SubMiner/docs-site/usage.md

Usage

Quick Start

Play a video with SubMiner:

subminer video.mkv

On Windows, use the SubMiner mpv shortcut created during first-run setup - double-click it, or drag a video file onto it.

That's the simplest way to get started. The subminer launcher handles mpv, the IPC socket, and the overlay automatically.

Important

SubMiner requires the bundled Yomitan instance to have at least one dictionary imported for lookups to work. See Yomitan setup for details.

::: tip Anki card enrichment If you want sentence, audio, and screenshot fields on your Anki cards, add this to your config:

{
  "ankiConnect": {
    "enabled": true,
    "deck": "Mining",
    "fields": {
      "sentence": "Sentence",
      "audio": "SentenceAudio",
      "image": "Picture",
    },
  },
}

Field names must match a field on your Anki note type. Matching is case-insensitive (an exact match wins, then a lowercase comparison), but the spelling must otherwise match. See Anki Integration for the full reference. :::

How It Works

When you launch SubMiner, it wires up mpv and the overlay for you:

1. SubMiner starts the overlay app in the background
2. mpv runs with an IPC socket at /tmp/subminer-socket - a small local channel two programs use to talk to each other, so the overlay can ask mpv what subtitle is on screen right now
3. The overlay connects and subscribes to subtitle changes

From there, subtitles render as interactive, hoverable word spans and you mine cards directly from the overlay. For the overlay anatomy and the full mining loop - word lookup, card creation, annotations - see Mining Workflow.

Ways to Launch

Approach	Use when	How
subminer launcher	You want SubMiner to handle everything - launch mpv, set up the socket, start the overlay. Recommended for most users.	subminer video.mkv
SubMiner mpv shortcut (Windows)	The recommended Windows entry point. Created during first-run setup, launches mpv with SubMiner's defaults.	Double-click, drag a file onto it, or run SubMiner.exe --launch-mpv
mpv plugin (all platforms)	Bundled and injected at runtime. Provides y chord keybindings for controlling the overlay from within mpv. No manual install needed.	Automatic when using the launcher or shortcut

The mpv plugin is always available - it's bundled with SubMiner and injected at runtime. On Linux, normal subminer playback auto-installs the launcher-managed runtime plugin copy from the bundled app if that managed copy is missing, so no separate plugin install is needed for standard launcher usage. If you launch mpv yourself (without the launcher), pass --input-ipc-server=/tmp/subminer-socket in your mpv config for the overlay to connect.

Commands

These are the commands you will actually use day to day. The full inventory of subcommands and flags lives in Launcher Script.

subminer video.mkv                # Play a specific file
subminer                          # Browse the current directory (fzf picker)
subminer -R                       # Browse with the rofi picker instead
subminer -d ~/Anime -r            # Browse a specific directory, recursively
subminer -H                       # Browse watch history, then replay/next/previous
subminer https://youtu.be/...     # Play a YouTube URL
subminer stats                    # Open the immersion stats dashboard
subminer doctor                   # Check dependencies, config, and the mpv socket
subminer settings                 # Open the SubMiner settings window
subminer app --setup              # Re-open first-run setup
subminer -u                       # Check for updates

On Windows there is no subminer launcher. Use the SubMiner mpv shortcut for playback (see Windows mpv Shortcut), and run SubMiner.exe directly for everything else.

Two flags are worth knowing early:

• -a/--args passes extra arguments straight to mpv, for example subminer --args "--ao=alsa --volume=80" video.mkv.
• --log-level debug turns on verbose logging when something is not working.

