artist opens a local artist by name or MusicBrainz ID. Its card separates discography, guest appearances, compilation appearances, writing/production contributions and collaborations instead of placing every association in the same “album” list.
Local name lookup prefers an exact canonical name, then an exact retained alias, before widening to partial name/alias matches. An ambiguous alias keeps all candidates rather than choosing an artist silently. The same lookup resolves artist annotations.
--role narrows credited contributions, --with selects shared tracks with another local artist and --members shows dated band membership. Local albums can derive the line-up appropriate to their year from sourced dates; this is not an invented historical lineup.
For a local artist, --role combines tag credits with trusted source credits sharing that artist's exact MBID: recording credits, applicable performances of a composition and credits on one release edition. Repeated evidence does not duplicate a track. A matching name alone does not join another source identity; pending, rejected or individually excluded source claims remain outside the selection.
Choose one of --role, --with or --members; combinations are refused. On a local artist's ordinary card, --limit/--offset page each album table separately (50 rows by default) and the collaborators table (20 by default). With --role or --with, they page the track table; CSV/JSON/M3U also export that paged track selection. Ordinary track exports page the artist's performed tracks. --all removes these limits. Summary counts still describe the complete matching selection. --members is a complete dated page and refuses export and pagination options.
A contributor existing only in trusted recording/work/edition evidence has a source-only artist card. Use its exact MBID when a local namesake exists. --members and --with require local artists and are refused on that source-only card. CSV/M3U outputs select the relevant tracks, not biography prose. Source provenance remains visible, and the Continue commands navigate to adjacent graph objects.
On that source-only card, --limit/--offset page the selected track exports and each album/credit table independently, with 30 rows by default. Credits are ordered before the window is applied. Counts and Continue links still describe the complete matching selection; --all removes the limit while retaining an explicit offset.
Syntax and arguments#
aede artist <name|MusicBrainz artist ID>
One artist name or MusicBrainz ID. Replace the example identifier.
Options for this command#
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
--csv | Write a CSV table of this command’s result, suitable for a spreadsheet; mutually exclusive with other output formats. |
--m3u | Write an M3U playlist containing the selected local tracks. It contains paths, not copies of the audio. |
--output FILE / -o FILE | Write an export to FILE instead of standard output. A selection needs --csv, --json or --m3u; command-specific exports have their own rules. |
--role ROLE | Keep the people or contributions with this credit role; on credit, specify the new role. |
--members | Show dated band membership from trusted sourced information. Requires a local artist. |
--limit N | Show at most N rows; use a positive whole number. Default limits depend on the page, usually 50. |
--offset N | Skip N rows before showing the result; N starts at 0. Ordering remains deterministic. |
--all | Show every row. Refused with --limit. Some commands also use it to include normally hidden categories, explained below. |
--json / -j | Write this command’s structured JSON result. With analyze, save report files instead of changing terminal output. |
--separator ";" / --separator tab | With --csv only: use comma by default, a one-character separator such as ;, or tab for tab-separated text. Quote ; in a shell. |
--with NAME | Show tracks shared with another local artist. Requires a local artist on both sides. |
The shared options reference explains --data, --no-color, --help/-h, --version/-v/-V, option values and output/pagination rules. These shared presentation/data options do not make every command support CSV/JSON or pagination.
Examples#
aede artist "Miles Davis"
aede artist "Miles Davis" --with "John Coltrane"
aede artist "A band" --members
aede artist MUSICBRAINZ_ARTIST_ID
Uppercase ID tokens are placeholders. Copy the real identifier from Aède’s output; do not type the placeholder or angle brackets.
Result and errors#
Output describes the selected operation or catalog data. Read any per-item warnings and retained-work summary; a completed process is not an independent integrity or audio-quality guarantee. Invalid command syntax/options normally exit with code 2; handler failures normally exit with code 1. Local interruption differs from a delegated server task, as explained in cancel.
Related reading#
Detailed existing guide: browsing.md.