First start
The first time you start Listen, a short setup wizard offers the extras you may want. This page walks through its steps and what happens afterwards.
The wizard appears only on a fresh install: when no setup has been completed and no server is configured. Every step can be skipped and every choice can be changed later in Settings. The steps are listed on the left; click one to jump to it, or use Back and Next. Skip setup at the bottom left closes the wizard at any time.
1. Welcome
Choose the interface Language. The default, System default, follows your system language. The list has 17 languages; see Languages. The wizard switches language immediately.
2. Features
Tick what you want. Everything here is a normal setting that you can change later.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Auto-DJ | Keeps the music going with similar songs when the queue runs out. See Play modes and Auto-DJ. |
| DJ transitions | Mixes songs the DJs pick with beat-matched blends instead of a gap. See DJ transitions. |
| Analyse songs | Measures tempo, beats, key and energy of your server’s songs in the background, for the DJ transitions. See Song analysis. |
| Analyse YouTube Music songs | Fetches a temporary copy of each YouTube Music song to measure it, so those songs can be mixed too. Needs an analysis folder (next step). |
| AI DJ | Picks sets of songs and talks between them. Needs your own Gemini key, so the box is greyed out until you save one in step 4. |
| Synced lyrics | Looks up lyrics online when your server has none. See Lyrics. |
| Discord status | Shows what you are listening to in your Discord profile. See Discord status. |
| Tray icon | Keeps Listen in the system tray. See Tray, window and notifications. |
| Check for updates | Looks for a new version on GitHub when Listen starts. Nothing is installed without asking. See Updates. |
3. Analysis folder
DJ transitions need each song’s tempo, beats and key. Listen measures them once and keeps the results. Press Choose folder… to store them in a folder of your choice. If you pick a synced folder (Nextcloud, Syncthing and so on), your other computers reuse the results instead of measuring again.
Without a folder, results stay in Listen’s own data folder and YouTube Music songs are not analysed. Analyse YouTube Music songs is off by default and can only be switched on once a folder is chosen; Listen then fetches a temporary copy of each YouTube Music song it is about to mix and keeps only the measurements.
4. AI DJ
This step takes your Gemini API key for the AI DJ. You can skip it. The wizard shows the three steps to create a key (open Google AI Studio, click Create API key, copy the key that starts with AIza), a button Open Google AI Studio, a field for the key and Save key. After saving, tick Turn on the AI DJ.
The full walkthrough, including what is sent to Google, is in Creating a Gemini API key and AI DJ. In short: requests go from your computer straight to Google, and the key is kept in your system keyring. Outside the EU, UK and Switzerland, Google may use free-tier requests to improve its products.
5. Helper programs (Windows only)
On Windows the last step installs mpv, yt-dlp and Deno with winget. See Installation. On Linux the wizard has four steps and ends at the AI DJ.
Connect your music
On the last step the Next button reads Connect your music. It closes the wizard and opens the sign-in page, where you add your first source. Continue with Connecting your music.
If you cancel out of the wizard with Skip setup, the same sign-in page appears. The wizard is not shown again once it is finished, or once a server exists.