Post Archiver Improved

A professional-grade Python package for archiving YouTube community posts with comprehensive data extraction capabilities. Built with zero external dependencies for maximum compatibility and reliability.

Post Archiver Improved is a complete rewrite of the original post-archiver project, featuring better architecture, robust error handling, and extensive testing coverage.

Key Features

• Comprehensive Data Extraction - Complete archival of YouTube community posts with metadata preservation
• Advanced Comment Processing - Full comment trees with reply chains and author information
• High-Quality Image Archiving - Original resolution image downloads with metadata
• Zero External Dependencies - Built entirely on Python standard library for maximum compatibility
• Performance Optimized - Intelligent rate limiting and concurrent processing capabilities
• Comprehensive Logging - Configurable logging levels with structured output and file rotation
• Flexible Configuration - Multi-source configuration management (CLI, files, environment variables)
• Progress Monitoring - Real-time progress tracking with detailed statistics and ETA
• Comprehensive Reporting - Detailed summary reports with archival statistics and health metrics
• Data Integrity - Automatic backup creation and data validation to prevent corruption
• Robust Error Handling - Graceful failure recovery with detailed error reporting
• Extensible Architecture - Modular design supporting custom extractors and output formats

Installation

From PyPI (Recommended)

pip install post-archiver-improved

From Source (Development)

git clone https://github.com/sadadYes/post-archiver-improved.git
cd post-archiver-improved
pip install -e .

Development Installation

git clone https://github.com/sadadYes/post-archiver-improved.git
cd post-archiver-improved
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Usage

Basic Usage

Archive all posts from a channel:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A

Archive with comments:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A --comments

Archive with images:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A --download-images

Archive a single post by post ID:

post-archiver UgkxMVl0vgxzNvE3I52s0oKlEHO3KyfocebU --comments --download-images

Archive a single post by URL:

post-archiver "https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxMVl0vgxzNvE3I52s0oKlEHO3KyfocebU" --comments --download-images

Advanced Usage

Full archival with all features:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A \
  --comments \
  --download-images \
  --max-comments 500 \
  --max-replies 100 \
  --output ./archive \
  --verbose

Archive members-only content with cookies:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A \
  --comments \
  --download-images \
  --cookies ./cookies.txt \
  --output ./archive \
  --verbose

With custom configuration:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A \
  --config my_config.json \
  --log-file archive.log \
  --timeout 60 \
  --retries 5

Channel ID Formats

The tool accepts various channel ID formats:

• Channel ID: UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A
• Handle: @username
• Channel URL: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A
• Custom URL: https://youtube.com/c/channelname
• Handle URL: https://youtube.com/@username

Individual Post Formats

You can also archive individual posts by providing:

• Post ID: UgkxMVl0vgxzNvE3I52s0oKlEHO3KyfocebU
• Post URL: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxMVl0vgxzNvE3I52s0oKlEHO3KyfocebU

When archiving individual posts, the tool automatically extracts the channel information and creates an archive containing just that specific post.

Accessing Members-Only Content

To access members-only posts, you'll need to provide authentication cookies from a logged-in YouTube session:

1. Export Cookies: Use a browser extension or tool to export cookies in Netscape format

   • Recommended: Get-cookies.txt-LOCALLY extension for Chrome/Firefox
   • Export cookies for youtube.com domains

2. Use Cookie File: Pass the cookie file to the archiver

   post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A --cookies ./cookies.txt
   

3. Cookie File Format: The tool expects Netscape HTTP Cookie File format:

   # Netscape HTTP Cookie File
   .youtube.com	TRUE	/	FALSE	1735689600	SIDCC	cookie_value
   .google.com	TRUE	/	TRUE	1735689600	__Secure-1PSIDCC	secure_value
   

Security Note: Cookie files contain sensitive authentication data. Keep them secure and never share them publicly.

Important: Cookies must be from a YouTube account that has membership access to the target channel.

Configuration

Command Line Options

Scraping Options

• -n, --num-posts N - Maximum number of posts to scrape
• -c, --comments - Extract comments for each post
• --max-comments N - Maximum comments per post (default: 100)
• --max-replies N - Maximum replies per comment (default: 200)
• -i, --download-images - Download images to local directory
• --cookies FILE - Path to Netscape format cookie file for accessing members-only posts

Output Options

• -o, --output DIR - Output directory
• --no-summary - Skip summary report creation
• --compact - Save JSON without pretty printing

Network Options

• --timeout SECONDS - Request timeout (default: 30)
• --retries N - Maximum retry attempts (default: 3)
• --delay SECONDS - Delay between requests (default: 1.0)

Logging Options

• -v, --verbose - Enable verbose output (INFO level)
• --debug - Enable debug output (DEBUG level)
• --log-file FILE - Log to file in addition to console
• --quiet - Suppress all output except errors

Configuration Files

Create a configuration file for repeated use:

{
  "scraping": {
    "max_posts": 100,
    "extract_comments": true,
    "max_comments_per_post": 200,
    "max_replies_per_comment": 50,
    "download_images": true,
    "request_timeout": 30,
    "max_retries": 3,
    "retry_delay": 1.0
  },
  "output": {
    "output_dir": "./archives",
    "pretty_print": true,
    "include_metadata": true
  },
  "log_file": "./logs/archiver.log"
}

Save current settings:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A --save-config my_config.json

Use saved configuration:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A --config my_config.json

Output Format

Archive File Structure

The tool creates a JSON file with the following structure:

{
  "channel_id": "UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A",
  "scrape_date": "2025-01-15T10:30:00",
  "scrape_timestamp": 1737888600,
  "posts_count": 25,
  "total_comments": 150,
  "total_images": 10,
  "images_downloaded": 10,
  "config_used": {...},
  "posts": [
    {
      "post_id": "UgxKp7...",
      "content": "Post content here...",
      "timestamp": "2 days ago",
      "timestamp_estimated": true,
      "likes": "42",
      "comments_count": "15",
      "members_only": false,
      "author": "Channel Name",
      "author_id": "UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A",
      "author_url": "https://youtube.com/channel/...",
      "author_thumbnail": "https://...",
      "author_is_verified": true,
      "author_is_member": false,
      "images": [
        {
          "src": "https://...",
          "local_path": "./images/post_123.jpg",
          "width": 1920,
          "height": 1080,
          "file_size": 245760
        }
      ],
      "links": [
        {
          "text": "Link text",
          "url": "https://..."
        }
      ],
      "comments": [
        {
          "id": "UgwKp7...",
          "text": "Comment text...",
          "like_count": "5",
          "timestamp": "1 day ago",
          "timestamp_estimated": true,
          "author_id": "UC...",
          "author": "Commenter Name",
          "author_thumbnail": "https://...",
          "author_is_verified": false,
          "author_is_member": true,
          "author_url": "https://...",
          "is_favorited": false,
          "is_pinned": false,
          "reply_count": "2",
          "replies": [...]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Files Created

• posts_[CHANNEL_ID]_[TIMESTAMP].json - Main archive file
• summary_[CHANNEL_ID]_[TIMESTAMP].txt - Summary report
• images/ - Downloaded images (if enabled)
• [LOG_FILE] - Log file (if specified)

Development

Project Structure

src/post_archiver_improved/
├── __init__.py              # Package initialization
├── api.py                   # YouTube API client
├── cli.py                   # Command-line interface
├── comment_processor.py     # Comment extraction logic
├── config.py                # Configuration management
├── exceptions.py            # Custom exception classes
├── extractors.py            # Data extraction utilities
├── logging_config.py        # Logging configuration
├── models.py                # Data models
├── output.py                # Output handling
├── scraper.py               # Main scraper logic
└── utils.py                 # Utility functions

Key Features

Modular Architecture

• Separation of concerns with dedicated modules
• Clean interfaces between components
• Easy to extend and maintain

Robust Error Handling

• Custom exception hierarchy for different error types
• Graceful degradation when non-critical operations fail
• Retry logic with exponential backoff

Comprehensive Logging

• Configurable verbosity levels (ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG)
• Colored console output for better readability
• File logging with detailed tracebacks
• Progress tracking with detailed statistics

Configuration Management

• Multiple configuration sources (CLI args, config files, defaults)
• Environment-specific settings support
• Configuration validation and error reporting

Running Tests

# Install development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
python -m pytest tests/ -v

# Run with coverage
python -m pytest tests/ --cov=post_archiver_improved --cov-report=html

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"No community tab found"

• The channel might not have community posts enabled
• Try using the channel's full URL instead of just the ID
• Some channels restrict community tab access

"Rate limiting detected"

• YouTube may be limiting requests
• Increase the --delay parameter
• Try again later

"Network timeout"

• Check your internet connection
• Increase the --timeout parameter
• Use --retries to attempt multiple times

"Permission denied" for file operations

• Check write permissions in the output directory
• Make sure the output directory exists
• Try running with appropriate permissions

Debug Mode

Enable debug mode for detailed troubleshooting:

post-archiver UC5CwaMl1eIgY8h02uZw7u8A --debug --log-file debug.log

This will provide detailed information about:

• API requests and responses
• Data extraction processes
• File operations
• Error stack traces

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues, feature requests, or pull requests.

Development Setup

1. Fork the repository
2. Clone your fork
3. Create a virtual environment
4. Install in development mode: pip install -e ".[dev]"
5. Make your changes
6. Run tests: python -m pytest
7. Submit a pull request

Coding Standards

• Follow PEP 8 style guidelines
• Add type hints to all functions
• Write comprehensive docstrings
• Include tests for new functionality
• Update documentation as needed

TODO

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

This project is heavily inspired by the yt-dlp community plugin by biggestsonicfan.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the troubleshooting section
2. Search existing issues
3. Create a new issue with:
   • Your command line arguments
   • Error messages or logs
   • System information (OS, Python version)
   • Expected vs actual behavior