yt-dlp Music TUI

A terminal-based YouTube Music player that plays audio-only streams using mpv and yt-dlp. It filters out non-music content (like reactions, tutorials, or long videos), provides smooth playback with a progress bar, and automatically builds a queue of similar tracks.

How It Works

• Uses yt-dlp to search and fetch YouTube video metadata.
• Filters results to prefer official music videos and exclude non-music content.
• Plays audio through mpv in the background (no video).
• Communicates with mpv using a Unix domain socket for real-time playback control (pause, volume, seek).
• Maintains a play history and auto-generates a queue using YouTube's auto-mix feature.
• Renders a terminal user interface (TUI) with curses showing current track, progress, and upcoming songs.

Requirements

• Python 3.7 or newer
• mpv (media player)
• yt-dlp (video downloader)
• socat is not required (this version uses direct socket communication)

Note: This program does not download or save audio files. It streams audio directly from YouTube.

Installation

1. Install system dependencies

   On Debian/Ubuntu:

   sudo apt install mpv python3 python3-pip
   

   On Arch/Manjaro:

   sudo pacman -S mpv python
   

2. Install Python dependencies

   pip3 install yt-dlp
   

3. Download the script

   git clone https://github.com/exar1o/yt-music-tui.git
   

   Or, if you have the file locally, skip this step.

4. Make it executable (optional)

   cd yt-music-tui
   chmod +x yt_music_tui.py
   

Basic Usage

1. Run the program:

   python3 yt_music_tui.py
   

2. On first launch, it may show a warning about missing YouTube cookies.

   • Press any key to continue without cookies (some videos may not play).
   • Press S to skip this warning for the rest of the session.

3. Press / to search for a song or artist.

4. Use the following keys during playback:

   • Space: Pause/resume
   • n: Skip to next track
   • s: Skip to a specific track number in the queue
   • j / k: Increase/decrease volume
   • , / .: Seek backward/forward by 10 seconds
   • h: Toggle shuffle
   • r: Cycle repeat mode (off → one → all)
   • c: Clear the queue
   • q: Quit

Optional: Add YouTube Cookies (for age-restricted content)

Some videos require being logged into YouTube. To enable access:

1. Install the "cookies.txt" extension in your browser.
2. Go to youtube.com and log in.
3. Click the extension icon and choose "Export".
4. Save the file as ~/.yt-dlp-cookies.txt.
5. Set the environment variable (optional, yt-dlp will find it automatically):

   export YT_DLP_COOKIES=~/.yt-dlp-cookies.txt
   

After this, restart the program. The cookie warning will no longer appear.

Notes

• The program stores up to 100 played tracks in ~/.cache/yt_music_history.json.
• The queue automatically refills when it gets low.
• Maximum track duration is 6 minutes by default (configurable in source).

Troubleshooting

• If you see "No results", try a more specific search query.
• If playback fails repeatedly, ensure you have an internet connection and consider adding cookies.
• If the TUI appears broken, make sure your terminal supports UTF-8 and has at least 80x24 size.