playerctl

• arch wiki - MPRIS
• freedesktop - MPRIS D-Bus Interface Specification
• Media Player Remote Interfacing Specification (MPRIS)
• freedesktop specification for music player control
• install playerctl, front-end client to control implementing players

pacman -S playerctl

• start daemon to track most player with most recent activity, e.g. put in ~/.xprofile

playerctld daemon

• XF86Audio audio control keys are already bound in default i3 config

# Use pactl to adjust volume in PulseAudio.
set $refresh_i3status killall -SIGUSR1 i3status
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@     +10% && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@     -10% && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioMute        exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute   @DEFAULT_SINK@   toggle && $refresh_i3status
bindsym XF86AudioMicMute     exec --no-startup-id pactl set-source-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ toggle && $refresh_i3status

• bind XF86Audio player control keys to corresponding playerctl commands

# my headphones alternate between play/pause while my keyboard just has play
# so to keep it consistent, force both to toggle
bindsym XF86AudioPlay    exec playerctl play-pause
bindsym XF86AudioPause   exec playerctl play-pause
bindsym XF86AudioStop    exec playerctl stop
bindsym XF86AudioPrev    exec playerctl previous
bindsym XF86AudioNext    exec playerctl next
bindsym XF86AudioForward exec playerctl position 1+
bindsym XF86AudioRewind  exec playerctl position 1-