Buildwithclaude youtube-downloader

Download YouTube videos with customizable quality and format options. Use this skill when the user asks to download, save, or grab YouTube videos. Supports various quality settings (best, 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p), multiple formats (mp4, webm, mkv), and audio-only downloads as MP3.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/davepoon/buildwithclaude

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/davepoon/buildwithclaude "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/plugins/all-skills/skills/video-downloader" ~/.claude/skills/davepoon-buildwithclaude-youtube-downloader && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: plugins/all-skills/skills/video-downloader/SKILL.md

YouTube Video Downloader

Download YouTube videos with full control over quality and format settings.

Quick Start

The simplest way to download a video:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

This downloads the video in best available quality as MP4 to

/mnt/user-data/outputs/

Options

Quality Settings

Use

-q

--quality

to specify video quality:

```
best
```
(default): Highest quality available
```
1080p
```
: Full HD
```
720p
```
: HD
```
480p
```
: Standard definition
```
360p
```
: Lower quality
```
worst
```
: Lowest quality available

Example:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -q 720p

Format Options

Use

-f

--format

to specify output format (video downloads only):

```
mp4
```
(default): Most compatible
```
webm
```
: Modern format
```
mkv
```
: Matroska container

Example:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -f webm

Audio Only

Use

-a

--audio-only

to download only audio as MP3:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -a

Custom Output Directory

Use

-o

--output

to specify a different output directory:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -o /path/to/directory

Complete Examples

Download video in 1080p as MP4:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -q 1080p

Download audio only as MP3:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -a

Download in 720p as WebM to custom directory:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -q 720p -f webm -o /custom/path

Supported URLs

HTTPS only —
```
http://
```
links are rejected.
YouTube hosts only — allowed hostnames include
```
youtube.com
```
(and subdomains such as
```
www
```
,
```
m
```
,
```
music
```
),
```
youtu.be
```
, and
```
youtube-nocookie.com
```
(including
```
www
```
). Other sites are rejected.

yt-dlp installation

The script does not install packages into your system Python (no

--break-system-packages

If
```
yt-dlp
```
is on your
```
PATH
```
, it is used.
Otherwise it creates a local virtualenv at
```
video-downloader/.venv
```
, installs
```
yt-dlp
```
there with
```
pip
```
, and runs that binary.
If venv creation or install fails, follow the printed message or install globally, for example:
```
pipx install yt-dlp
```
,
```
brew install yt-dlp
```
, or your OS package manager.

The

.venv

directory is gitignored and stays inside the skill folder.

How It Works

The skill uses

yt-dlp

, a robust YouTube downloader that:

Resolves
```
yt-dlp
```
via PATH or the skill-local
```
.venv
```
as described above
Fetches video information before downloading
Selects the best available streams matching your criteria
Merges video and audio streams when needed
Supports a wide range of YouTube video formats

Important Notes

Downloads are saved to
```
/mnt/user-data/outputs/
```
by default
Video filename is automatically generated from the video title
Only single videos are downloaded (playlists are skipped by default)
Higher quality videos may take longer to download and use more disk space