skip_to_previous
Navigate to the previous track or restart the current song from the beginning in Spotify playback.
Instructions
Skip to the previous track or restart the current track from the beginning.
🎯 USE CASES: • Go back to replay favorite parts of songs • Navigate backwards through playlists or albums • Correct accidental skips to next track • Replay tracks that were particularly enjoyable • Build comprehensive playback control systems
📝 WHAT IT RETURNS: • Information about the track that started playing • Playback position reset to beginning of track • Updated queue and playback state information • Confirmation of successful skip operation • Device status with new playback details
🔍 EXAMPLES: • "Go back to the previous song" • "Play that last track again" • "Skip back to the song before this one" • "I want to hear that again"
🎵 SKIP BEHAVIOR: • Restarts current track if more than 3 seconds have played • Goes to actual previous track if within first 3 seconds • Follows reverse playlist/album order • Respects shuffle mode for random navigation • Updates position in listening history
⚠️ REQUIREMENTS: • Valid Spotify access token with user-modify-playback-state scope • Active playback session currently running • Previous track must exist in queue or history
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| token | Yes | Spotify access token for authentication | |
| deviceId | No | Spotify device ID (optional, uses active device if not specified) |
Implementation Reference
- src/spotify.ts:684-692 (handler)Core handler function in SpotifyService that performs the POST request to Spotify API endpoint /me/player/previous to skip to previous track.
async skipToPrevious( token: string, deviceId: string | null = null ): Promise<void> { const endpoint = deviceId ? `me/player/previous?device_id=${deviceId}` : "me/player/previous"; return await this.makeRequest<void>(endpoint, token, {}, "POST"); } - src/mcp/tools/playback.ts:252-295 (registration)Tool definition and registration in playbackTools object, including title, description, schema, and wrapper handler that delegates to SpotifyService.skipToPrevious.
skip_to_previous: { title: "Skip to Previous Track", description: `Skip to the previous track or restart the current track from the beginning. 🎯 USE CASES: • Go back to replay favorite parts of songs • Navigate backwards through playlists or albums • Correct accidental skips to next track • Replay tracks that were particularly enjoyable • Build comprehensive playback control systems 📝 WHAT IT RETURNS: • Information about the track that started playing • Playback position reset to beginning of track • Updated queue and playback state information • Confirmation of successful skip operation • Device status with new playback details 🔍 EXAMPLES: • "Go back to the previous song" • "Play that last track again" • "Skip back to the song before this one" • "I want to hear that again" 🎵 SKIP BEHAVIOR: • Restarts current track if more than 3 seconds have played • Goes to actual previous track if within first 3 seconds • Follows reverse playlist/album order • Respects shuffle mode for random navigation • Updates position in listening history ⚠️ REQUIREMENTS: • Valid Spotify access token with user-modify-playback-state scope • Active playback session currently running • Previous track must exist in queue or history`, schema: createSchema({ token: commonSchemas.token(), deviceId: commonSchemas.deviceId(), }), handler: async (args: any, spotifyService: SpotifyService) => { const { token, deviceId } = args; return await spotifyService.skipToPrevious(token, deviceId); }, }, - src/mcp/tools/playback.ts:287-290 (schema)Input schema definition for the skip_to_previous tool, requiring Spotify token and optional device ID.
schema: createSchema({ token: commonSchemas.token(), deviceId: commonSchemas.deviceId(), }), - src/mcp/tools/index.ts:31-32 (registration)Aggregates playbackTools (including skip_to_previous) into the central allTools registry used by ToolRegistrar for MCP tool registration.
...playbackTools, - src/mcp/schemas/common.ts:24-30 (helper)Common schema helper for deviceId used in the tool's input schema.
deviceId: () => z .string() .describe( "Spotify device ID (optional, uses active device if not specified)" ) .optional(), - src/mcp/schemas/common.ts:4-5 (helper)Common schema helper for token used in the tool's input schema.
token: () => z.string().describe("Spotify access token for authentication"),