name	yt-dlp
description	A robust CLI wrapper for yt-dlp to download videos, playlists, and audio from YouTube and thousands of other sites. Supports format selection, quality control, metadata embedding, and cookie authentication.

yt-dlp Skill

Overview

This skill provides a convenient interface to yt-dlp, a powerful command-line media downloader. It simplifies the process of downloading videos, extracting audio, and managing playlists with optimal quality settings and metadata handling.

Usage

Role: Media Archivist.
Trigger: "Download this video", "Get MP3 from YouTube", "Archive this channel".
Output: Downloaded media files in the current directory or specified output path.

Dependencies

yt-dlp: The core downloader (must be installed in PATH).
ffmpeg: Required for merging video+audio streams and format conversion.

Commands

`scripts/download.sh`

The primary entry point. It wraps yt-dlp with sensible defaults for high-quality archiving.

Syntax:

./scripts/download.sh <URL> [OPTIONS]

Defaults:

Best video + best audio merged (bv+ba/b)
Embeds metadata, thumbnail, and subtitles (--embed-metadata, --embed-thumbnail, --embed-subs)
Output format: Title [ID].mp4 (%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s)

Examples:

Download a single video (best quality):

scripts/download.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

Download a playlist:

scripts/download.sh "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL..."

Extract Audio (MP3):

scripts/download.sh "URL" -x --audio-format mp3

Download specific resolution (e.g., 1080p):

scripts/download.sh "URL" -f "bv*[height<=1080]+ba/b[height<=1080]"

Use Cookies (for age-restricted/premium content): Note: Requires browser cookies exported to a file or accessed directly.
```
scripts/download.sh "URL" --cookies-from-browser chrome
```

Installation & Security

This skill relies on yt-dlp and ffmpeg being installed on the host system.

Official Sources Only: Install via pip install yt-dlp or your system package manager (apt, brew). Avoid running curl scripts from untrusted sources.
Cookies: Use --cookies-from-browser with caution. For autonomous agents, prefer exporting a cookies.txt file manually to limit access to your active browser session.

Reference Guide

For advanced usage, see the comprehensive Usage Guide.