ytviewer

YouTube TUI that pulls subscriptions from YouTube API and plays videos in MPV

Overview

ytviewer is a terminal-based YouTube subscription viewer built in Go using the Bubble Tea framework. It allows you to:

• View the latest videos from your subscribed channels
• Play videos directly in MPV with optimized settings
• Navigate your subscriptions with a simple keyboard interface
• Manage your subscriptions directly through the TUI
• Filter videos by title or channel name
• Track watched videos with persistent history
• Copy video URLs to clipboard

Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.16 or higher
• MPV media player
• yt-dlp (for video downloads)
• YouTube API key

Building from source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/fabean/ytviewer.git
cd ytviewer

# Build the application
go build -o ytviewer cmd/ytviewer/main.go

# Optional: Install system-wide
go install ./cmd/ytviewer

Configuration

ytviewer requires a configuration file at ~/.config/ytviewer/config.json with the following structure:

{
  "api_key": "YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY",
  "subscriptions": [
    "CHANNEL_ID_1",
    "CHANNEL_ID_2"
  ],
  "max_videos": 10,
  "mpv_options": {
    "max_resolution": "1080",
    "hardware_accel": true,
    "cache_size": "150M",
    "mark_as_watched": true
  },
  "cache_duration": 30
}

• api_key: Your YouTube API key
• subscriptions: List of YouTube channel IDs
• max_videos: Maximum number of videos to fetch per channel
• mpv_options: Options for the MPV player
  • max_resolution: Maximum video resolution
  • hardware_accel: Enable hardware acceleration
  • cache_size: MPV cache size
  • mark_as_watched: Mark videos as watched after playing
• cache_duration: How long to cache videos (in minutes)

Getting a YouTube API Key

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project or select an existing one
3. Navigate to "APIs & Services" > "Library"
4. Search for and enable "YouTube Data API v3"
5. Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
6. Click "Create Credentials" > "API Key"
7. Copy the generated API key to your config file

Finding YouTube Channel IDs

To find a channel ID:

1. Go to the YouTube channel page
2. View the page source (right-click > "View Page Source")
3. Search for "channelId"
4. The ID will look like "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw"

Alternatively, use a service like Comment Picker to find channel IDs.

Usage

# Run the application
ytviewer

Keyboard Controls

Main View

• /: Filter videos (by title or channel name)
• ↑/↓: Navigate through videos
• Enter: Play selected video in MPV
• c: Copy current video URL to clipboard
• D: Download current video using yt-dlp
• s: Open subscription management screen
• r: Reload videos (uses cache if valid)
• f: Force reload videos (clears cache)
• q: Quit the application

Subscription Management

• ↑/↓: Navigate through subscriptions
• a: Add new subscription by entering a channel ID
• d: Remove selected subscription
• b: Return to main video list
• q: Quit the application

Managing Subscriptions

Press s from the main screen to access the subscription management interface. From there, you can:

• View all your current subscriptions
• Add new subscriptions by entering a channel ID
• Remove existing subscriptions
• Return to the main video list

Changes to subscriptions are automatically saved to your config file.

Video Reloading and Caching

To minimize API usage and improve performance, ytviewer implements caching:

• r: Reload videos from cache (if available and not expired)
• f: Force reload by clearing all caches and fetching fresh data from YouTube API

The cache duration is configurable in your config file using the cache_duration setting (in minutes). The default is 30 minutes.

Features

• Fetches latest videos from your subscribed channels
• Displays video titles, channel names, and publish dates
• Plays videos in MPV with optimized settings
• Simple, keyboard-driven interface
• Manage subscriptions directly through the TUI
• Filter videos by title or channel name
• Caching to reduce API usage
• Persistent watch history tracking
• Copy video URLs to clipboard
• Download videos using yt-dlp in best quality

Notes

• The YouTube Data API has quotas (10,000 units per day for free tier)
• Different API operations consume different amounts of quota
• The application requires a valid YouTube API key and at least one channel ID in the config file to work
• Using the cache functionality can help stay within API limits