3 Play videos from YouTube and PeerTube from the command line using your preferred desktop media player.
5 Similar apps for other platforms:
7 - [NewPipe](https://newpipe.schabi.org) is a light-weight YouTube frontend for Android
8 - [FreeTube](https://freetubeapp.io) is a GUI client for desktop platforms (uses electron)
10 This is a minimal application implemented in [Nim language](https://nim-lang.org) using only the standard library.
12 ![nimcoon screenshot with search term 'baby yoda'](screenshot.png)
16 A Maine Coon cat wearing a golden crown.
17 Logo contributions/suggestions welcome.
19 Maybe I would've just called this project Maine Coon had I written it in Python, but I wanted to use this opportunity to make Nim popular.
23 ### No similar existing tool
25 I tried all kinds of alternative YouTube players for the desktop. Most are either electron apps or slow web proxies. There was one cool bash script that did most of what I wanted called `ytview` but it had no way of copying the URL. I added this feature to the bash script but was still unsatisfied. There were CLI players written in Python but are usually a pain to install. They depend on a hard-coded YouTube API token and suffer from rate-limiting. I use youtube-dl with mpv usually (mostly because I like MPV over the YouTube JavaScript player). These tools have hundreds of options and I can't remember them. I needed a wrapper for them that does what I want, is easy to install(portable) and has a simple interface. I am not a big fan of Golang and its fat binaries. I discovered Nim around the same time I had this problem and decided to write this tool using just the standard library.
27 ### Digital Minimalism
29 YouTube's business incentive is to make you watch as many videos as possible. If you open the YouTube website and are logged into it, you will just get distracted by recommendations and forget why you opened it in the first place. You might have wanted to watch a conference talk but end up going down a rabbit hole of other "interesting" videos customized for you.
31 Nimcoon has a spartan design. It doesn't even show images of the search results. It doesn't let you browse YouTube. You have to explicitly search for something.
33 I have had better success with managing my YouTube consumption after shifting to this tool. Settings inspired by Pinafore's wellness settings.
35 ### Why no issues or merge requests?
37 I made this just for myself. The development is completely based on my needs and wants. I am not going to put a lot of work into this project. But feel free to use it if it works for you.
41 - [x] Search for videos using keywords
42 - [x] Stream videos and music from YouTube
43 - [x] Play direct links from YouTube and PeerTube
44 - [x] Stream video and music from magnet links and hyperlinks to torrent files
47 - [x] Play YouTube playlists (MPV only)
48 - [ ] Download YouTube playlists
49 - [x] Stream video from torrent file URLs
50 - [x] BitTorrent is preferred for PeerTube video links
51 - [ ] Search PeerTube (3.0 or later)
52 - [x] YouTube Autoplay (music only)
53 - [ ] Configuration options
55 | | YouTube | PeerTube (HTTP) | PeerTube (WebTorrent) |
56 | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- |
57 | Music Streaming | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
58 | Video Streaming | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
59 | Music Download | ✅ | ✅ | |
60 | Video Download | ✅ | ✅ | |
61 | Stream Music from URL | ✅ | ✅ | |
62 | Stream Video from URL | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
63 | Download Music from URL | ✅ | ✅ | |
64 | Download Video from URL | ✅ | ✅ | |
65 | Stream Music Playlist | ✅ | | |
66 | Stream Video Playlist | ✅ | | |
67 | Download Music Playlist | | | |
68 | Download Video Playlist | | | |
69 | Play Recommended Music | ✅ | | |
73 Nim Coon depends on the following:
75 - mpv (recommended) or vlc
76 - peerflix and webtorrent (for magnet links)
78 Install MPV or VLC using your distribution's package manager.
82 pip3 install --user youtube-dl
85 Install PeerFlix and WebTorrent
87 npm install --global peerflix webtorrent-cli
90 (Optional) If you want your YouTube downloads to be faster, install `aria2` download manager.
92 ### Installing using Nimble
94 Nimcoon can be installed from Nimble repositories:
97 nimble install nimcoon
100 You can also install from source by running the following command:
106 ### Installing binary
108 Download the latest build from GitlabCI (amd64 GNU/Linux only).
111 wget https://gitlab.com/njoseph/nimcoon/-/jobs/artifacts/master/download?job=compile -O artifacts.zip
115 Copy the binary to somewhere on your path like /usr/local/bin
122 # If your search query has multiple words, use quotes
125 # Play audio of the first search result
126 nimcoon -m -l "counting stars"
128 # Download audio of the first search result
129 nimcoon -mld "counting stars"
131 # Play direct video link
132 nimcoon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOEMv0S8AcA
134 # Add -d to download or -m to select only audio or both
135 nimcoon -md https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_nvWreIhg
138 After the search results are displayed, you can enter a number to play one
139 result, "all" to play all the results or "q" to quit the program.
141 If a number is entered, after the selected search result is played, the results
142 are redisplayed, so that you can play the other results without having to search
145 ### Command line arguments
147 Nimcoon provides both interactive and non-interactive arguments with significant
148 overlap. But some arguments might only be present in one mode.
150 Non-interactive arguments are specified to the nimcoon program and apply
151 globally to all search results in that session. These can be overriden on a
152 case-by-case basis using the interactive arguments.
154 | **Non-interactive Arguments** | **Explanation** |
155 |-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
156 | -m, --music | Play Music only, no video |
157 | -l, --lucky | Try your luck with the first search result |
158 | -f, --full-screen | Play video in full screen |
159 | -d, --download | Download video or music |
160 | -a, --auto-play | Play the next search result (YouTube only) |
162 Feel free to use these options in any combination. Nimcoon will show a helpful
163 error message if you pick incompatible options.
165 Interactive arguments are provided during selection of a search result. These
166 options allow you to change your mind after performing the search. For example,
167 you might have searched for a music video, watched it and want to download the
168 music only. In this case, you can specify the search result followed by the
169 options as single characters. i.e
172 "1 md" downloads the music of the video
174 | **Interactive Arguments** | **Explanation** |
175 |---------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
176 | -m, --music | Play Music only, no video |
177 | -f, --full-screen | Play video in full screen |
178 | -d, --download | Download video or music |
179 | -a, --auto-play | Play the next search result (YouTube only) |
181 Auto-playing videos leads to binge watching. The default option in Nimcoon is to
182 support auto-play for music only.
186 One-liner for compiling and running
189 nim c -d:ssl -r src/nimcoon.nim 'nim lang'
194 To avoid storing your nimcoon searches in `zsh` history, run this command
197 setopt histignorespace
200 Then, add a space before typing nimcoon in the shell, like " nimcoon"
203 nimcoon "this is private"
206 The same can be achieved in `bash` by setting an environment variable
208 export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth