Soulseek setup

1. Choose Apple silicon ZIP for an M-series Mac, or Intel Mac ZIP. Apple menu → About This Mac shows your chip or processor.
2. In Finder, open Downloads and double-click the ZIP. Open the extracted folder containing the file slskd. Move that folder somewhere you will keep it, such as Documents.
3. Open Terminal, the Mac app where you paste commands: press Command + Space, type Terminal, then press Return.
4. Type cd followed by a space in Terminal. Drag the extracted slskd folder from Finder into that window, then press Return. This tells Terminal which folder to use.
5. Copy these two lines, paste them into Terminal, then press Return:

chmod +x ./slskd
./slskd

slskd displays startup messages and creates its settings. Keep this Terminal window open while slskd runs. If macOS blocks the official download, follow Apple's Open Anyway guidance; there is no slskd .app bundle to drag into Applications.

To open its settings folder, use Finder → Go → Go to Folder, paste ~/.local/share/slskd and press Return. Continue to Logins and sharing.

1. Download the Windows x64 ZIP for most PCs. Windows on ARM uses the Windows ARM64 ZIP; check Settings → System → About → System type if unsure.
2. Open Downloads in File Explorer. Right-click the ZIP, choose Extract All, then follow the prompts. Keep the extracted folder somewhere permanent, such as Documents.
3. Open that folder and double-click slskd.exe. If file extensions are hidden, it appears as slskd with type Application.

A console window shows startup messages. Leave it open while using Soulseek. Press Windows + R to open Run, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\slskd and press Enter to open the settings folder. Continue to Logins and sharing.

Microsoft's ZIP extraction help

1. Most desktop PCs use the Linux x64 ZIP. ARM computers use Linux ARM64 or 32-bit ARM. If unsure, open your app menu, search for Terminal and open it. Paste uname -m and press Enter: x86_64 means x64, aarch64 means ARM64, and armv7l means 32-bit ARM.
2. Open the ZIP with your archive app and choose Extract. Keep the extracted folder containing slskd somewhere permanent.
3. In Terminal, type cd followed by a space. Drag that extracted folder from your file manager into Terminal, then press Enter.
4. Copy these two lines, paste them into Terminal and press Enter:

chmod +x ./slskd
./slskd

Startup messages appear. Leave Terminal open while slskd runs. In your file manager, press Ctrl + L, paste ~/.local/share/slskd and press Enter to open its settings folder.

Alpine Linux needs the matching linux-musl ZIP instead. Continue to Logins and sharing.

Make a folder named slskd somewhere easy to find, such as inside Music. Inside it, create four folders named data, downloads, incomplete and shared-music. Put the tracks you want to share in shared-music.

Paste docker version into that Terminal or PowerShell window and press Return/Enter. You should see both Client and Server information. Keep Docker Desktop or the Docker service running.

In a plain-text editor, save this as compose.yml inside your slskd folder. On Mac, use TextEdit → Format → Make Plain Text. On Windows, use Notepad → Save As and choose All files. Check that the filename is not compose.yml.txt.

services:
  slskd:
    image: slskd/slskd:0.26.2
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5030:5030/tcp"
      - "50300:50300/tcp"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app:rw
      - ./downloads:/app/downloads:rw
      - ./incomplete:/app/incomplete:rw
      - ./shared-music:/music:ro

This connects folders on your computer to slskd. The :ro shared-music entry means read-only: slskd can share those tracks without changing them. The other folders let it write its settings and transfers.

Next, fill in logins and sharing and save data/slskd.yml before starting slskd. Then return to the same Terminal or PowerShell window, paste this command and press Return/Enter:

docker compose up -d

Docker keeps slskd running in the background and restarts it when Docker starts. Open the slskd web page to check it. Incoming Soulseek peers use TCP port 50300; see the official Docker guide if your firewall/router needs configuration.

Keep the spaces and quotation marks in place. Replace the capitalised values. The web username/password are the login you choose for slskd's web page; they are separate from your Soulseek account.

soulseek:
  username: 'YOUR_SOULSEEK_USERNAME'
  password: 'YOUR_SOULSEEK_PASSWORD'
shares:
  directories:
    - 'YOUR_SHARED_MUSIC_FOLDER'
web:
  authentication:
    username: 'YOUR_WEB_USERNAME'
    password: 'YOUR_WEB_PASSWORD'
    api_keys:
      auto_digger:
        key: 'YOUR_GENERATED_RANDOM_API_KEY'
        role: ReadWrite

For native installation, replace YOUR_SHARED_MUSIC_FOLDER with the full address of your music collection. On Mac, select the folder in Finder and press Option + Command + C to copy its address. On Windows/Linux, open the folder in your file manager, press Ctrl + L, then Ctrl + C. Paste that address between the single quotes.

Examples are /Users/YOUR_NAME/Music/Collection on Mac, C:\Users\YOUR_NAME\Music\Collection on Windows, or /home/YOUR_NAME/Music/Collection on Linux. Use your actual folder, not these example names. Docker users enter /music here because that is Docker's name for shared-music.

To generate your API key, use the command for your chosen route below. Copy only the generated random string into YOUR_GENERATED_RANDOM_API_KEY. Keep the key private; it is not your Soulseek password.

Native Mac or Linux

Use Terminal in the extracted slskd folder, as described in your native steps. Paste this and press Return/Enter:

./slskd --generate-secret 32

Native Windows

Open the extracted folder containing slskd.exe in File Explorer. Click its address bar, type powershell and press Enter. PowerShell is the Windows command window. Paste this into the PowerShell window and press Enter:

.\slskd.exe --generate-secret 32

Docker on any platform

Use the Terminal or PowerShell window from your Docker steps, with Docker running. Paste this and press Return/Enter:

docker run --rm slskd/slskd:0.26.2 ./slskd --generate-secret 32

ReadWrite gives Auto Digger search and download access. An administrator key is unnecessary.