yt-cm — YouTube Cookie Manager

A CLI tool for managing YouTube authentication cookies in Netscape format. Validates cookie authenticity, refreshes sessions, and can run as a daemon to continuously keep sessions active.

Install

pip install yt-cm

Or install from source:

git clone https://github.com/daedalus/yt-cm.git
cd yt-cm
pip install -e .

Usage

CLI Commands

# Validate a cookie
yt-cm cookies.txt validate

# Renew session and show expiration info
yt-cm cookies.txt renew

# Check authentication cookie status
yt-cm cookies.txt auth-info

# Export cookies to new file
yt-cm cookies.txt export -o new_cookies.txt

# Run as daemon (background)
yt-cm cookies.txt daemon --interval 3600

# Run in foreground
yt-cm cookies.txt daemon --interval 60 --foreground

# Stop daemon
yt-cm cookies.txt stop

# Check daemon status
yt-cm cookies.txt status

Python API

from yt_cm import YouTubeCookieManager

manager = YouTubeCookieManager("cookies.txt")

# Validate cookie
result = manager.validate()
print(result["valid"])  # True or False

# Renew session
result = manager.renew_session()
print(result["renewed"])  # True or False
print(result["cookie_expiry"])  # Expiration info

# Check auth cookies
result = manager.get_auth_info()
print(result["all_present"])  # All required cookies present
print(result["missing_cookies"])  # List of missing cookies

# Export cookies
content = manager.export_netscape()

Cookie File Format

yt-cm uses the Netscape cookie format exported by browser extensions like "EditThisCookie" or "Cookie Quick Manager".

Example:

# Netscape HTTP Cookie File
.youtube.com	TRUE	/	TRUE	1809975208	SID	test_value
.youtube.com	TRUE	/	TRUE	1809975208	__Secure-3PSID	test_value

Development

git clone https://github.com/daedalus/yt-cm.git
cd yt-cm
pip install -e ".[test]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Format code
ruff format src/ tests/

# Lint code
ruff check src/ tests/

# Type check
mypy src/

# Install pre-commit hooks
pre-commit install

Architecture

The project follows a layered architecture:

• yt_cm.core - Domain logic (YouTubeCookieManager)
• yt_cm.services - Business logic (CookieDaemon)
• yt_cm.cli - Command-line interface