# YouTube Backup

Standalone helper for backing up your own uploaded YouTube videos with
`yt-dlp`. It is intentionally outside `jeannie`, OpenTofu, Argo CD, and the
homelab deployment pipeline.

The backup root defaults to `/data/youtube-backup`.

## Install

```bash
pipx install yt-dlp
```

The Debian host bootstrap installs `yt-dlp`, `ffmpeg`, and `nodejs` for this
helper. It installs yt-dlp with its default dependency group so the YouTube EJS
challenge scripts are available, and the backup script passes
`--js-runtimes node` by default. On another machine, install those tools before
running the backup.

## Configure

```bash
sudo mkdir -p /data/youtube-backup/{videos,logs}
sudo chown -R "$USER:$USER" /data/youtube-backup
cp infra/youtube-backup/playlists.example.txt /data/youtube-backup/playlists.txt
cp infra/youtube-backup/.env.example infra/youtube-backup/.env
```

Edit `/data/youtube-backup/playlists.txt` and add one playlist, channel, or
video URL per line.

For private or unlisted uploads, export browser cookies and set:

```bash
YOUTUBE_BACKUP_COOKIES_FILE=/data/youtube-backup/cookies.txt
```

Alternatively, when running on a desktop with a browser profile:

```bash
YOUTUBE_BACKUP_COOKIES_FROM_BROWSER=firefox
```

## Run

```bash
infra/youtube-backup/backup-youtube.sh
```

The script uses:

```text
--download-archive /data/youtube-backup/archive.txt
```

so repeated runs skip videos that were already backed up.

Downloaded videos and sidecar metadata are written under:

```text
/data/youtube-backup/videos
```

The default backup writes the video, `.info.json`, description, and embeds one
thumbnail into the media file. It does not write separate subtitle files. Set
`YOUTUBE_BACKUP_WRITE_THUMBNAIL=true` if you also want one sidecar `.jpg`
thumbnail.

Each run also writes a timestamped log under:

```text
/data/youtube-backup/logs
```