GSoC 2025 - Multi-Genre & Autocompletion Support Implementation

Date Author Antonio Giordano Tag GSoC2025, features, library, metadata, genres, multitrack

Hello everyone! I'm Antonio Giordano, and I'm excited to share the results of my Google Summer of Code 2025 work on Mixxx. We've introduced true multi-genre support with smart autocompletion, a cleaner editing experience, and tools to migrate your existing library without breaking your flow.

Project Vision & Evolution

Our goal was to give DJs flexible, reliable control over genres beyond a single free-text field. In earlier versions, you could type multiple genres (e.g., Dance/Electronic/House), but Mixxx treated that as plain text. It couldn't understand or manage individual tags.

To get this right, we started with a solid multi-genre foundation that's fast, consistent, and future-friendly. This foundation paves the way for richer features like hierarchical genres.

What's New

Single-Track Genre Editing (Chip UI + Autocomplete)

The Track Properties dialog now shows genres as compact chips with a white x to remove, plus autocomplete to add existing genres quickly.

  • Clean look & feel: compact chips, thin scrollbar, readable contrast.
  • Autocomplete: type a few letters and pick from existing genres.
  • No more long strings: add/remove individual genres directly.
  • Always consistent: the track table shows human-readable names everywhere.

Note: If you type a genre that doesn't exist yet, Mixxx keeps it as a literal. You can map it later using the Orphan Genres tool (see below).

Multi-Track Editing (Experimental)

You can now edit genres across multiple tracks in one go (experimental):

  • Common view: shows the intersection of genres shared by all selected tracks.
  • Batch operations: add or remove genres for the whole selection.
  • Safe by design: unique per-track genres are preserved.

A Smarter Library: Tree, Counts, and Drag & Drop

Genres now live in a tree. Each node shows track count and total duration. When you select a track, the genres it belongs to become bold in the tree crate-like ergonomics for quick navigation.

  • Drag & drop: drag tracks from the Tracklist onto a genre to assign it.
  • Quick menu: right-click a track then Genres to (de)select on the fly.
  • Rename safely: renaming a genre changes the name, not the ID, so tracks keep their associations.

Clean Migration: "Orphan Genres"

If your library contains free-text genres, Mixxx detects orphans and helps you clean them up:

  • Right-click the root of the genre tree then Edit Orphan Genres.
  • Add a new genre or Link a string to an existing one.
  • Multi-word strings appear as both a full string and individual tokens; add the full string first if you want to keep it as a single genre.

Why This Matters for DJs

Before:

  • One free-text field. No understanding of individual genres.
  • No autocomplete.
  • Editing meant retyping a whole string.
  • Inconsistent naming ("Electronic" vs "electronic").
  • No real bulk editing.

Now:

  • True multi-genre: each tag is a first-class citizen.
  • Autocomplete: fast, consistent tagging.
  • Visual editing: add/remove with chips.
  • Bulk-friendly: multi-track editor (experimental) for common operations.
  • Library-aware: a genre tree with counts, duration, and drag & drop.
  • Backwards-compatible: your library keeps working; migrate at your pace.

How to Use It

Single Track

  1. Right-click a track, Properties.
  2. In Genre, start typing and pick from autocomplete.
  3. Click the x to remove a tag.
  4. OK or Apply to save.

Multi Track (Experimental)

  1. Select multiple tracks then right-click then Properties.
  2. See the common genres across the selection.
  3. Add or remove tags in bulk.
  4. Save: Mixxx preserves track-specific genres.

Clean Up Old Text Tags

  1. In the genre tree, right-click the root then Edit Orphan Genres.
  2. Add new genres or Link strings to existing ones.
  3. Repeat as needed, your sets keep running.

Under the Hood (Brief)

  • Stable IDs for genres and a fast join table (genre_tracks) so filtering and counts are snappy.
  • A central Genre DAO (data access layer) that maps between IDs and names and normalizes raw data.
  • The UI always shows human-friendly names; the storage format stays robust behind the scenes.

Demo video (quick tour)

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Direct Link
This short video bundles all demos: single-track tag chips, multi-track bulk edit, the Genre Tree with drag-and-drop and F2 rename, and the Edit Orphan Genres flow

What's Next

This foundation unlocks a lot of potential. Based on community input, we're exploring:

  • A full hierarchical genre tree with multi-level editing.
  • Fuzzy autocomplete to handle typos gracefully.
  • Search that also matches genre names.
  • Smarter import/export of genre structures (share your taxonomy).
  • Better metadata export across formats for multi-genre fields.
  • Optional auto-conversion of known strings to stable IDs on import.

Thank You

Huge thanks to the Mixxx mentors and community for guidance, reviews, and real-world feedback. This is a big step forward, and we'll keep refining it together. Please try it and tell us what works for you.

Learn More

For comprehensive project details:

Feedback & Support:

Report issues on GitHub, share ideas on the forums, or chat with us on Zulip. We'd love to hear about your experience with the new genre features:

Happy mixing!
Antonio Giordano
GSoC 2025 Contributor

Antonio Giordano GitHub profile
GSoC 2025 Contributor
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