cava

Start audio visualizer

$ cava

$ cava -p [/path/to/config]

$ cava -v

cava [options]

cava (Cross-platform Audio Visualizer) is a bar spectrum audio visualizer for terminal (ncurses) or desktop (SDL). Displays audio input as frequency bars. Supports ALSA, PulseAudio, PipeWire, JACK, and more.

-p path

Path to configuration file

Print version

q / Ctrl+C

Quit

Reload configuration

Default config: ~/.config/cava/config
Configurable options:
- Bar width and spacing
- Colors and gradients
- Audio source
- Sensitivity and smoothing
- Output mode (ncurses, SDL, raw)

- PulseAudio
- PipeWire
- ALSA
- JACK
- sndio
- PortAudio
- FIFO buffer

SIGUSR1

Force config reload

Requires audio capture permissions. Different audio backends need corresponding dev libraries. Works best with music playback.

alsamixer(1), pavucontrol(1)