository and installs the latest lowfi .deb package on Ubuntu:

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install lowfi

The rest of this guide explains what each command does, how to verify the install, how to keep lowfi up to date, and what to check when something goes wrong.

What Makes lowfi Special?

🎧 Single-minded — it plays lofi and only lofi, with no configuration needed to start.
🪶 Tiny footprint — one small Rust binary that barely registers in your resource usage.
📶 Buffered playback — several tracks are queued ahead so brief connectivity dips go unnoticed.
⌨️ All keyboard — skip, pause and change volume with individual keys.
🔖 Bookmarks — hit b to keep a track and revisit your bookmarks later.
🎛️ MPRIS support — hardware media keys and desktop widgets can drive and display it.
🧩 Adjustable UI — minimalist, borderless and clock modes reshape the widget.
📃 Bring your own tracks — feed it a custom track list instead of the default stream.

Why Use the deb.griffo.io Repository?

Managing lowfi through deb.griffo.io keeps everything inside APT:

Easy installation and updates via the package manager Ubuntu already ships.
Automatic dependency management so the audio libraries are handled for you.
Always tracks upstream releases of lowfi.
No building from source and no Rust toolchain to set up.
Works across supported Ubuntu releases, from Jammy onwards.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

An Ubuntu system (Jammy 22.04 LTS, Noble 24.04 LTS, or newer)
sudo privileges
curl installed (sudo apt install curl if needed)
A working audio setup (PipeWire on recent Ubuntu, or PulseAudio) and an internet connection

Step 1: Add the deb.griffo.io Repository

# Create the keyrings directory
sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings

# Download and install the repository GPG key
curl -fsSL https://deb.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg

# Add the repository (auto-detects your distro codename)
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb.griffo.io.list > /dev/null

# Update the package list
sudo apt update

Breaking it down:

Keyrings directory — creates /etc/apt/keyrings to store the signing key securely.
GPG key — fetches the key and writes it in the binary format APT expects.
Repository entry — adds the source, with lsb_release -sc filling in your Ubuntu codename.
Update — reloads the index so APT can see the package.

Step 2: Update the Package List

If you did not run the final command above, refresh the index now:

sudo apt update

Step 3: Install lowfi

Install the package with a single command:

sudo apt install lowfi

APT fetches the latest lowfi build together with any audio dependencies.

Step 4: Verify the Installation

Check that lowfi is installed and on your PATH:

lowfi --version

You should see something like:

lowfi 1.6.0

Run lowfi --help at any point to review the available flags.

Getting Started with lowfi

lowfi is meant to need no manual, but the controls and a couple of flags are worth knowing.

The One-Liner

At its simplest, lowfi is a single command:

lowfi

That opens the player and starts streaming immediately. Press q when you want to stop.

Interface Flags

A handful of flags reshape the widget. Mix and match to taste:

# Use the alternate terminal screen, restoring your prompt on exit
lowfi --alternate

# Minimalist mode hides the bottom control bar
lowfi --minimalist

# Remove the UI borders
lowfi --borderless

# Add a clock to the widget
lowfi --clock

# Begin paused rather than playing
lowfi --paused

Short flags stack, so lowfi -ac starts an alternate-screen player with a clock.

Keyboard Controls

While lowfi is running, single keys drive everything:

Key	Action
`s`, `n`, `l`	Skip to the next track
`p`, `Space`	Play / pause
`+`, `=`, `k`, `↑`	Volume up 10%
`→`	Volume up 1%
`-`, `_`, `j`, `↓`	Volume down 10%
`←`	Volume down 1%
`b`	Bookmark / un-bookmark the current track
`q`, `Ctrl+C`	Quit

Bookmarks and Your Own Tracks

Tap b during playback to bookmark a track. You can then play only your bookmarks, or supply a track list of your own — a data-directory name or a file path. A track list is a header line with the base URL followed by one track per line:

# Play back your saved bookmarks
lowfi --track-list bookmarks

# Use a named custom track list
lowfi --track-list minipop

# Or point at your own file
lowfi --track-list ~/.local/share/lowfi/mytracks.txt

Media Keys and MPRIS

In an Ubuntu desktop session lowfi speaks MPRIS, so the play/pause and skip keys on your keyboard control it directly and GNOME’s media widget can show the current track — assuming the package was compiled with the MPRIS feature.

Keeping lowfi Updated

Since lowfi came from APT, it updates alongside the rest of the system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

That pulls the latest lowfi whenever the repository is refreshed.

Other Tools from deb.griffo.io

The repository hosts many other terminal tools. If lowfi is your kind of thing, these are worth exploring:

Termusic — a full terminal music player for a local library.
viu — display images inside your terminal.
Yazi — a blazing-fast Rust terminal file manager.
Fastfetch — a fast, highly customisable system information tool.

Troubleshooting

GPG or Key Issues

If APT flags an unsigned repository or an expired key, re-import the signing key:

# Remove the current key
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg

# Fetch and install it again
curl -fsSL https://deb.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg

sudo apt update

Package Not Found

If apt install lowfi cannot find the package:

Make sure you ran sudo apt update after adding the repository.
Verify your Ubuntu release is supported (Jammy, Noble, or newer).
Check the source file: cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb.griffo.io.list

No Audio Output

If lowfi runs but stays silent, the cause is usually the audio stack rather than lowfi. On modern Ubuntu, confirm PipeWire is running with systemctl --user status pipewire, check that the correct output device is selected and unmuted in Settings, and verify that other apps produce sound. Over a plain SSH session there is typically no audio sink available, so lowfi will have nowhere to send the stream.

Uninstalling

To remove lowfi:

# Remove the package
sudo apt remove lowfi

# Optionally remove the repository and key
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb.griffo.io.list
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg
sudo apt update

Conclusion

lowfi is a small, welcome luxury: one command that fills your Ubuntu terminal with calm background music and demands nothing more from you. No browser tab, no login, no adverts — just buffered, resilient lofi you steer with a couple of keys.

Installing it from deb.griffo.io matches that ethos. A single apt install gets the music playing and a routine apt upgrade keeps it fresh, so the lightest app on your machine stays effortless to maintain.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I install the latest lowfi on Ubuntu?

Add the deb.griffo.io APT repository and its signing key, then run sudo apt install lowfi. The repository tracks upstream lowfi releases, so you get the latest packaged version rather than a build frozen when your distribution was released.

Is there a `.deb` package for lowfi?

Yes. deb.griffo.io publishes lowfi as a signed .deb for Ubuntu. You could download that .deb and install it by hand, but adding the repository is the better option: APT then resolves dependencies and picks up new versions on its own.

How do I update lowfi to the latest version?

Run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. Once lowfi is installed from APT there is no separate updater to remember, since new releases arrive with the rest of your system updates.

How do I install lowfi on Debian?

Exactly the same way; lsb_release -sc simply resolves to a different codename. There is a companion guide with the Debian specifics: How to install lowfi on Debian.

Which Ubuntu releases are supported?

Jammy 22.04 LTS, Noble 24.04 LTS and newer. Because the repository line is built from lsb_release -sc, the matching suite is selected for you.

Resources

Disclaimer: The deb.griffo.io repository is an unofficial community project and is not affiliated with the official Debian or Ubuntu projects, or with the upstream lowfi project.