YouTube CLI

A command-line interface for browsing and downloading YouTube videos.

Features

• Search YouTube videos with keyword queries
• Display up to 15 videos at a time with title, author, duration, and type (short/video)
• Download videos using yt-dlp with progress indication
• Configure download locations
• Handle short videos (videos with /shorts/ in URL) with special "(short)" prefix

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• yt-dlp
• rich
• requests

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/youtube-cli.git
cd youtube-cli
pip install -e .

Using pip

pip install youtube-cli

Usage

Basic Search

youtube-cli "python tutorial"

Download a Video

youtube-cli --download "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz123"

View Help

youtube-cli --help

Configuration

The application will create a default configuration file at ~/.config/youtube_cli/config.json if one doesn't exist. You can customize:

{
  "download_dir": "~/Downloads/youtube",
  "default_locations": [
    "~/Downloads/youtube",
    "~/Movies/youtube",
    "/tmp/youtube"
  ],
  "max_videos_per_page": 15,
  "yt_dlp_args": {
    "format": "bestvideo[height=1080]+bestaudio/bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio",
    "write_thumbnail": true,
    "extractor_args": "youtube:player-client=default,-tv_simply"
  }
}

How to Use

1. Run a search query to find videos
2. Videos will be displayed with:
   • Title (short videos marked with "(short)")
   • Author
   • Duration
   • Type indicator
3. Choose an option:
   • n for next page of results
   • q to quit
   • Enter a number to select and download a video

Features

• Search: Search YouTube videos using keyword queries
• Pagination: View 15 videos at a time with option for more
• Download: Download videos directly with progress indication
• Short Detection: Automatically detects and marks short videos
• Configuration: Customizable download locations
• Cross-platform: Works on macOS and Linux

Dependencies

This tool depends on yt-dlp which must be installed separately:

pip install yt-dlp

Contributing

1. Fork it
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Create a Pull Request

License

MIT License