Less common launcher commands

subminer --start video.mkv        # Explicit overlay start (when mpv.autoStartSubMiner is false)
subminer -S video.mkv             # Also force the visible overlay on start
subminer -T video.mkv             # Disable the texthooker server
subminer -b x11 video.mkv         # Force a window backend
subminer -p gpu-hq video.mkv      # Use a specific mpv profile
subminer ytsearch:"jp news"       # Play the first YouTube search result
subminer texthooker               # Texthooker-only mode (-o also opens the browser)
subminer stats -b                 # Start/reuse the background stats daemon
subminer stats -s                 # Stop the background stats daemon
subminer stats cleanup            # Backfill vocabulary metadata, prune stale rows
subminer stats rebuild            # Rebuild rollup data
subminer doctor --refresh-known-words  # Refresh the known-word cache
subminer logs -e                  # Export a sanitized log ZIP and print its path
subminer config path              # Print the active config path
subminer config show              # Print the active config contents
subminer mpv socket               # Print the active mpv socket path
subminer mpv status               # Exit 0 if the socket is ready, else exit 1
subminer mpv idle                 # Launch a detached idle mpv with SubMiner defaults
subminer app --stop               # Stop the background app
subminer --version                # Print the launcher's version

Jellyfin, cross-machine sync, and character-dictionary commands have their own sections: Jellyfin, Sync Between Machines, and Character Dictionary.

Direct packaged-app flags (advanced)

These call the app binary directly rather than going through the launcher. On Windows, replace SubMiner.AppImage with SubMiner.exe.

SubMiner.AppImage --background            # Start in background (tray + IPC wait, minimal logs)
SubMiner.AppImage --start --texthooker    # Start overlay with texthooker
SubMiner.AppImage --texthooker            # Texthooker only (no overlay window)
SubMiner.AppImage --setup                 # Open first-run setup
SubMiner.AppImage --stop                  # Stop overlay
SubMiner.AppImage --start --toggle        # Start mpv IPC + toggle visibility
SubMiner.AppImage --show-visible-overlay  # Force show the visible overlay
SubMiner.AppImage --hide-visible-overlay  # Force hide the visible overlay
SubMiner.AppImage --toggle-primary-subtitle-bar  # Toggle the primary subtitle bar
SubMiner.AppImage --toggle-subtitle-sidebar      # Toggle the subtitle sidebar
SubMiner.AppImage --open-tsukihime        # Open TsukiHime subtitle search
SubMiner.AppImage --yomitan               # Open Yomitan settings
SubMiner.AppImage --settings              # Open the SubMiner settings window
SubMiner.AppImage --jellyfin              # Open the Jellyfin setup window
SubMiner.AppImage --dictionary            # Generate a character dictionary ZIP
SubMiner.AppImage --start --dev           # Enable app/dev mode
SubMiner.AppImage --start --log-level debug  # Verbose logging without dev mode
SubMiner.AppImage --help                  # Show all options

The remaining flags are internal or scripting-only surfaces: the --jellyfin-* family (login, library listing, item playback, cast announce), --sync-cli (the app's headless sync entrypoint that subminer sync proxies to), --dictionary-candidates / --dictionary-select, and --playback-feedback <text>. Run SubMiner.AppImage --help for the complete list. The previous --open-animetosho flag is still accepted as a deprecated alias for --open-tsukihime.

The tray menu includes Export Logs, which creates the same sanitized local-date log ZIP as subminer logs -e and shows the archive path when complete. Export sanitization masks common PII and secrets, including home-directory usernames, IP addresses, emails, auth/cookie headers, yt-dlp cookie arguments, URL credentials, token/key/password fields, and signed YouTube media URL query strings. The exported copy is sanitized; source log files remain unredacted on disk.

Once Jellyfin is configured, the tray menu includes Jellyfin Discovery for starting or stopping cast discovery in the current app session without changing config.

