YouTube

ytsurf – YouTube search and playback from the terminal

ytsurf is a shell-based frontend for finding and consuming YouTube content. It combines tools including yt-dlp, mpv, fzf, and chafa to provide a terminal workflow for choosing media and deciding what to do with it.

The program accepts a search query on the command line or starts an interactive session when launched without arguments. Defaults are stored in a configuration file, with command-line options taking precedence for individual sessions.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Search YouTube with a configurable limit on the number of returned results.
  • Play selected videos or use an audio-only mode for listening.
  • Download video or audio to a chosen destination directory.
  • Select formats and resolutions interactively before playback or downloading.
  • Add items to a queue and play queued content.
  • Open saved playlists for subsequent listening or viewing sessions.
  • Subscribe to channels locally, remove subscriptions, and import existing YouTube subscriptions.
  • Browse a feed of videos from subscribed channels.
  • Keep viewing history and reopen previously selected content.
  • Use Syncplay integration to watch videos together with other viewers.
  • Choose fzf menus or optional rofi and sentaku interfaces.
  • Copy a selected video URL to the clipboard or display it for use elsewhere.
  • Open the configuration file from the application and set defaults such as audio-only mode, search limits, and download location.

Website: github.com/Stan-breaks/ytsurf
Support:
Developer: Stanley
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

ytsurf


Related Software

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yt-xBrowse YouTube from the terminal
pytubefixLibrary and CLI for downloading YouTube videos
ytsurfClean and distraction-free
YTerMusicAims to be as fast and simple as possible
xytzTUI frontend for yt-dlp
ytm-playerTerminal-based client for YouTube Music
tuitubeTUI to download videos
GopherTubeTerminal YouTube client for searching and watching videos
youtube-dlDownload videos from YouTube and many other sites. Extremely versatile
ytccKeep track of your favorite playlists on YouTube
RataplayTUI to search, play and download videos
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GoMusicDownload and stream music from YouTube

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