Under View->Add Interface, you can enable the Web Interface for VLC. This gives you a way to remote control VLC using HTTP requests, or simply check the status of things (like the currently playing song).
By default, the web server runs here:
Before you can access it, you need to set a password. Follow the instructions at the URL above (i.e. Tools->Preferences then All->Interface->Main Interface->Lua then Lua HTTP->Password.
With a password set, you can access it via cURL like so:
curl http://localhost:8080/requests/status.json -u :mypassword
Noting that you have a password, and no login. To connect via other means (i.e. the browser), you’ll have to open a connection using Basic Authentication. You can find details about the HTTP headers necessary to do this in the example found here (last item).
Useful links:
- http://localhost:8080/requests/
- http://localhost:8080/requests/README.txt
- http://localhost:8080/requests/status.json
- http://localhost:8080/requests/playlist.json
To permanently enable the web server when VLC is running, go to Tools->Preferences, then select All->Interface->Main Interface. Under Extra interface modules you can select Web. When you restart and check View->Add Interface it wont show up, but the server is running.