ytcc

Command line tool to keep track of your favorite playlists on YouTube and many other places.

Installation

shell script
pipx install ytcc
Alternative installation methods are described in the documentation.
Usage
Add "subscriptions".
Note that subscribe does not save discovered videos to the database.
Run ytcc update to check and fetch video metadata after subscribing.shell script
Any playlist supported by yt-dlp (or youtube-dl)
ytcc subscribe "Jupiter Broadcasting" "https://www.youtube.com/c/JupiterBroadcasting/videos"
ytcc subscribe "NCS: House" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRBp0Fe2GpgmsW46rJyudVFlY6IYjFBIK"
ytcc subscribe "Neus" "https://soundcloud.com/neus/tracks"
RSS feed podcasts
ytcc subscribe "LINUX Unplugged" "https://linuxunplugged.com/rss"
ytcc subscribe "Darknet Diaries" "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/darknetdiaries"

Import subscriptions from Google Takeout.
Hint: When requesting a takeout make sure to select only the YouTube data, otherwise the takeout might take quite long to complete.shell script
ytcc import ~/Downloads/Takeout/Youtube/subscriptions/subscriptions.csv
Fetch metadata of new videos.
shell script
ytcc update
List unwatched videos.
shell script
ytcc list
List playlist content in JSON format.
shell script
ytcc --output json list --playlist "NCS: House" --since 2020-07-07 --watched --unwatched
List all videos as RSS feed.
shell script
ytcc --output rss list --watched --unwatched
Start the interactive terminal interface.
shell script
ytcc tui
Mark all videos in a playlist as watched without playing them.
shell script
ytcc ls -p "Jupiter Broadcasting" | ytcc mark
Listen to some music without limitations.
shell script
ytcc ls -p "NCS: House" | ytcc play --audio-only

Alternative terminal interface with thumbnail support.
Requires fzf version 0.23.1 or newer, optionally curl and either ueberzug or kitty.
The script is automatically installed on most platforms during installation of ytcc.
If it's not installed, you can download it from here.shell script
ytccf.sh
Show help and key bindings
ytccf.sh --help

Configuration
Ytcc searches for a configuration file at the following locations:The file given with -c or --config options

~/.ytcc.conf

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ytcc/ytcc.conf or ~/.config/ytcc/ytcc.conf

/etc/ytcc/ytcc.conf
If no config file is found in these locations, a default config file is created at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ytcc/ytcc.conf or ~/.config/ytcc/ytcc.conf
Example config
ini
[ytcc]
Directory where downloads are saved, when --path is not given
download_dir = ~/Downloads
Downloads videos to subdirectories by playlist name. If a video is on multiple playlists, ytcc
will download the video only to one subdirectory and symlink it to the other subdirectories.
download_subdirs = on
Parameters passed to mpv. Adjusting these might break video playback in ytcc!
mpv_flags = --ytdl --ytdl-format=bestvideo[height<=?1080]+bestaudio/best
Defines the order of video listings.
Possible options: id, url, title, description, publish_date, watched, duration, extractor_hash,
playlists. Every option must be suffixed with :desc or :asc for descending or ascending sort.
order_by = playlists:asc, publish_date:desc
Default attributes shown in video listings.
Some ytcc commands allow overriding the default set here in the config.
video_attrs = id, title, publish_date, duration, playlists
Default attributes shown in playlist/subscription listings.
Some ytcc commands allow overriding the default set here in the config.
playlist_attrs = name, url, reverse, tags
Path where the database is stored.
Can be used to sync the database between multiple machines.
db_path = ~/.local/share/ytcc/ytcc.db
The format of used to print dates
date_format = %Y-%m-%d
Default failure threshold before a video is ignored.

`When a video could not be updated repeatedly, it will be ignored by ytcc after` max_update_fail


attempts. This setting can be overridden with the --max-fail commandline parameter.
max_update_fail = 5
Default update backlog.

`The update command will only check the first` max_update_backlog `videos of a playlist to improve`


performance. This setting can be overridden with the --max-backlog commandline parameter.
max_update_backlog = 20
Ignore videos that have an age limit higher than the one specified here.
age_limit = 0
Skips livestreams.
skip_live_stream = true
Skips private and member-only videos.
skip_non_public = true
Prompt and table colors. Supports 256 colors. Hence, values between 0-255 are allowed.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#8-bit for the color codes.
[theme]
prompt_download_audio = 2
prompt_download_video = 4
prompt_play_audio = 2
prompt_play_video = 4
prompt_mark_watched = 1
table_alternate_background = 245
plain_label_text = 244

[tui]
The characters to use for selecting videos in interactive mode.
alphabet = sdfervghnuiojkl
Default action of interactive mode.
Possible options: play_video, play_audio, mark_watched, download_audio, download_video
default_action = play_video

[youtube_dl]
Format (see FORMAT SELECTION in yt-dlp manpage). Make sure to use a video format here, if you
want to be able to download videos.
format = bestvideo[height<=?1080]+bestaudio/best
Output template (see OUTPUT TEMPLATE in yt-dlp manpage).

