Browse and URL intake

Browse YouTube and add videos or sources

Available since 2026.10.19. Browse searches YouTube from Pinchflat-ngx and shows whether results are already present in your library.

Search and download a video

1. Open Browse from the navigation.
2. Choose a Media Profile. If none exists, choose Create Profile first. The profile controls format, naming and related download options.
3. Enter a query and choose Search. Use Videos or Channels to choose the result type.
4. Open a video's details to review its metadata and library status. Use preview playback where available.
5. Choose the download action when the video is eligible. Check Home's queue/download views for progress.

Searching and previewing do not enqueue downloads. The query, result tab and media profile are retained in the page URL across reloads and reconnects. Search text is limited to 200 characters. During a new search, previous results may remain visible but inactive until the new request finishes.

Library status depends on existing copies and the selected profile. An existing, queued, prevented or unavailable item may not offer another download. Read the displayed reason rather than repeatedly submitting the same request.

Paste one video URL

1. Choose Paste URL on Browse.
2. Select the media profile and paste a YouTube video, Short or live-stream link.
3. Choose Resolve and review the returned video and library status.
4. Choose the download action to submit it. Closing the dialog before submission leaves the library unchanged.

Resolve checks the URL and fetches metadata; it does not start the download. A /browse?url=... link, including the bookmarklet, opens this review flow. A new single-video source may be created when the confirmed download needs one. Single-video sources are indexed once, with Fast Indexing disabled.

The Paste URL dialog accepts individual videos. It does not search playlists or subscribe to a pasted channel. A video URL containing playlist parameters is handled as that individual video. Use Sources > New Source for a channel or playlist URL, review its profile, cutoffs and download settings, then save. See source settings.

Subscribe to a channel from search

1. Search under Channels and inspect the channel preview.
2. Select the intended media profile.
3. Choose the subscription action and read the confirmation.
4. Choose Confirm Subscription only when the proposed behavior is what you want.

A Browse subscription monitors the channel and enables downloads. The new source has no download cutoff by default, so the initial indexing pass can make older videos eligible too. Review the source's cutoff and limits promptly if you do not want its backlog. This differs from CSV subscription import, which starts new channels with downloads paused.

If a request fails

• Provider is busy: wait and search again; the extractor has reached its capacity.
• No results: try a narrower query and check that the selected result tab matches your search.
• Source/downloads disabled or policy blocked: inspect the existing source's settings and the video's status. Browse does not silently override those restrictions.
• Download accepted but no file yet: inspect the real job state and any failure guidance in download recovery.

Browse is not a signed-in YouTube session. Authentication requirements still depend on your configured cookies, availability policies and the extractor. See download settings.

All feature guides

Video names and output paths

Available in 2026.10.20 via #155.

Single-video intake initially creates a generated name. Indexing replaces an unchanged, unlocked generated name with the video title before queueing the first download, even with source artwork disabled. This uses metadata already fetched during indexing. Re-indexing can also resolve an existing unchanged placeholder.

Locks and edits committed during a fetch are preserved. Ordinary unlocked standalone-video names can still follow later metadata refreshes; lock a custom name to keep it fixed. Missing metadata leaves the generated name in place.

Source names used in paths are literal filename components: directory separators, reserved characters and controls become underscores, and template expressions inside names are not evaluated. Put folder nesting and expressions in the output path template. Templates escaping the media root are rejected.

Saving settings does not move existing downloads. Future downloads use the resolved name and selected output template; a later re-download or quality upgrade can relocate a file after a successful replacement. See download recovery.