diff --git a/home-manager/fred.nix b/home-manager/fred.nix
index 7220787..2b23159 100644
--- a/home-manager/fred.nix
+++ b/home-manager/fred.nix
@@ -215,10 +215,19 @@ in
   };
 
   # Upstream ships no .desktop file (TUI only), so the launcher can't find it.
+  # Hyprland parks the instance started at login on the special:music workspace
+  # (see settings/hyprland.nix), so this toggles that window rather than opening
+  # a second terminal — a fresh process would mean another ~20s wait for its
+  # Spotify Connect device. Relaunch first if the window is gone, otherwise the
+  # toggle just reveals an empty workspace.
   xdg.desktopEntries.spotify-player = lib.mkIf isDesktop {
     name = "Spotify Player";
     genericName = "Music Player";
-    exec = "ghostty --title=spotify-player -e spotify_player";
+    exec = "${pkgs.writeShellScript "spotify-player-toggle" ''
+      hyprctl clients | grep -q "title: spotify-player" \
+        || ghostty --title=spotify-player -e spotify_player
+      hyprctl dispatch togglespecialworkspace music
+    ''}";
     icon = "spotify";
     terminal = false;
     categories = [ "Audio" "Music" "Player" "AudioVideo" ];
diff --git a/settings/hyprland.nix b/settings/hyprland.nix
index b02c0cb..1125d4c 100644
--- a/settings/hyprland.nix
+++ b/settings/hyprland.nix
@@ -272,6 +272,10 @@ in
               hl.exec_cmd("wl-paste --type text --watch cliphist store")
               hl.exec_cmd("wl-paste --type image --watch cliphist store")
               hl.exec_cmd("hyprctl setcursor Bibata-Modern-Ice 24")
+              -- Warms spotify-player's Spotify Connect device while you're
+              -- doing something else; the window rule above swallows it onto
+              -- special:music silently, so it never steals focus.
+              hl.exec_cmd("ghostty --title=spotify-player -e spotify_player")
               -- swayosd removed; volume/brightness OSD handled by quickshell
               ${lib.optionalString isMacbook ''hl.exec_cmd("hypridle")''}
             end)
@@ -310,6 +314,19 @@ in
               workspace = "special silent",
             })
 
+            -- spotify-player lives on a special workspace for its whole
+            -- session. Its librespot device takes ~20s to be accepted by
+            -- Spotify's backend, and that cost is per *process*, so relaunching
+            -- a terminal for it means waiting every time. Parking one instance
+            -- here pays it once at login; SUPER+M slides it in and out.
+            -- Matched on title, not class: gtk-single-instance means every
+            -- ghostty window is the same app-id, and --title is authoritative
+            -- (ghostty ignores the program's own title escapes once it is set).
+            hl.window_rule({
+              match = { title = "^spotify-player$" },
+              workspace = "special:music silent",
+            })
+
             -- Games stall on other workspaces: no frame callbacks = no render =
             -- game loop blocks. Keep them ticking in the background at
             -- misc:render_unfocused_fps (15).
@@ -362,6 +379,7 @@ in
             hl.bind(mod .. " + F", hl.dsp.window.fullscreen())
             hl.bind(mod .. " + P", hl.dsp.window.pseudo())
             hl.bind(mod .. " + S", hl.dsp.layout("togglesplit"))
+            hl.bind(mod .. " + M", hl.dsp.workspace.toggle_special("music"))
 
             -- Focus
             hl.bind(mod .. " + left",  hl.dsp.focus({ direction = "left" }))