Spotify troubleshooting

Fixes for the Spotify problems users actually hit in Mastery HQ, roughly in the order they occur: connecting, signing in, and playback. If you haven’t connected yet, start with Connect Spotify.

“INVALID_CLIENT: Invalid redirect URI” in the browser

Cause: the redirect URI registered in your Spotify app doesn’t exactly match the one Mastery HQ uses.

1. In the Music pane’s Spotify view, look for the diagnostics line shown while connecting or after an error — it displays the exact Redirect URI with a Copy button. (It’s hidden while Streaming Mode is on; switch to Vibe Code Mode to see it.)
2. Open developer.spotify.com/dashboard, open your app → Settings → Redirect URIs.
3. Paste the copied URI exactly — scheme, host, port and path must match character-for-character — then save and click Connect Spotify again.

I signed in, but the app still says “Connecting…”

Cause: the browser finished, but the approval never reached the app’s local listener — or you took longer than the 10-minute window.

1. Check the browser tab that opened: if it shows a Spotify error instead of a success message, fix that error first (usually the redirect URI above).
2. Firewall or security software can block the app’s temporary local listener on port 8899. Allow Mastery HQ through, then retry.
3. If more than 10 minutes passed, the attempt expired — click Connect Spotify and complete the sign-in in one sitting.

Connected, but tracks only play 30-second previews

Cause: the native full-track player needs Spotify Premium; Free accounts use Spotify’s embedded player with previews.

1. Check the pane header: it shows Connected as <name> · Premium or · Free.
2. If it says Free but you have Premium, click Disconnect, then reconnect with the right Spotify account (the browser may have auto-signed into another one — the login page lets you switch).

The player looks stuck right after reconnecting

Cause: Spotify’s player can’t restart in place after the connection gains new permissions.

Mastery HQ detects this and reloads itself once, automatically, a few seconds after connecting. Let it finish — playback works normally afterward. Your workspace is unaffected.

The waveform doesn’t follow the beat

Not a bug. The bars are a music visualizer: they move only while a track actually plays, but they aren’t synced to the song’s rhythm. Spotify restricted the audio-analysis API that beat-sync would need, so this is a platform limitation, and the label in the pane says which mode the visualizer is in.

Still stuck?

Send it to us from the Feedback button in the top bar — include what the pane header and the diagnostics line show. The Music pane doc covers the non-Spotify sources (YouTube, stations, direct files).