SubMiner Script vs MPV Plugin

There are two ways to use SubMiner:

Approach	Best For
subminer script	All-in-one solution. Handles video selection, launches MPV with the correct socket, starts the overlay automatically, and cleans up on exit.
MPV plugin	When you launch MPV yourself or from other tools. Provides in-MPV chord keybindings (e.g. `y-y` for menu) to control visible and invisible overlay layers. Requires `--input-ipc-server=/tmp/subminer-socket`.

You can use both together—install the plugin for on-demand control, but use subminer when you want the streamlined workflow.

subminer is implemented as a Bun script and runs directly via shebang (no bun run needed), for example: subminer video.mkv.

Usage

# Browse and play videos
subminer                          # Current directory (uses fzf)
subminer -R                       # Use rofi instead of fzf
subminer -d ~/Videos              # Specific directory
subminer -r -d ~/Anime            # Recursive search
subminer video.mkv                # Play specific file
subminer https://youtu.be/...     # Play a YouTube URL
subminer ytsearch:"jp news"       # Play first YouTube search result

# Options
subminer -T video.mkv             # Disable texthooker server
subminer -b x11 video.mkv         # Force X11 backend
subminer video.mkv                # Uses mpv profile "subminer" by default
subminer -p gpu-hq video.mkv      # Override mpv profile
subminer --yt-subgen-mode preprocess --whisper-bin /path/to/whisper-cli --whisper-model /path/to/model.bin https://youtu.be/...  # Pre-generate subtitle tracks before playback

# Direct AppImage control
subminer.AppImage --start --texthooker   # Start overlay with texthooker
subminer.AppImage --texthooker           # Launch texthooker only (no overlay window)
subminer.AppImage --stop                  # Stop overlay
subminer.AppImage --start --toggle        # Start MPV IPC + toggle visibility
subminer.AppImage --start --toggle-invisible-overlay  # Start MPV IPC + toggle invisible layer
subminer.AppImage --show-visible-overlay              # Force show visible overlay
subminer.AppImage --hide-visible-overlay              # Force hide visible overlay
subminer.AppImage --show-invisible-overlay            # Force show invisible overlay
subminer.AppImage --hide-invisible-overlay            # Force hide invisible overlay
subminer.AppImage --settings              # Open Yomitan settings
subminer.AppImage --help                  # Show all options

MPV Profile Example (mpv.conf)

Add a profile to ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf; subminer now launches mpv with --profile=subminer by default (or override with subminer -p <profile> ...):

[subminer]
# IPC socket (must match SubMiner config)
input-ipc-server=/tmp/subminer-socket

# Prefer JP subs, then EN
slang=ja,jpn,en,eng

# Auto-load external subtitles
sub-auto=fuzzy
sub-file-paths=.;subs;subtitles

# Select primary + secondary subtitle tracks automatically
sid=auto
secondary-sid=auto
secondary-sub-visibility=no

secondary-slang is not an mpv option; use slang with sid=auto / secondary-sid=auto instead.

YouTube Playback

subminer accepts direct URLs (for example, YouTube links) and ytsearch: targets, and forwards them to mpv.

Notes:

Install yt-dlp so mpv can resolve YouTube streams and subtitle tracks reliably.
subminer supports three subtitle-generation modes for YouTube URLs:
- automatic (default): starts playback immediately, generates subtitles in the background, and loads them into mpv when ready.
- preprocess: generates subtitles first, then starts playback with generated .srt files attached.
- off: disables launcher generation and leaves subtitle handling to mpv/yt-dlp.
Primary subtitle target languages come from youtubeSubgen.primarySubLanguages (defaults to ["ja","jpn"]).
Secondary target languages come from secondarySub.secondarySubLanguages (defaults to English if unset).
subminer prefers subtitle tracks from yt-dlp first, then falls back to local whisper.cpp (whisper-cli) when tracks are missing.
Whisper translation fallback currently only supports English secondary targets; non-English secondary targets rely on yt-dlp subtitle availability.
Configure defaults in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/SubMiner/config.jsonc (or ~/.config/SubMiner/config.jsonc) under youtubeSubgen and secondarySub, or override mode/tool paths via CLI flags/environment variables.

Keybindings

Global Shortcuts

Keybind	Action
`Alt+Shift+O`	Toggle visible overlay
`Alt+Shift+I`	Toggle invisible overlay
`Alt+Shift+Y`	Open Yomitan settings

Overlay Controls (Configurable)

Input	Action
`Space`	Toggle MPV pause
`ArrowRight`	Seek forward 5 seconds
`ArrowLeft`	Seek backward 5 seconds
`ArrowUp`	Seek forward 60 seconds
`ArrowDown`	Seek backward 60 seconds
`Shift+H`	Jump to previous subtitle
`Shift+L`	Jump to next subtitle
`Ctrl+Shift+H`	Replay current subtitle (play to end, then pause)
`Ctrl+Shift+L`	Play next subtitle (jump, play to end, then pause)
`Q`	Quit mpv
`Ctrl+W`	Quit mpv
`Right-click`	Toggle MPV pause (outside subtitle area)
`Right-click + drag`	Move subtitle position (on subtitle)
`Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P`	Toggle invisible subtitle position edit mode
`Arrow keys`	Move invisible subtitles while edit mode is active
`Enter` / `Ctrl+S`	Save invisible subtitle position in edit mode
`Esc`	Cancel invisible subtitle position edit mode

These keybindings only work when the overlay window has focus. See Configuration for customization.

How It Works

MPV runs with an IPC socket at /tmp/subminer-socket
The overlay connects and subscribes to subtitle changes
Subtitles are tokenized with Yomitan's internal parser, with MeCab fallback when needed
Words are displayed as clickable spans
Clicking a word triggers Yomitan popup for dictionary lookup
Texthooker server runs at http://127.0.0.1:5174 for external tools

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