Logging and App Mode

• --log-level controls logger verbosity.
• --dev and --debug are app/dev-mode switches; they are not log-level aliases.
• --background defaults to quieter logging (warn) unless --log-level is set.
• --background launched from a terminal detaches and returns the prompt; stop it with tray Quit or SubMiner.AppImage --stop (SubMiner.exe --stop on Windows).
• Linux desktop launcher starts SubMiner with --background by default (via electron-builder linux.executableArgs).
• On Hyprland and other Wayland compositors, the tray icon appears only when your panel provides a StatusNotifier/AppIndicator tray host.
• On Linux, the app now defaults safeStorage to gnome-libsecret for encrypted token persistence. Launcher pass-through commands also support --password-store=<backend> and forward it to the app when present. Override with e.g. --password-store=basic_text.
• Use both when needed, for example SubMiner.AppImage --start --dev --log-level debug (or SubMiner.exe --start --dev --log-level debug on Windows).
• --playback-feedback <text> (also --playback-feedback=<text>) sends a non-empty text string through the playback-feedback route used for recording/playback prompts. For example: SubMiner.AppImage --playback-feedback "your feedback".

Windows mpv Shortcut

First-run setup creates the config file, then requires Yomitan dictionaries before it can finish.

If you enabled the optional Windows shortcut during install, SubMiner creates a SubMiner mpv shortcut in the Start menu and/or on the desktop. On Windows, that shortcut is the recommended way to launch local files with SubMiner because it starts mpv.exe with the right defaults directly. After setup completes, the shortcut is the normal Windows playback entry point.

You can use it three ways:

• Double-click SubMiner mpv to open mpv with SubMiner's default socket/subtitle args.
• Drag a video file onto SubMiner mpv to launch that file with the same defaults.
• Run it directly from Command Prompt or PowerShell with --launch-mpv.

& "C:\Program Files\SubMiner\SubMiner.exe" --launch-mpv
& "C:\Program Files\SubMiner\SubMiner.exe" --launch-mpv "C:\Videos\episode 01.mkv"

This flow requires mpv.exe to be discoverable. Leave mpv.executablePath blank to auto-discover from PATH, or set it to the full mpv.exe path if mpv is installed elsewhere. SUBMINER_MPV_PATH is still honored as a fallback.

Launcher Subcommands

The launcher groups related work under subcommands: jellyfin (aliased jf), stats, sync, dictionary (aliased dict), texthooker, doctor, settings, config, mpv, logs, and app (aliased bin) for passing arguments straight to the SubMiner binary.

Every subcommand has its own help page, for example subminer jellyfin -h. See Launcher Script - Subcommands for the full table, and Sync Between Machines for the SSH stats/history sync.

A texthooker is a web page that displays the current subtitle line as selectable text, so browser-based dictionary extensions and other tools can read along with playback.

First-Run Setup

Setup popup appears on first launch, or when setup has not been completed.

You can also open it manually:

subminer app --setup
SubMiner.AppImage --setup

Setup flow:

• config file: create the default config directory and prefer config.jsonc
• legacy plugin cleanup: remove detected older global SubMiner mpv plugin files if present (the bundled plugin is injected at runtime automatically)
• Yomitan shortcut: open bundled Yomitan settings directly from the setup window
• dictionary check: ensure at least one bundled Yomitan dictionary is available, unless an external Yomitan profile is configured
• Windows: optionally create or remove SubMiner mpv Start Menu/Desktop shortcuts (SubMiner.exe --launch-mpv)
• Windows: optionally set mpv.executablePath if mpv.exe is not on PATH
• refresh: re-check dictionary state without restarting
• Finish setup stays disabled until the config and dictionary gates are satisfied
• finish action writes setup completion state and suppresses future auto-open prompts

AniList character dictionary auto-sync (optional):

• Enable with subtitleStyle.nameMatchEnabled=true in config or Name Match Enabled in Settings.
• SubMiner syncs the currently watched AniList media into a per-media snapshot, then rebuilds one merged SubMiner Character Dictionary from the most recently used snapshots.
• Rotation limit defaults to 3 recent media snapshots in that merged dictionary (maxLoaded).

Use subcommands for Jellyfin workflows (subminer jellyfin ...). Top-level launcher flags like --jellyfin-* are intentionally rejected.

