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ytb

YouTube, from the command line

ytb is a single pure-Go binary that puts the whole of YouTube behind a tool that feels like curl. Resolve a video to full metadata, stream a channel's uploads, page a playlist, search with every filter the site has, pull comments and transcripts, download video and audio with a built-in engine, follow hashtags and community posts, and browse YouTube Music, with no API key and nothing to pay for.

Get started View on GitHub

Working with YouTube programmatically usually means an API key, a daily quota that runs out fast, and a Data API whose shape barely resembles what you see in the browser. ytb talks to the same public InnerTube endpoints the site itself uses, so there is nothing to sign up for and no quota to budget.

ytb video dQw4w9WgXcQ                 # full metadata for a video
ytb channel @MrBeast --videos          # stream a channel's uploads
ytb search "lofi hip hop" -n 50        # search with continuation paging
ytb transcript dQw4w9WgXcQ             # the video's transcript as text
ytb download dQw4w9WgXcQ               # download it with the built-in engine

It speaks to the public endpoints behind youtube.com/youtubei/v1/* over plain HTTPS. The binary is pure Go with no runtime dependencies. Downloads use a built-in pure-Go engine, so they need no external tool either; ffmpeg and yt-dlp are optional and only come in for merging, audio conversion, and recovering gated transcripts.

What you can do with it

  • Resolve videos. Full metadata for any video: title, channel, views, likes, publish date, duration, chapters, available caption tracks, streaming formats, and the related-video graph.
  • Walk channels and playlists. Stream a channel's videos, shorts, live streams, and playlists, or page through any playlist's items, following the continuation tokens automatically.
  • Search like the site does. The full filter grid: type, upload date, duration, sort order, and feature flags (HD, 4K, subtitles, live, 360, HDR, Creative Commons).
  • Read the social layer. Comments and replies, community posts, hashtag feeds, and search autocomplete suggestions.
  • Download video and audio. A built-in pure-Go engine fetches streams with no API key and no external downloader, with a yt-dlp-style format selector, playlist support, subtitles, SponsorBlock, and optional ffmpeg post-processing.
  • Browse YouTube Music. Search artists, albums, and songs, and open an artist, album, playlist, or song through the Music endpoints.
  • Keep what you fetch. Point any command at a local SQLite store and it becomes a crawler, with a work queue, SQL access, and a Markdown exporter.

Where to go next

  • New here? Start with the introduction for the mental model, then the quick start.
  • Want to install it? See installation.
  • Looking for a specific task? The guides cover videos, channels and playlists, search, comments and transcripts, downloading media, music, and the local store.
  • Need every flag? The CLI reference is the full surface.
Getting started Install ytb and pull a real video's metadata in under a minute. Guides Task-oriented walkthroughs for the things people actually do with YouTube.