# yt-dlp

A skill that spots video links in a conversation, downloads the clips with yt-dlp and pulls the audio track out of them.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1600 installs · ★ 6
- Author: lwmxiaobei
- License: not stated · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill/tree/HEAD/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-01-22
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/yt-dlp

## What it does

Three scripts ship inside the skill's `scripts/` folder. `download_video.py` handles clips from YouTube, Twitter/X, Vimeo, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, Dailymotion, Reddit, Streamable and whatever else yt-dlp supports. `extract_audio.py` writes the soundtrack out as mp3, m4a, opus, flac or wav. `extract_urls.py` picks links out of a string, a file or stdin.

Two ways to trigger it. Ask for a download and the agent grabs the URL and runs the matching script. Or a link shows up on its own mid-chat — then the agent asks first before pulling anything. Quality goes through `--quality` with `best`, `1080p`, `720p`, `480p` or `audio`; audio lands as mp3 at 192kbps unless you say otherwise. A custom `--format` selector overrides the presets.

Format conversion runs through `ffmpeg`, so without it the transcoding steps fail. yt-dlp itself is checked with `yt-dlp --version` and installed via `pip install yt-dlp` or `brew install yt-dlp`. Private and age-gated clips need cookies, otherwise the download stops at the access check. The scripts use nothing beyond the Python standard library.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill --skill yt-dlp -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/yt-dlp/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/yt-dlp/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill --skill yt-dlp -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/yt-dlp/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill --skill yt-dlp -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/yt-dlp/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill yt-dlp
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/yt-dlp/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill --skill yt-dlp -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/yt-dlp/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill --skill yt-dlp -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/lwmxiaobei/yt-dlp-skill/tree/HEAD/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- download a clip from a link pasted in chat
- rip the audio track to mp3
- find every video link inside a text file
- read clip metadata without downloading it
- queue several links as one playlist

## Example prompts
- Download this video https://youtube.com/watch?v=... into downloads
- Extract the audio from https://youtu.be/... as m4a
- Find all video links in `notes.txt` and list them

## Similar
- [yt-dlp-downloader](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/yt-dlp-downloader.md) — skill · 809 installs
- [video-transcript-downloader](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/video-transcript-downloader.md) — skill · 1000 installs
- [chat-with-anyone](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/chat-with-anyone.md) — skill · 2100 installs
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- [watch](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/watch.md) — skill · 17200 installs
- [watching-videos](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/watching-videos.md) — skill · 525 installs

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