MPV Profile Example (mpv.conf)

subminer passes the following MPV options directly on launch by default:

• --input-ipc-server=/tmp/subminer-socket (or your configured socket path)
• --alang=ja,jp,jpn,japanese,en,eng,english,enus,en-us
• --slang=ja,jp,jpn,japanese,en,eng,english,enus,en-us
• --sub-auto=fuzzy
• --sub-file-paths=.;subs;subtitles
• --sid=auto
• --secondary-sid=auto
• --sub-visibility=no (the overlay renders subtitles instead of mpv)
• --secondary-sub-visibility=no

You can append additional MPV arguments with launcher -a/--args, for example --args "--ao=alsa --volume=80".

You can define a matching profile in ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf for consistency when launching mpv manually or from other tools. The Windows SubMiner.exe --launch-mpv shortcut path uses equivalent args directly, but skips the extra current-directory subtitle scan to avoid duplicate sidecar detection when you drag a video onto the shortcut; the optional profile remains useful for manual mpv launches. The subminer wrapper passes no mpv profile by default; set one with subminer -p <profile> ... or with mpv.profile in your config (for example "profile": "subminer" to use the [subminer] profile below):

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

# Prefer JP/EN audio + subtitle language variants
alang=ja,jp,jpn,japanese,en,eng,english,enus,en-us
slang=ja,jp,jpn,japanese,en,eng,english,enus,en-us

# 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

Yomitan setup

SubMiner includes a bundled Yomitan extension for overlay word lookup. This bundled extension is separate from any Yomitan browser extension you may have installed.

For SubMiner overlay lookups to work, open Yomitan settings (subminer app --yomitan or SubMiner.AppImage --yomitan) and import at least one dictionary in the bundled Yomitan instance.

If you also use Yomitan in a browser, configure that browser profile separately; it does not inherit dictionaries or settings from the bundled instance.

YouTube Playback

subminer accepts direct URLs (for example, YouTube links) and ytsearch: targets. For YouTube playback, SubMiner resolves subtitle selection during startup while mpv is paused: it auto-selects the default primary subtitle track plus a best-effort secondary track, then resumes when primary subtitles are ready.

Notes:

• Install yt-dlp so mpv can resolve YouTube streams and subtitle tracks reliably.
• For YouTube URLs, startup no longer requires opening the picker first; SubMiner loads subtitles and keeps the overlay available for retries.
• Press Ctrl+Alt+C during active YouTube playback to open the manual YouTube subtitle picker and retry track selection.
• For YouTube URLs, subminer probes available YouTube subtitle tracks, reuses existing authoritative tracks when available, and downloads only missing sides.
• Native mpv secondary subtitle rendering stays hidden so the overlay remains the visible secondary subtitle surface.
• YouTube auto-selection always targets a Japanese primary track and an English secondary track (manual uploads preferred over auto-generated captions). youtube.primarySubLanguages (defaults to ["ja","jpn"]) defines which loaded track counts as a satisfactory primary for the missing-subtitle notification and for managed local/playlist selection.
• When multiple matching secondary tracks exist, SubMiner prefers a non-Signs/Songs track.
• Configure defaults in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/SubMiner/config.jsonc (or ~/.config/SubMiner/config.jsonc) under youtube and secondarySub.

For local video files, SubMiner uses the same config-driven language priorities to auto-select the primary and secondary subtitle tracks from internal and external subtitle sources.

Live Config Reload

While SubMiner is running, it watches your active config file and applies safe updates automatically.

Live-updated settings include:

• subtitleStyle
• keybindings
• shortcuts
• secondarySub.defaultMode
• subtitleSidebar
• notifications
• logging
• jimaku, subsync
• mpv.aniskipEnabled, mpv.aniskipButtonKey
• stats.toggleKey, stats.markWatchedKey
• youtube.primarySubLanguages
• most ankiConnect.* settings (including ankiConnect.ai)

Invalid config edits are rejected; SubMiner keeps the previous valid runtime config and shows an error notification. For restart-required sections, SubMiner shows a restart-needed notification.

