# pystardust/ytfzf

A posix script to find and watch youtube videos from the terminal. (Without API)

Repository: https://github.com/pystardust/ytfzf
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ytfzf
Language: Shell
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: youtube, cli, terminal, posix, fzf, dmenu, ueberzug
Last push: 2024-09-27T07:00:01+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2021, "days_push": 705, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4147, forks 450 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:36.425312+00:00)

## What it is
ytfzf is a POSIX shell script that searches YouTube from the terminal without using the official API, letting users select videos via fzf or dmenu and play them with mpv or download them with yt-dlp. It supports thumbnail previews in the terminal and is configurable through shell configuration files.

## Use cases
- search and watch youtube videos from the terminal
- play youtube audio in mpv without a browser
- download youtube videos via yt-dlp from the command line
- browse youtube search results with fzf fuzzy selection
- show video thumbnails in the terminal while browsing
- script youtube searches without an api key

## When to choose
- you want a lightweight, dependency-minimal terminal youtube client
- you prefer browsing videos with fzf/dmenu and playing in mpv
- you want to avoid the official YouTube API and its quotas
- you run a minimal Linux/BSD setup and like POSIX shell tools

## When to avoid
- you need an actively maintained project - it is no longer actively developed
- you need a GUI or a full YouTube account experience (subscriptions, comments, uploads)
- you need Windows-native support
- you want features like channel management or playlist editing

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: search-engine, http-client, cli
- domain: media, developer-tools
- platform: cli, bsd
- tags: youtube, posix-script, fzf, mpv, video-player, terminal-ui, no-api, yt-dlp, dmenu, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- pystardust/ytfzf (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.425312+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:22:55.782900+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pystardust/ytfzf (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.425312+00:00, sha 9c9c24b7ddcb)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.