list-audio-devices

List Audio Devices

Enumerate every Pipewire sink (output) and source (input) currently visible to Wireplumber, plus which one is the default.

Primary commands

Prefer wpctl (Wireplumber CLI) — cleaner output and aligns with how preference rules are written.

wpctl status

For machine-parsable output:

wpctl status --json 2>/dev/null || pw-dump

What to surface to the user

For each sink/source:

• ID (the numeric ID wpctl uses)
• node.name (stable identifier — what rules match against)
• node.description (human-readable)
• Whether it is the current default (marked with * in wpctl status)
• Mute / volume state if relevant to the question

Detecting node.name for rule writing

When the user wants a rule based on a device, get the canonical node.name (this is what Wireplumber matches on, not the description):

wpctl inspect <id> | grep -E 'node\.(name|description)|device\.product\.name'

Notes

• Bluetooth devices appear/disappear with connection state — if a device the user expects is missing, suggest checking bluetoothctl devices Connected.
• USB device IDs change across reconnects; node.name is stable enough for rules in most cases. For absolute stability, match on device.product.name or node.nick.