3 Play videos from YouTube and PeerTube from the
4 command line using your preferred desktop media player.
6 NewPipe app for Android offers similar features.
8 This application is implemented in [Nim language](https://nim-lang.org) using
9 only the standard library.
11 ![nimcoon screenshot with search term 'baby yoda'](screenshot.png)
15 ### No similar existing tool
17 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.
19 ### Digital Minimalism
21 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.
23 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.
25 I have had better success with managing my YouTube consumption after shifting to this tool. Settings inspired by Pinafore's wellness settings.
27 ### Why no issues or merge requests?
29 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.
33 - [x] Search for videos using keywords
34 - [x] Stream videos and music from YouTube
35 - [x] Play direct links from YouTube and PeerTube
36 - [x] Stream video and music from magnet links and hyperlinks to torrent files
39 - [x] Play YouTube playlists (MPV only)
40 - [ ] Download YouTube playlists
41 - [x] Stream video from torrent file URLs
42 - [x] BitTorrent is preferred for PeerTube video links
43 - [ ] Search PeerTube (3.0 or later)
44 - [ ] YouTube Autoplay (music only)
45 - [ ] Configuration options
47 | | YouTube | PeerTube (HTTP) | PeerTube (WebTorrent) |
48 | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- |
49 | Music Streaming | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
50 | Video Streaming | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
51 | Music Download | ✅ | ✅ | |
52 | Video Download | ✅ | ✅ | |
53 | Stream Music from URL | ✅ | ✅ | |
54 | Stream Video from URL | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
55 | Download Music from URL | ✅ | ✅ | |
56 | Download Video from URL | ✅ | ✅ | |
57 | Stream Music Playlist | ✅ | | |
58 | Stream Video Playlist | ✅ | | |
59 | Download Music Playlist | | | |
60 | Download Video Playlist | | | |
64 Nim Coon depends on the following:
66 - mpv (recommended) or vlc
67 - peerflix and webtorrent (for magnet links)
69 Install MPV or VLC using your distribution's package manager.
73 pip3 install --user youtube-dl
76 Install PeerFlix and WebTorrent
78 npm install --global peerflix webtorrent-cli
81 (Optional) If you want your YouTube downloads to be faster, install `aria2` download manager.
83 ### Installing using Nimble
85 NimCoon can be installed from Nimble repositories:
88 nimble install nimcoon
91 You can also install from source by running the following command:
99 Download the latest build from GitlabCI (amd64 GNU/Linux only).
102 wget https://gitlab.com/njoseph/nimcoon/-/jobs/artifacts/master/download?job=compile -O artifacts.zip
106 Copy the binary to somewhere on your path like /usr/local/bin
113 # If your search query has multiple words, use quotes
116 # Play audio of the first search result
117 nimcoon -m -l "counting stars"
119 # Download audio of the first search result
120 nimcoon -mld "counting stars"
122 # Play direct video link
123 nimcoon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOEMv0S8AcA
125 # Add -d to download or -m to select only audio or both
126 nimcoon -md https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_nvWreIhg
129 After the search results are displayed, you can enter a number to play one
130 result, "all" to play all the results or "q" to quit the program.
132 If a number is entered, after the selected search result is played, the results
133 are redisplayed, so that you can play the other results without having to search
136 ### Command line arguments
138 | **Arguments** | **Explanation** |
139 |-------------------|--------------------------------------------|
140 | -m, --music | Play Music only, no video |
141 | -l, --lucky | Try your luck with the first search result |
142 | -f, --full-screen | Play video in full screen |
143 | -d, --download | Download video or music |
145 Feel free to use these options in any combination. NimCoon will show a helpful
146 error message if you pick incompatible options.
150 One-liner for compiling and running
153 nim c -d:ssl -r src/nimcoon.nim 'nim lang'
158 To avoid storing your nimcoon searches in `zsh` history, run this command
161 setopt histignorespace
164 Then, add a space before typing nimcoon in the shell, like " nimcoon"
167 nimcoon "this is private"
170 The same can be achieved in `bash` by setting an environment variable
172 export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth