gcast is a simple yet powerful command-line tool written in Python to discover, control, play media, and send text-to-speech (TTS) messages to Google Cast devices (Chromecasts, Nest Audio, Google Home, etc.) on your local network.

• Discover: List all Cast devices on your network.
• Play: Stream audio from a URL to a specific device.
• Support for Volume Control: Set volume levels directly from the CLI.
• Text-to-Speech (TTS): Speak any text message on a device (Mac-only, requires ffmpeg).
• Stop: Stop playback and quit the active app on the device.

• Python 3.7+
• macOS (Required for the say command used in TTS)
• ffmpeg (Required for TTS audio conversion). Install via Homebrew:

  brew install ffmpeg

1. Clone or download this repository.

2. Run the install script:

   ./install.sh

   Installs to ~/.local/bin. Ensure this directory is in your PATH.

   Or manually:

   pip3 install -r requirements.txt
   chmod +x gcast
   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   cp gcast ~/.local/bin/

Find all available devices on your network.

gcast list

Output:

Found 1 device(s):
----------------------------------------
Name: Living Room Speaker
Model: Google Home (Google Inc.)
IP: 192.168.1.50:8009
...

Play a default test sound or a custom URL.

Interactive Mode (Prompts you to select a device):

gcast play

Targeted Playback:

gcast play --device "Living Room" --volume 0.5

Custom URL:

gcast play --device "Living Room" --url "http://example.com/music.mp3"

Make your device speak!

gcast say --device "Living Room" --message "Dinner is ready!" --volume 0.8

Note: This generates an audio file using macOS say, converts it to MP3 with ffmpeg, hosts it on a temporary local web server, and streams it to the device.

Stop whatever is playing.

gcast stop --device "Living Room"

• --verbose: Enable detailed logging for debugging.
• --version: Show version number.
• --timeout: Set discovery timeout (default: 5s).
• --json: Output discovery results in JSON format.

• No devices found: Ensure you are on the same Wi-Fi network and mDNS is allowed. Try increasing timeout: ./gcast list --timeout 10.
• TTS not working: Ensure ffmpeg is installed (ffmpeg -version) and you are on macOS.