Tubes - terminal youtube for searching, playing and downloading for Ubuntu

Based on yt-dlp and youtube-search.

• Simple non intuitive search result menu
• Possible log in to YouTube/Google account
• Text mode thumbnails based on tiv
• Result can be playd with mpv player
• Video metadata collected from json by jq
• Youtube puzzle solver using deno Java runtime environment and Embedded JavaScript templates
• Tools to fetch cookies from firefox browser
• Play history and cache saved locally
• Installer for Debian (mint/ubuntu)
• Uses virtual environment for python apps and libraries to avoid system break

No warranty / no liability - see DISCLAIMER for legal stuff.

Under construction! Please contact me if something is not working.

• This is first try get this gerbil module to run standalone =)

Installation

Clone from https://github.com/ugcasa/tubes, read install.sh to see what it does. Installer:

• creates ~/.tubes folder for configurations, data and scripts.
• Adds tubes alias to .bashrc
• Installs required software by apt pipx (will ask before installation) and tries to warn when using non validated code. (No warranty!)

Software to install: python3-venv mpv ffmpeg detox pipx python3-pip jq tiv python3-full youtube_search deno

$ git clone https://github.com/ugcasa/tubes
$ ./install.sh 
already installed, re-install [y/N]: y
overwrite configs? [y/N]: y
delete data and logs? [y/N]: y
make 'tubes' alias? [y/N]: y
install required software? [y/N]: y
tubes installation done
try: 'tubes kingston wall'

Configuration

Configuration are in ~/.tubes/tubes.cfg. Default config will work, Youtube account is optional but enables age limited material.

Log and cache

Daily log file appears to tube home folder: ~/.tubes/played/2026-03-28.list Cache contains original thumbnail files located in ~/.tubes/cache

Usage

Please refer help by typing tubes help