`Note that the output template will be prefixed with the` download_dir `directory and the name of`

`the playlist if` download_sub_dir `is enabled.`


output_template = %(title)s.%(ext)s
If a merge is required according to format selection, merge to the given container format.
One of mkv, mp4, ogg, webm, flv
merge_output_format = mkv
Limit download speed to the given bytes/second. Set 0 for no limit.
E.g. limit to one megabyte per second
#ratelimit = 1000000
ratelimit = 0
Set number of retries before giving up on a download.
Set 0 for no retries.
retries = 0
Subtitles for videos.
If enabled and available, automatic and manual subtitles for selected languages are embedded in
the video.
#subtitles = en,de
subtitles = off
Embed the youtube thumbnail in audio downloads.
Transforms the resulting file to m4a, if enabled.
thumbnail = on
Don't download videos longer than 'max_duration' seconds.
0 disables the limit.
max_duration = 9000
Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames.
restrict_filenames = off

mpv configuration
Ytcc uses mpv to play videos.
You can configure mpv to integrate nicely with ytcc.
Specifics are documented here.
Reporting issues
Create a new issue on the GitHub issue tracker.
Describe the issue as detailed as possible, and please use the issue templates, if possible!
Important: Remember to include the output of ytcc bug-report in bug reports.
It also might help a lot to run ytcc with the --loglevel debug option and include the output in your report.
Development
We use hatch for development.
shell
hatch env create
hatch shell
Verify successful install
ytcc --help
Run the following commands before every pull request and fix the warnings or errors they produce.
shell script
hatch fmt --check
hatch test


External dependencies
Optional requirements:

ffmpeg for .mp4 or .mkv` merging
mpv, if you want to play audio or video

Requirements for the ytccf.sh bash script:

fzf version 0.23.1 or newer
Optionally, for thumbnail support
curl
Either ueberzug or kitty.

--- Tranlated By Open Ai Tx | Last indexed: 2025-12-10 ---

ytcc

ytcc

Installation

Usage

Any playlist supported by yt-dlp (or youtube-dl)

RSS feed podcasts

Show help and key bindings

Configuration

Example config

Directory where downloads are saved, when --path is not given

Downloads videos to subdirectories by playlist name. If a video is on multiple playlists, ytcc

will download the video only to one subdirectory and symlink it to the other subdirectories.

Parameters passed to mpv. Adjusting these might break video playback in ytcc!

Defines the order of video listings.

Possible options: id, url, title, description, publish_date, watched, duration, extractor_hash,

playlists. Every option must be suffixed with :desc or :asc for descending or ascending sort.

Default attributes shown in video listings.

Some ytcc commands allow overriding the default set here in the config.

Default attributes shown in playlist/subscription listings.

Some ytcc commands allow overriding the default set here in the config.

Path where the database is stored.

Can be used to sync the database between multiple machines.

The format of used to print dates

Default failure threshold before a video is ignored.

When a video could not be updated repeatedly, it will be ignored by ytcc after max_update_fail

attempts. This setting can be overridden with the --max-fail commandline parameter.

Default update backlog.

The update command will only check the first max_update_backlog videos of a playlist to improve

performance. This setting can be overridden with the --max-backlog commandline parameter.

Ignore videos that have an age limit higher than the one specified here.

Skips livestreams.

Skips private and member-only videos.

Prompt and table colors. Supports 256 colors. Hence, values between 0-255 are allowed.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#8-bit for the color codes.

The characters to use for selecting videos in interactive mode.

Default action of interactive mode.

Possible options: play_video, play_audio, mark_watched, download_audio, download_video

Format (see FORMAT SELECTION in yt-dlp manpage). Make sure to use a video format here, if you

want to be able to download videos.

Output template (see OUTPUT TEMPLATE in yt-dlp manpage).

Note that the output template will be prefixed with the download_dir directory and the name of

the playlist if download_sub_dir is enabled.

If a merge is required according to format selection, merge to the given container format.

One of mkv, mp4, ogg, webm, flv

Limit download speed to the given bytes/second. Set 0 for no limit.

E.g. limit to one megabyte per second

Set number of retries before giving up on a download.

Set 0 for no retries.

Subtitles for videos.

If enabled and available, automatic and manual subtitles for selected languages are embedded in

the video.

Embed the youtube thumbnail in audio downloads.

Transforms the resulting file to m4a, if enabled.

Don't download videos longer than 'max_duration' seconds.

0 disables the limit.

Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames.

mpv configuration

Reporting issues

Development

Verify successful install

External dependencies

`When a video could not be updated repeatedly, it will be ignored by ytcc after` max_update_fail

`The update command will only check the first` max_update_backlog `videos of a playlist to improve`

`Note that the output template will be prefixed with the` download_dir `directory and the name of`

`the playlist if` download_sub_dir `is enabled.`