Yanker

a better video Yoinker.

Stick a URL in a terminal, watch yanker show you every quality the site offer with estimated sizes and grab the one you want. Paste. pick and yank it.

pull from YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Instagram, TikTok, X and other sites.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 22 — the only hard requirement. Check yours with node -v.
  • On the wrong version? nvm install picks up the version pinned in this project's .nvmrc (currently 22), then nvm use.
  • Anything older — including the Node 18 that ships with Ubuntu 22.04 / Debian 12 / RHEL 9 — is refused before the UI starts, with a message telling you exactly that and how to fix it.
• yt-dlp — optional. Used from your PATH if present; otherwise a standalone build is auto-fetched to ~/.yanker/bin on first run (no Python needed). First run needs network access to github.com plus write/execute permission in your home directory.
• ffmpeg — optional. Used from your PATH when present, with ffmpeg-static as a bundled fallback for merging and mp3 conversion. The fallback downloads a ~30–80MB binary at install time, so offline installs or --ignore-scripts need a system ffmpeg instead.
• Clipboard paste — optional, only for Tab-paste in the URL field: Linux needs wl-paste (Wayland) or xclip/xsel (X11), macOS uses pbpaste, Windows uses PowerShell Get-Clipboard.

Install

npm install -g @dummy3ye/yanker

Or try it without installing anything:

npx @dummy3ye/yanker

The interactive TUI requires a TTY. On non-TTY terminals (scripts, ssh pipes), pass a URL with --best / --mp3 / --list for headless output.

Usage

yanker https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ      # straight to the format picker
yanker                                   # prompts for a link (auto-suggests a copied URL)
yanker <url> --list                      # print every format + estimated size
yanker <url> --best                      # grab the best format, no picker
yanker <url> --mp3                       # audio only, straight to mp3
yanker <url> -o ~/clips                  # save somewhere else
yanker <url> --cookies cookies.txt       # use exported browser cookies (see below)
yanker --theme light                     # force the light palette
yanker --update-yt-dlp                   # self-update the standalone yt-dlp

yanker lists all available formats: resolution, codec, container, bitrate and estimated file size, best options first. Pick one with ↑/↓, hit enter, and watch it fly. Files land in ~/Videos otherwise, and the saved path is printed when you're finished.

Cookies (bot-checks & servers)

YouTube starts answering every request with "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" the moment it can't see your browser — which is exactly what happens on a VPS, Docker, or any box without Chrome/Firefox on it. That's what --cookies is for: hand yanker your real logged-in session and the wall comes down.

Get the cookies. In the browser you actually use for YouTube, export them to a Netscape-format file — Chrome: Get cookies.txt LOCALLY extension; Firefox: cookies.txt extension. Move it over, then:

scp cookies.txt root@your-vps:/root/

yanker <url> --cookies /root/cookies.txt   # one-off
yanker --cookies /root/cookies.txt         # or set it once and use the picker

The cookies go to work both while fetching video info and while downloading. When a file is given, it's the only cookie source — yanker skips its automatic browser-cookie fallbacks and trusts the file.

Treat it like a password, because it is one: the file is a full login session. Keep it private, and re-export it whenever YouTube expires the session and the bot wall comes back.

Playlists are detected automatically — the picker offers "grab all" (best or mp3) or "first video only" to walk through the format list of the first entry. Press Tab in the URL field to paste whatever is in your clipboard — if it looks like a link it lands right in the field.

Keys

| Key | Action | | ------- | -------------------------------- | | ↵ | download / submit | | ↑ ↓ | choose a format | | esc | back (or cancel) | | q | quit (when the field is empty) | | ^c | quit | | ^t | cycle theme: auto → light → dark | | Ctrl+o| open output dir | The auto theme follows your terminal's own foreground/background, light or dark, without guessing.

Why yanker

• Every format, with sizes. Not just "best guess" you can just choose from the whole list, estimated file size included, sorted by quality.
• Grab-protected streams. If a site's CDN pushes back (403 throttling), yanker retries with fresh extraction and browser cookies before giving up.
• Keeps the terminal clean. Alt-screen in, non-TTY-safe --list out.

Development

nvm use                # switch to the pinned Node version (see .nvmrc)
npm install
npm run build          # bundle with tsup to dist/
npm run dev            # rebuild on change
npm run typecheck      # tsc --noEmit
npm run link           # rebuild + npm link for global `yanker`
npm run unlink yanker  # to unlink the global command

Stack: TypeScript, Ink (React for terminals), yt-dlp, tsup ffmpeg.

A note on fair use

yanker is a personal-archiving tool. Downloading content may violate a platform's terms of service — only grab what you're allowed to keep, and support the people who make what you save.

License

Unlicense