MusicBrainz Picard File Naming Script Generator

MusicBrainz Picard
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User Jaded-Assignment6893 posted this on reddit and it looks interesting so I thought I would repost here.
reddit post | project github

Hey everyone,

So I’ve been using Picard for years now to organize my music library (currently sitting at ~15k albums), and honestly, the file naming script situation has always bugged me. Every time I wanted to change my folder structure or try a different naming scheme, I’d spend an hour digging through the documentation, trying to remember which functions exist, debugging syntax errors, and inevitably breaking something.

Last month I finally snapped when I was helping a friend set up Picard and they asked “can you just make the folders look like Artist/Year - Album/01 - Title?” and I’m sitting there like “yeah sure, gimme 20 minutes to write the script” and they’re looking at me like I’m insane. That’s when I realized this whole process is way more complicated than it needs to be.

What I built:

A Python CLI tool that generates Picard file naming scripts through a simple question-and-answer interface. No coding required, no memorizing function names, no syntax errors.

How it works:

You basically just answer questions like:

  • Want artist folders? (yes/no)
  • Include year in album name? (yes/no)
  • Multi-disc albums in subfolders? (yes/no)
  • Track number padding? (1, 2, or 3 digits)

…and it spits out a complete, working Picard script ready to import.

I included 6 presets (Simple, Organized, Audiophile, etc.) if you just want something that works out of the box, but you can also customize everything. The tool only uses real Picard variables and functions - no made-up stuff that’ll break when you try to use it.

Why share it:

Honestly, I built this for myself, but figured there’s gotta be other people out there who are also tired of manually writing these scripts or who want to use Picard but get scared off by the scripting aspect. It’s free, open source, and took me way too many evenings to build so hopefully someone else finds it useful.

Links:

The whole thing is interactive with nice terminal menus (using Rich and Questionary libraries), so it’s actually kinda fun to use. Or at least, as fun as organizing music metadata can be lol.

Anyway, hope this helps someone! Let me know if you have any questions or run into issues. Also open to suggestions for new presets or features.

TL;DR: Made a tool that generates Picard file naming scripts by answering simple questions instead of writing code. No more syntax errors or documentation diving.

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