README.md

   1 # NimCoon
   2
   3 Play videos from YouTube and PeerTube from the command line using your preferred desktop media player.
   4
   5 Similar apps for other platforms:
   6
   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)
   9
  10 This is a minimal application implemented in [Nim language](https://nim-lang.org) using only the standard library.
  11
  12 ![nimcoon screenshot with search term 'baby yoda'](screenshot.png)
  13
  14 ## Logo
  15
  16 A Maine Coon cat wearing a golden crown.
  17 Logo contributions/suggestions welcome.
  18
  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.
  20
  21 ## Motivation
  22
  23 ### No similar existing tool
  24
  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.
  26
  27 ### Digital Minimalism
  28
  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.
  30
  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.
  32
  33 I have had better success with managing my YouTube consumption after shifting to this tool. Settings inspired by Pinafore's wellness settings.
  34
  35 ### Why no issues or merge requests?
  36
  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.
  38
  39 ## Features
  40
  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
  45 - [x] Download music
  46 - [x] Download video
  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 - [ ] YouTube Autoplay (music only)
  53 - [ ] Configuration options
  54
  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
  70 ## Installation
  71
  72 Nim Coon depends on the following:
  73 - youtube-dl
  74 - mpv (recommended) or vlc
  75 - peerflix and webtorrent (for magnet links)
  76
  77 Install MPV or VLC using your distribution's package manager.
  78
  79 Install YouTube-dl
  80 ``` sh
  81 pip3 install --user youtube-dl
  82 ```
  83
  84 Install PeerFlix and WebTorrent
  85 ```sh
  86 npm install --global peerflix webtorrent-cli
  87 ```
  88
  89 (Optional) If you want your YouTube downloads to be faster, install `aria2` download manager.
  90
  91 ### Installing using Nimble
  92
  93 NimCoon can be installed from Nimble repositories:
  94
  95 ``` sh
  96 nimble install nimcoon
  97 ```
  98
  99 You can also install from source by running the following command:
 100
 101 ```sh
 102 nimble install
 103 ```
 104
 105 ### Installing binary
 106
 107 Download the latest build from GitlabCI (amd64 GNU/Linux only).
 108
 109 ```sh
 110 wget https://gitlab.com/njoseph/nimcoon/-/jobs/artifacts/master/download?job=compile -O artifacts.zip
 111 unzip artifacts.zip
 112 ```
 113
 114 Copy the binary to somewhere on your path like /usr/local/bin
 115
 116 ## Usage
 117
 118 ```sh
 119 nimcoon "emacs"
 120
 121 # If your search query has multiple words, use quotes
 122 nimcoon "nim lang"
 123
 124 # Play audio of the first search result
 125 nimcoon -m -l "counting stars"
 126
 127 # Download audio of the first search result
 128 nimcoon -mld "counting stars"
 129
 130 # Play direct video link
 131 nimcoon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOEMv0S8AcA
 132
 133 # Add -d to download or -m to select only audio or both
 134 nimcoon -md https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_nvWreIhg
 135 ```
 136
 137 After the search results are displayed, you can enter a number to play one
 138 result, "all" to play all the results or "q" to quit the program.
 139
 140 If a number is entered, after the selected search result is played, the results
 141 are redisplayed, so that you can play the other results without having to search
 142 again.
 143
 144 ### Command line arguments
 145
 146 NimCoon provides both interactive and non-interactive arguments with significant
 147 overlap. But some arguments might only be present in one mode.
 148
 149 Non-interactive arguments are specified to the nimcoon program and apply
 150 globally to all search results in that session. These can be overriden on a
 151 case-by-case basis using the interactive arguments.
 152
 153 | **Non-interactive Arguments** | **Explanation**                            |
 154 |-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
 155 | -m, --music                   | Play Music only, no video                  |
 156 | -l, --lucky                   | Try your luck with the first search result |
 157 | -f, --full-screen             | Play video in full screen                  |
 158 | -d, --download                | Download video or music                    |
 159
 160 Feel free to use these options in any combination. NimCoon will show a helpful
 161 error message if you pick incompatible options.
 162
 163 Interactive arguments are provided during selection of a search result. These
 164 options allow you to change your mind after performing the search. For example,
 165 you might have searched for a music video, watched it and want to download the
 166 music only. In this case, you can specify the search result followed by the
 167 options as single characters. i.e
 168
 169 "1" plays the video
 170 "1 md" downloads the music of the video
 171
 172 | **Interactive Arguments** | **Explanation**           |
 173 |---------------------------|---------------------------|
 174 | -m, --music               | Play Music only, no video |
 175 | -f, --full-screen         | Play video in full screen |
 176 | -d, --download            | Download video or music   |
 177
 178 ## Development
 179
 180 One-liner for compiling and running
 181
 182 ```sh
 183 nim c -d:ssl -r src/nimcoon.nim 'nim lang'
 184 ```
 185
 186 ## Privacy
 187
 188 To avoid storing your nimcoon searches in `zsh` history, run this command
 189
 190 ```sh
 191 setopt histignorespace
 192 ```
 193
 194 Then, add a space before typing nimcoon in the shell, like " nimcoon"
 195
 196 ```sh
 197  nimcoon "this is private"
 198 ```
 199
 200 The same can be achieved in `bash` by setting an environment variable
 201 ```sh
 202 export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth
 203 ```
 204