gingertea 0.1.3

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gingertea downloads videos from YouTube and 1,300+ other sites in your terminal. Paste a link and press d to save an MP4, or press c to choose a format and quality. You can also convert videos, audio and images already on your computer. It runs on yt-dlp, ffmpeg and Textual.

Install

On macOS or Linux:

curl -LsSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/orbitcord/gingertea/main/install.sh | sh

On Windows, run this in PowerShell:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/orbitcord/gingertea/main/install.ps1 | iex"

The installer sets up uv, Python, gingertea, and ffmpeg. Set GINGERTEA_NO_FFMPEG=1 to skip the ffmpeg download; gingertea can get it the first time you need it.

If you already use uv or pipx:

uv tool install gingertea
pipx install gingertea          # needs Python 3.10+
gingertea setup                 # optional: get ffmpeg now

To install the current GitHub version:

uv tool install git+https://github.com/orbitcord/gingertea

Use

gingertea                  # open the app
gingertea <url>            # open with a video link loaded
gingertea <file>           # open Convert files with a file loaded
gingertea setup            # get ffmpeg and check available formats
gingertea update           # update yt-dlp
gingertea --version

Paste a link and gingertea shows the title, channel, length, upload date and thumbnail. The footer lists the keyboard shortcuts, and its shortcuts are clickable.

While the URL field has focus, letters go into the link. Press Tab first or click a shortcut in the footer. You can add another link while a download runs; downloads run one at a time in their queue. The tabs, wordmark, thumbnail and shortcuts adapt to compact terminals so the input, actions and queue stay visible.

Download formats

The quality list only shows options available for the video. The default MP4 choice prefers H.264 for compatibility. YouTube usually limits H.264 to 1080p; higher MP4 resolutions may use VP9 or AV1, which some older players cannot play.

Convert files on your computer

Open Convert files with ctrl+t or click the tab. Drop files into the terminal, paste their paths, or press f to browse. You can add several files at once and mix videos, audio and images. Dropping a file on the Download tab switches to Convert files.

Press c to choose a format. The dialog shows which files the selection applies to. Use r to remove the selected file and x to cancel a conversion. The Frames tab exports video frames to a folder of images.

Converted files go next to their originals. gingertea leaves each original unchanged. When the streams already fit the selected format, it copies them without re-encoding. The dialog says whether the conversion will copy or re-encode. Some formats need codecs that an ffmpeg build may lack; unavailable options stay visible with a note about what's missing. Pillow plugins provide support for HEIC and JPEG XL.

Where files go

Downloads go to your Downloads folder. Names use the video title and ID, such as Title [video-id].mp4. If a file with that name already exists, gingertea adds a number, for example Title [video-id] (2).mp4. Press s to choose another folder.

Settings, including your theme and download folder, live in:

Themes

Masala Chai is the default dark theme. Press v to cycle the Ginger, Dusk and Tide looks, which change the wordmark, colors and borders together. Press t or click Themes to choose Tea House, Matcha, Earl Grey, Masala Chai, Hibiscus, gingertea light, or a built-in Textual theme. gingertea remembers your choice.

Videos that need you signed in

For age-restricted or members-only videos, choose a browser in Settings where you are signed in. gingertea can read cookies from Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi or Chromium through yt-dlp. Cookies stay off until you choose a browser. On macOS, expect a Keychain prompt the first time.

When downloads break

Sites change how they serve video, and yt-dlp ships updates to keep up. gingertea checks for a newer yt-dlp at startup. Press u or run gingertea update to install it, then try the link again. The Sites screen can check whether yt-dlp has a dedicated extractor for a link. Browser cookies may help with login errors.

Updates

With a uv tool or pipx install, gingertea checks PyPI for a newer release while it is open. If one is available, the update runs in the background after you quit, and the next launch uses the new version. Set GINGERTEA_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 to turn this off.

ffmpeg, Deno and image formats

Converting needs ffmpeg, and some YouTube downloads need Deno to run JavaScript. The installer downloads gingertea's own ffmpeg build; gingertea setup installs it now, or the app can get it the first time it is needed. If ffmpeg is already on your PATH, gingertea uses it too. Deno and the Pillow plugins for HEIC and JPEG XL install with the Python package. If a format still needs a codec your machine doesn't have, the Convert dialog shows it as unavailable and names the missing codec.

Uninstall

uv tool uninstall gingertea       # or: pipx uninstall gingertea

The cached ffmpeg binary stays outside the Python environment so updates don't download it again. To remove it too, delete the ffmpeg folder next to the settings file: ~/Library/Application Support/gingertea/ffmpeg on macOS, ~/.local/share/gingertea/ffmpeg on Linux, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\gingertea\ffmpeg on Windows.

Development

git clone https://github.com/orbitcord/gingertea && cd gingertea
uv sync --locked
uv run gingertea
uv run pytest -q                   # offline tests
GINGERTEA_LIVE=1 uv run pytest -q   # also download real videos
uv run ruff check src tests
uv run ruff format --check src tests
uv build --no-sources

To release, update the version in pyproject.toml, run uv lock, then push the matching vX.Y.Z tag. GitHub Actions runs the checks, builds the package, publishes to PyPI, and creates a GitHub release. PyPI Trusted Publishing must be configured for owner orbitcord, repository gingertea, workflow release.yml, and environment pypi.

Please be considerate

Only download videos you have the right to download, and follow each site's terms.

License

MIT. Source copyright notices remain in LICENSE.