A minimal Windows/macOS desktop downloader powered by yt-dlp and Tauri 2.

中文 · Quick Start · Configuration · Verification · Documentation

yt-dlp-tauri is a small desktop app for downloading videos with yt-dlp without writing command-line options by hand. Paste a video URL from a site supported by yt-dlp, preview the metadata, choose a quality, and download an MP4-friendly file from a focused desktop UI.

The project is desktop-first and local-first. It is not a hosted downloader service, does not provide multi-user accounts, and is not affiliated with yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Deno, or Tauri.

• Parse video metadata through yt-dlp and preview title, thumbnail, duration, source URL, description, and quality options.
• Download with live progress, speed, ETA, cancellation, and a saved output folder.
• Use Cookie files for authenticated sites, including Netscape cookies.txt and one-line browser Cookie headers.
• Install, repair, and verify the app-managed platform toolchain from Settings.
• Verify tools against fixed source URLs and SHA-256 hashes from a pinned manifest.
• Switch the UI between English and Chinese.
• Check GitHub Releases for app updates, with optional gh-proxy routing for update and release access.
• Keep local operational logs for recent app activity.

Use Windows or macOS for real app builds. WSL can run many checks, but release installers should be built on their target OS or by the GitHub Actions release workflow.

• Windows 10/11 with WebView2 Runtime, or macOS
• Node.js 20+ or 22+
• Rust stable with the platform toolchain
• PowerShell 5+ or PowerShell 7+ on Windows

npm ci

.\scripts\download-tools.ps1

This is optional for normal app use. If tools are missing, open the app, go to Settings, and click Install tools.

npm run tauri dev

npm run tauri build

The configured bundle targets are nsis and dmg. Build output is written under platform-specific bundle directories such as:

src-tauri\target\release\bundle\nsis\
src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/

Current release scope:

• Populated tool targets: win-x64, macos-x64, macos-arm64.
• Planned manifest target: win-arm64, once every tool URL and hash is pinned.
• Tool binaries are not committed to the repository.

Downloaded videos default to:

%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\yt-dlp-tauri\

App state and logs are stored under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\yt-dlp-tauri\state\
%LOCALAPPDATA%\yt-dlp-tauri\logs\app.log

Installed app tools are written under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\yt-dlp-tauri\Tools\win-x64\

Development checkout tools can live at:

src-tauri\Tools\win-x64\yt-dlp\yt-dlp.exe
src-tauri\Tools\win-x64\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe
src-tauri\Tools\win-x64\ffmpeg\bin\ffprobe.exe
src-tauri\Tools\win-x64\deno\deno.exe

Frontend tests:

npm test

Frontend build:

npm run build

Rust backend tests:

cargo test --manifest-path .\src-tauri\Cargo.toml --lib

Rust backend check:

cargo check --manifest-path .\src-tauri\Cargo.toml

Full Tauri build:

npm run tauri build

• Changelog
• Contributing
• Security policy
• Third-party notices
• Tool manifest

Before publishing a release:

1. Run the verification commands above.
2. Push a version tag such as v0.1.3.
3. Wait for the Release workflow to upload Windows NSIS and macOS DMG artifacts to the draft GitHub Release.
4. Confirm src-tauri/tools-manifest.json uses fixed release URLs, not latest.
5. Confirm generated folders and restored tools are not staged.
6. Include the GPL license and third-party notices with the release.

This project is licensed under GPL-3.0. The app downloads and uses third-party command-line tools with their own licenses and redistribution obligations. See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

This project is not affiliated with yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Deno, or Tauri.