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Installation

Requires Go 1.24+ installed on your system.

go install github.com/lvcoi/ytdl-go@latest

Ensure your $GOPATH/bin is in your system $PATH.

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/lvcoi/ytdl-go.git
cd ytdl-go
go build -o ytdl-go .

Or install directly to $GOPATH/bin:

go install .

Build Script

Use build.sh for an integrated build (Go binary + frontend assets):

# Build backend + frontend, then prompt to launch the UI
./build.sh

# Build and automatically launch backend + frontend UI
./build.sh --web

# Build and launch against a custom web address
YTDL_WEB_ADDR=127.0.0.1:9090 ./build.sh --web

# Show script options
./build.sh --help
Option Description
-w, --web Automatically launch the UI after building
-h, --help Show help message

The build script:

  • Builds the Go binary to ./bin/yt
  • Builds frontend assets into internal/web/assets/
  • Launches backend via yt -web --web-addr "${YTDL_WEB_ADDR:-127.0.0.1:8080}"

Optional Dependencies

FFmpeg enables the audio extraction fallback strategy when YouTube blocks direct audio-only downloads. The tool works without it, but some downloads may fail that would otherwise succeed.

brew install ffmpeg

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

choco install ffmpeg