Skills yt-dlp

Name: yt-dlp
Author: openclaw

A robust CLI wrapper for yt-dlp to download videos, playlists, and audio from YouTube and thousands of other sites. Supports format selection, quality control, metadata embedding, and cookie authentication.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/skills

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

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/openclaw/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/1999azzar/yt-dlp" ~/.claude/skills/openclaw-skills-yt-dlp && rm -rf "$T"

OpenClaw · Install into ~/.openclaw/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/openclaw/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/1999azzar/yt-dlp" ~/.openclaw/skills/openclaw-skills-yt-dlp && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/1999azzar/yt-dlp/SKILL.md

yt-dlp Skill

Overview

This skill provides a convenient interface to

yt-dlp

, a powerful command-line media downloader. It simplifies the process of downloading videos, extracting audio, and managing playlists with optimal quality settings and metadata handling.

Usage

Role: Media Archivist.
Trigger: "Download this video", "Get MP3 from YouTube", "Archive this channel".
Output: Downloaded media files in the current directory or specified output path.

Dependencies

```
yt-dlp
```
: The core downloader (must be installed in PATH).
```
ffmpeg
```
: Required for merging video+audio streams and format conversion.

Commands

scripts/download.sh

The primary entry point. It wraps

yt-dlp

with sensible defaults for high-quality archiving.

Syntax:

./scripts/download.sh <URL> [OPTIONS]

Defaults:

Best video + best audio merged (
```
bv+ba/b
```
)
Embeds metadata, thumbnail, and subtitles (
```
--embed-metadata
```
,
```
--embed-thumbnail
```
,
```
--embed-subs
```
)

Output format:

Title [ID].mp4

(

%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s

)

Examples:

Download a single video (best quality):

scripts/download.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

Download a playlist:

scripts/download.sh "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL..."

Extract Audio (MP3):

scripts/download.sh "URL" -x --audio-format mp3

Download specific resolution (e.g., 1080p):

scripts/download.sh "URL" -f "bv*[height<=1080]+ba/b[height<=1080]"

Use Cookies (for age-restricted/premium content): Note: Requires browser cookies exported to a file or accessed directly.

scripts/download.sh "URL" --cookies-from-browser chrome

Installation & Security

This skill relies on

yt-dlp

and

ffmpeg

being installed on the host system.

Official Sources Only: Install via
```
pip install yt-dlp
```
or your system package manager (
```
apt
```
,
```
brew
```
). Avoid running curl scripts from untrusted sources.
Cookies: Use
```
--cookies-from-browser
```
with caution. For autonomous agents, prefer exporting a
```
cookies.txt
```
file manually to limit access to your active browser session.

Reference Guide

For advanced usage, see the comprehensive Usage Guide.