pw-cat(1)
Display or concatenate PipeWire graph objects and their properties.
Synopsis
pw-cat [OPTION]... [FILE]...Description
pw-cat is a PipeWire utility that reads and displays information about PipeWire graph objects such as nodes, ports, and links. It can concatenate multiple inputs and output the serialized graph structure or specific object properties in various formats.
This tool is useful for inspecting the PipeWire audio/video server state, debugging connection issues, and understanding the current graph topology without requiring GUI tools.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-h, --help | Show help message and exit |
-V, --version | Show version information |
-r, --remote | Specify remote daemon name (default: "pipewire-0") |
-o, --output | Output format: json, spa, text (default: text) |
-p, --pretty | Pretty-print output with indentation |
-n, --no-colors | Disable colored output |
-m, --monitor | Monitor changes to the graph in real-time |
-k, --info | Show detailed object information |
Examples
Display the entire PipeWire graph and all objects in text format
pw-catOutput graph as JSON and filter to show only nodes using jq
pw-cat -o json | jq '.nodes[] | select(.type=="PipeWire:Node")'Monitor the graph continuously, showing changes as they occur
pw-cat -mConnect to alternate PipeWire instance and pretty-print JSON output
pw-cat -r pipewire-1 -o json -pDisplay graph without colors and filter for port information
pw-cat -n | grep -A5 'Port'Save detailed graph information with object details to a file
pw-cat -k > graph.txt