tabslx - a Tabs-Lite extractor

Extract guitar tabs from a TabsLite Android app backup file using the Ultimate Guitar API.

Important

UG's API throttles requests by IP address in a sophisticated release rotation. You get a couple shots a day to perform a full extraction. Sometimes, you may need to just wait awhile (days or a week) before you can sync again.

Setup

In Tabs Lite on your android phone, go to

• Settings (Guitar in search field) > Export favorites and playlists.

This will save tabslite_backup.json on your phone. Copy this to your computer.

1. Install dependencies

   git clone https://github.com/brege/tabslx
   npm install -g

2. Configure the extractor

   cp config.default.yaml config.yaml

   Then edit config.yaml

   json: "tabslite_backup.json"
   data: "tabslite-export"
   cache: true
   filename:
     lowercase: false
     space: "-"
     id: true
     format: "{artist}---{song}-{id}.txt"

   • json is the exported TabsLite backup.
   • data is the output directory (device id cache lives here).
   • filename.space replaces whitespace with the given string.
   • filename.id toggles whether {id} stays in the template.

Usage

Command	Description	Notes
Basic extraction	tabslx
Force re-download	tabslx --force	overwrite files on disk
Rotate device identity	tabslx --refresh	regenerates <data>/.device_id
Use custom config	tabslx --config config.yaml	hierarchy: config.yaml > --config > config.default.yaml

Filename pattern

• With filename.id: true

  # "{artist} - {song} [{id}].txt"
  'The Weakerthans - Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure [1068619].txt'

• With filename.id: false

  # "{artist} - {song}.txt"
  'The Weakerthans - Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure.txt'

• Lowercase plus dash spacing:

  # "{artist}---{song}-{id}.txt"
  the-weakerthans---virtute-the-cat-explains-her-departure-1068619.txt

Acknowledgements

TabsLite

License

GPLv3