Controller Support

SubMiner supports gamepad/controller input for couch-friendly usage via the Chrome Gamepad API. Controller input drives the overlay while keyboard-only mode is enabled.

Getting Started

1. Connect a controller before or after launching SubMiner.
2. Set controller.enabled to true in your config.
3. Press Alt+C in the overlay by default to pick the controller you want to save and remap any action inline.
4. Enable keyboard-only mode - press Y on the controller (default binding) or use the overlay keybinding.
5. Click the binding badge, edit pencil, or Learn on the overlay action you want, then press the matching button, trigger, or stick direction on the controller.
6. Use the left stick to navigate subtitle tokens and scroll the popup; use the right stick vertically for popup page jumps.
7. Press A to look up the selected word, X to mine a card, B to close the popup.

By default SubMiner uses the first connected controller after controller support is enabled. Alt+C opens the controller config modal, where you can save the preferred controller and remap bindings inline per controller. The reset button beside each edit pencil restores that binding to its built-in default for the selected controller. Alt+Shift+C opens the live debug modal with raw axes/button values for non-standard pads. Both modals stay closed while controller.enabled is false, and both shortcuts can be changed through shortcuts.openControllerSelect and shortcuts.openControllerDebug.

Default Button Mapping

Button	Action
A (South)	Toggle lookup
B (East)	Close lookup
Y (North)	Toggle keyboard-only mode
X (West)	Mine card
L1	Play current Yomitan audio
R1	Next Yomitan audio track
L3 (left stick press)	Toggle mpv pause
Select / Minus	Quit mpv
L2 / R2	Unbound (available for custom bindings)

Note: the default quit binding uses gamepad button index 6. Pads that follow the W3C standard gamepad layout report L2 as index 6 (Select is index 8), so on those controllers the quit action may fire on L2 instead - use Alt+C learn mode to remap it for your pad.

Analog Controls

Input	Action
Left stick horizontal	Move token selection left/right
Left stick vertical	Scroll Yomitan popup
Right stick vertical	Jump through Yomitan popup
D-pad	Fallback for stick navigation when configured

Learn mode ignores already-held inputs and waits for the next fresh button press or axis direction, which avoids accidental captures when you open the modal mid-input.

All button and axis mappings are configurable under the controller config block. Learned remaps are saved under controller.profiles for the selected controller id. See Configuration - Controller Support for the full options.

Keybindings

See Keyboard Shortcuts for the full reference, including mining shortcuts, overlay controls, and customization.

App-wide shortcuts:

Keybind	Action	Scope
Alt+Shift+O	Toggle visible overlay	Works while the overlay or mpv has focus (configurable via shortcuts.toggleVisibleOverlayGlobal)
Alt+Shift+Y	Open Yomitan settings	OS-global - registered with the system, works from any window

Alt+Shift+Y is fixed and not configurable. All other shortcuts can be changed under shortcuts in your config.

Useful overlay-local default keybinding: Ctrl+Alt+P opens the playlist browser for the current video's parent directory and the live mpv queue so you can append, reorder, remove, or jump between episodes without leaving playback.

Press V to cycle the primary SubMiner subtitle bar through hidden → visible → hover modes. The bundled mpv plugin also binds bare v to the same action (injected at runtime).

Ctrl/Cmd+/ opens the session help modal with the current overlay and mpv keybindings. The same help view is also available through the y-h chord in mpv.

Hovering over subtitle text pauses mpv by default; leaving resumes it. Yomitan popups also pause playback by default. Set subtitleStyle.autoPauseVideoOnHover: false or subtitleStyle.autoPauseVideoOnYomitanPopup: false to disable either behavior.

Drag-and-Drop

• Drop video files onto the overlay to replace current playback.
• Hold Shift while dropping to append to the playlist instead.
• Drop subtitle files onto the overlay to load them as a new subtitle track.

Next: Mining Workflow - word lookup, card creation, and the full mining loop.