DeckPlayer

DeckPlayer is a small local-first media browser and player aimed at Steam Deck Game Mode and KDE desktop use. The target workflow is simple: launch from Steam as a non-Steam game, browse ~/Videos with controller-friendly inputs, and play files stored locally on the device or SD card.

V1 goals

• Start in ~/Videos
• Exclude hidden files and folders by default, with a toggle to reveal them
• Show folders first, then likely media files
• Always start videos from the beginning
• Keep the UI large, simple, and reliable with Steam Input mappings

Stack

• Qt 6 + QML for the shell and UI
• libmpv for playback
• CMake for builds
• Flatpak for Steam Deck distribution

Current status — v1.2.0

• Folder-first file browser rooted from the user's filesystem
• Persistence for last visited folder and hidden-file toggle
• Embedded libmpv playback with pause, seek, subtitle cycling, and audio track cycling
• Playback OSD feedback for pause/play, seek, subtitle changes, and audio track changes
• Controller-friendly keyboard mappings that are easy to bind through Steam Input
• Direct SDL gamepad input for Steam Deck controls and standard controllers
• Volume control (LB/RB in player)
• Per-file playback resume (saves and restores position across sessions)
• Exit confirmation hold gesture (hold B for 2 seconds) to prevent accidental closes

Build

You need Qt 6.5 or newer with Core, Gui, Qml, and Quick, plus the libmpv and SDL2 development packages available through pkg-config as mpv and sdl2.

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

Controls

• Browser: arrows or D-pad move, Enter opens, Escape goes back
• Browser: W/S also move, and Q/E or Page Up/Page Down jump faster through long folders
• Browser: D also opens and A also goes back for Steam Input layouts that prefer face-button letters
• Player: Enter or P pauses, Left/Q seeks backward, Right/E seeks forward
• Player: X cycles subtitles, Y cycles audio tracks, Escape exits playback
• Window: F or F11 toggles fullscreen

Native gamepad controls are also supported:

• Browser: D-pad or left stick moves, A opens, B goes back, LB/RB jumps faster
• Player: A or Start pauses, D-pad/stick left or LB seeks backward, D-pad/stick right or RB seeks forward
• Player: X cycles subtitles, Y cycles audio tracks, B exits playback
• Window: Select exits the app

Steam Deck packaging

The recommended Steam Deck package is Flatpak. The Flatpak manifest builds the app, libmpv, and the media playback dependencies inside the KDE Flatpak runtime, which avoids depending on the host distro's glibc and Qt library versions.

To build a local Flatpak bundle:

./packaging/flatpak/build-flatpak.sh

The script installs the KDE runtime, KDE SDK, and Flatpak Builder from Flathub when they are missing. It writes the bundle to:

dist/io.github.zeclorn.DeckPlayer.flatpak

Install and run the local bundle with:

flatpak install --user dist/io.github.zeclorn.DeckPlayer.flatpak
flatpak run io.github.zeclorn.DeckPlayer

Recommended Steam Input mapping

For early Steam Deck testing as a non-Steam game, map:

• D-pad or left stick to arrow keys
• A button to Enter
• B button to Escape
• X button to X
• Y button to Y
• LB to Q
• RB to E
• Start to P
• Select or one back grip to quit the app
• one back grip or extra button to F for fullscreen toggle

Release history

v1.2.0 — 2026-05-31

• CLAUDE.md codebase documentation for AI assistants
• GitHub Actions CI (build check on every push and PR to main)
• Updated release history and version metadata

v1.1.0 — 2026-05-31

• Volume control via LB/RB in the player
• Per-file playback resume (position saved and restored across sessions)
• Exit confirmation hold gesture (hold B for 2 seconds) to prevent accidental closes
• Exit confirmation dialog readability improvements
• Bug fixes for A/B button confirm and close flows

v1.0.0 — 2026-05-01

First stable release. Flatpak packaging, controller-friendly browsing, direct Steam Deck gamepad support, local video playback, subtitle/audio track cycling, and fading playback overlays. Smoke-tested on Steam Deck Game Mode.