BearWave is designed for fast station browsing, simple playback controls, favorites, resume support, tray behavior, and clean Plasma integration without turning into a heavy media suite.

Screenshots

Main window	Station browser

Screenshots: KDE Plasma on Linux.

Quick Start

Two sensible paths right now:

Option A: Arch Linux

Use the included PKGBUILD:

makepkg -si

Option B: Local source build

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j"$(nproc)"
cmake --install build --prefix "$HOME/.local"

Then launch:

~/.local/bin/bearwave

What BearWave Is

BearWave focuses on:

KDE-first internet radio playback
fast browsing via the Radio Browser API
favorites and resume support
lightweight desktop integration through tray + MPRIS
straightforward local installation and operation

BearWave intentionally does not aim to be:

a local music library manager
a podcast client
a broad cross-platform media application
a feature-heavy all-purpose audio suite

Features

internet radio via the Radio Browser API with local JSON caching
station pages for Top, Germany, Netherlands, and quick world/genre filters
local search and filtering by name, genre, and country
sorting by name, bitrate, and votes
favorites with persistent local storage
manual station add
playback metadata display when streams provide it
resume support for last station and volume
MPRIS integration for Plasma media controls and media keys
system tray integration for background playback
desktop notifications for song/track changes with local cover art caching
embedded About dialog with links and MIT license text

Project Status

BearWave is an early public, source-first desktop project.

BearWave is currently in public beta and is best supported on Arch Linux and KDE Plasma.

It is already usable, but it should currently be treated as software for testers, contributors, and technically comfortable Linux users rather than a polished end-user release.

Current priorities:

stability in normal playback flows
predictable KDE/Plasma integration
conservative packaging and installation behavior
keeping the codebase small and maintainable

Current distribution status:

source repository is the primary delivery format
Arch Linux is the best-supported packaging path at the moment
no official Flatpak, AppImage, or broad distro release pipeline yet

Platform And Support

BearWave is intentionally KDE-first.

primary platform target: Linux
primary desktop target: KDE Plasma 6
primary development environment: Arch Linux
other Linux distributions may build from source, but are not yet documented or tested to the same level

Tested On

BearWave is currently aligned with and tested primarily against:

Arch Linux
KDE Plasma 6
Qt 6
KDE Frameworks 6
Phonon4Qt6

If support for other distributions becomes reliable, they should be added here explicitly instead of implied.

Language Support

BearWave currently supports English and German.

the application uses the system locale to select its UI language
English is the base UI language
German is provided as a bundled translation
README, repository metadata, and development-facing material remain in English

If the system language is German, BearWave appears in German. Otherwise it falls back to English.

Installation Status

BearWave should currently be understood as:

officially documented for source builds
most naturally aligned with Arch Linux packaging
likely portable to other Linux distributions with Qt 6 / KF6 / Phonon packages available
not yet positioned as a broadly packaged consumer desktop app

If you want the least surprising path today, use either:

a local source build
the included Arch PKGBUILD

Dependencies

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S cmake extra-cmake-modules qt6-base qt6-declarative qt6-tools \
  kirigami phonon-qt6 phonon-qt6-vlc vlc

KDE Neon / Ubuntu-based

sudo apt install cmake ninja-build qt6-base-dev qt6-declarative-dev qt6-tools-dev \
  libkf6kirigami-dev libkf6i18n-dev libkf6coreaddons-dev phonon4qt6-dev

Note: exact package names can vary between distro releases, and non-Arch dependency sets should currently be treated as best-effort guidance rather than a guaranteed tested path.

Build And Install

From the repository root:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j"$(nproc)"

Optional local install:

cmake --install build --prefix "$HOME/.local"
update-desktop-database "$HOME/.local/share/applications"
kbuildsycoca6

This installs:

binary: ~/.local/bin/bearwave
desktop file: ~/.local/share/applications/org.kde.bearwave.desktop
icon: ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/org.kde.bearwave.png

Note: the generated desktop file uses the install prefix chosen during cmake --install.

If you want a clean rebuild:

rm -rf build
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j"$(nproc)"

Runtime Requirements

Linux desktop session
KDE Plasma recommended
Qt 6 runtime libraries
Phonon4Qt6 with a working backend
network access to Radio Browser instances

Usage

Basic flow

Open a station page such as Top, DE, NL, Favorites, or a quick filter.
Select a station and start playback.
Add favorites for quick reuse.
Use Resume to continue from the last station and volume state.

Keyboard shortcuts

Space: play/pause
Ctrl+F: focus search field

Sorting

Sort station lists by:

name
bitrate
votes

Data And Persistence

BearWave stores user state under:

favorites: ~/.config/bearwave/favorites.json
last station + volume: ~/.config/bearwave/state.json
API cache: ~/.cache/bearwave/api_cache/
cover art cache: ~/.cache/bearwave/covers/

If these files are removed, app state resets to defaults or performs a fresh API sync.

Plasma Integration

BearWave exposes playback through MPRIS, so it works with:

Plasma media applets/widgets
global media key handling
external MPRIS-capable controllers

Autostart

Enable autostart:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.config/autostart"
cp "$HOME/.local/share/applications/org.kde.bearwave.desktop" "$HOME/.config/autostart/"

Disable autostart:

rm -f "$HOME/.config/autostart/org.kde.bearwave.desktop"

Troubleshooting

No audio playback

ensure phonon-qt6 and phonon-qt6-vlc or equivalent are installed
ensure vlc is installed
test another station URL because some streams go offline

App icon or launcher entry not updating

Re-run:

update-desktop-database "$HOME/.local/share/applications"
kbuildsycoca6

If desktop caches are stale, a logout/login cycle may still be required.

Station list empty or slow

verify internet connectivity
Radio Browser may be temporarily rate-limited or degraded
try another station category or filter

Current Limitations

packaging and install guidance are strongest on Arch Linux
broader distro support is not yet validated to the same standard
there are no official binary releases for non-technical end users yet

Contributing

Issues and focused pull requests are welcome.

Before opening a larger change, it is worth checking whether it matches the project direction:

KDE-first desktop behavior
no unnecessary dependencies
small, maintainable changes
stability before feature breadth

See CONTRIBUTING.md for local build and review expectations.

Development Notes

main UI: src/qml/Main.qml
backend orchestration: src/radiobackend.cpp
stream playback: src/bearplayer.cpp
API layer: src/radiobrowser.cpp
MPRIS adapter: src/mprisadaptor.cpp
desktop notifications: src/notificationmanager.cpp

For contributor and agent guardrails, see AGENTS.md.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Languages

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QML 41.7%

CMake 2.1%

Shell 1.7%

JavaScript 0.2%