Yt2Cli

A simple command-line (CLI) tool for searching and playing YouTube videos directly from the terminal, without needing to open a browser.

Features

• Search YouTube videos by keyword, with an optional result limit (--limit=<n>, default 10, max 100)
• Results are cached per query, so re-searching the same keyword is instant
• Display search results as formatted video cards (title, ID, channel, views with K/M/B suffix)
• Play any video from the list through mpv, falling back to the system's default application if mpv isn't installed
• Any unrecognized command is treated as a search query
• Cross-platform: works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Requirements

1. Python

Recommended version: Python 3.10 or newer.

2. mpv for video playback (optional)

The app relies on mpv as the default player. If it's not installed, the app will fall back to opening the link with the system's default application.

Installing mpv:

Installation

pip install yt2cli

Usage

yt2cli

This launches an interactive prompt. Type a command and press Enter.

Available Commands

Note: Any input that isn't a recognized command is treated as a search query.

Example

Yt2Cli Run: search python tutorial
 Now Loading...
********** Search Results For: python tutorial , Limit= 10 **********
 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Python Basics for Beginners
  ID       : 0
  Channel  : Programming Academy
  Views    : 2.34M
 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

# The id here is not the id of the video its the video index on the list

Yt2Cli Run: open 0

Project Structure

yt2cli/
├── src/
│   └── yt2cli/
│       ├── __init__.py     # App export entry point
│       ├── App.py          # Core logic and command handling
│       ├── Backend.py      # Search logic (yt-dlp) and result caching
│       ├── Player.py       # Video playback (mpv with system fallback)
│       └── cli.py          # Interactive REPL entry point

Notes

• The app uses yt-dlp to search and extract video playback URLs.
• Search results are cached per query in memory; playing a video re-resolves the stream URL with yt-dlp.
• Download the Deno Javascript Runtime to get the best Video Quality

License

MIT