YouTFast 0.3.0

YouTFast 0.3.0

This release adds Settings → About with system update notifications and
SHA-256-verified automatic minor/patch updates, a configurable playback buffer,
audio-only mode, History sync options, and distribution channel manifest
generation (Flathub, Winget and Homebrew Cask). It also refines page scrolling,
keyboard navigation, the compact frameless mini player, and the History and
channel views.

Release candidate. Packages and their corresponding sources must pass the
hosted Release workflow and review before publication. Interactive Windows and
macOS qualification remains open (Windows #5,
macOS #6); automated tests and
startup checks do not establish playback or credential-store support.

Included

• About section and built-in updater (Settings → About): shows the
  installed version and bundled changelog, checks GitHub Releases for new
  stable versions with optional system desktop notifications, supports automatic
  SHA-256-verified updates for minor (0.x.0) and patch (0.0.x) releases with
  persisted changelog notes of what changed, and requires manual 1-click
  confirmation for major (x.0.0) releases.
• Distribution channel manifest generator (packaging/channels.py):
  produces a Flathub source-build manifest (io.github.bcosta19.YouTFast.json),
  a Windows Winget singleton manifest (bcosta19.YouTFast.yaml), and a macOS
  Homebrew Cask (youtfast.rb) with exact release asset SHA-256 digests,
  packaged in youtfast-v0.3.0-channels.tar.gz.
• Configurable video buffer (Settings → Playback → Video buffer): defaults
  to mpv's standard 150 MiB ahead / 50 MiB behind for smoother playback on
  unstable connections and instant seeking, with a compact 50 MiB / 20 MiB
  option for lower RAM (~200 MB) and data usage.
• Audio-only mode: stream and decode only the audio track (ba/b and
  vid=no) for the current video via the player Quality menu or Shift+A,
  reducing bandwidth and CPU/GPU usage during background listening.
• History sync (Settings → History): keep account and device history
  separate, merge them in YouTFast with local resume positions, or also report
  started playback (after two seconds of active play) to the signed-in account's
  YouTube history.
• Compact frameless mini player: simplified to a rounded 16:9 video box in
  the bottom-right corner without an outer window title bar or bottom metadata
  bar.
• Faster page scrolling and keyboard navigation: mouse wheel and touchpad
  scrolling use fastframe-scroll (120 pt wheel steps and touchpad momentum
  glide); ↑ and ↓ outside the player scroll the active page vertically while
  j and k move item selection; channel pages scroll from anywhere on the
  view.
• Sidebar and UI polish: the sidebar toggle (b or top-bar button)
  overrides the automatic rail on watch and narrow layouts on its first press;
  History row controls stay aligned with readable contrast; channel banners crop
  without stretching.

Existing settings and the local library remain supported without manual
migration.

Candidate packages

The hosted workflow prepares Linux x86_64 archives, a Flatpak bundle and its
sources, an Arch package and recipe, Windows x86_64 and macOS Apple Silicon
bundles, matching native sources, Rust source with locked dependencies, and
rendered distribution channel manifests (channels.tar.gz). The final
inventory must include checksums.txt covering all downloads.

The native Linux archive requires glibc 2.39+, system libmpv and current
yt-dlp/Deno. Windows and macOS bundles include libmpv but require current
yt-dlp/Deno. The Flatpak bundles its extraction and playback tools and uses
the Freedesktop 25.08 runtime. macOS requires version 15+ on Apple Silicon.

Installation and platform requirements are in the
distribution guide.
Retrieve candidate artifacts from the Release workflow run once its builds
finish. Published downloads follow package and source review.

Not included

• Public Flathub, AUR, Winget or Homebrew tap publication, or a signed pacman
  repository (manifests are generated in channels.tar.gz for submission).
• Linux ARM64, Intel/universal macOS, Windows ARM64, AppImage, DEB/RPM,
  MSI/MSIX installers or a DMG.
• Windows publisher signing, macOS Developer ID signing or notarization.
• Live chat, downloads or official Google OAuth sign-in.
• Completed interactive Windows/macOS QA or native-source qualification.

Known limitations

• YouTFast is an unofficial client. YouTube changes can break extraction;
  keep yt-dlp current. Playback stays signed out by default.
• Windows Credential Manager can reject sessions larger than its 2560-byte
  secret limit. Native account behavior requires interactive validation.
• Browser-session import needs Python with the yt_dlp module. Flatpak
  cannot read host browser profiles; use cookies.txt import there.
• Signed-in playback retry is available only for browser-imported accounts.
• Flatpak is distributed as a bundle without an update remote until a Flathub
  listing is published. Install the next bundle to update.

Changes since 0.2.0
· Changelog
· License: GPL-3.0-only

YouTFast 0.2.0

YouTFast 0.2.0

This release adds more interface languages, opens channel links directly and
keeps playback visible with an optional miniplayer while scrolling. It also
improves startup, thumbnail loading and compatibility with YouTube's channel
pages.

Release candidate. Packages and their corresponding sources must pass the
hosted Release workflow and review before publication. Interactive Windows and
macOS qualification remains open (Windows #5,
macOS #6); automated tests and
startup checks do not establish playback or credential-store support.

Included

• Spanish, French, German and Italian interface languages alongside English
  and Brazilian Portuguese, selectable in Settings.
• Channel links using /@handle, /channel/UC…, /c/name and /user/name
  open channel pages. Switching to About during initial loading preserves the
  channel's resolved identity, header and Subscribe button.
• An optional miniplayer when the inline video scrolls above the watch page.
  Returning to the video reveals the inline player again.
• Video rendering preserves its aspect ratio and stays clipped below the
  toolbar while scrolling.
• The window opens while system fonts are found in the background. Cached
  thumbnails display without waiting for the download queue, and downloads
  reuse network connections.
• Playback loads only mpv's extraction hook among its bundled scripts,
  reducing background threads and memory use.
• Failed visitor-data requests, panics and overdue listing loads produce a
  controlled error that can be retried instead of closing or stalling the app.
• Updated YouTube channel sorting, Shorts, playlists and podcast handling,
  with corrected subscriber/video counts and synthetic regression tests.

Existing settings and the local library remain supported. The scrolling
miniplayer is off by default; enable it in Playback settings. No manual data
migration is required.

Candidate packages

The hosted workflow prepares Linux x86_64 archives, a Flatpak bundle and its
sources, an Arch package and recipe, Windows x86_64 and macOS Apple Silicon
bundles, matching native sources, and Rust source with locked dependencies.
The final inventory must include checksums.txt covering all downloads.

The native Linux archive requires glibc 2.39+, system libmpv and current
yt-dlp/Deno. Windows and macOS bundles include libmpv but require current
yt-dlp/Deno. The Flatpak bundles its extraction and playback tools and uses
the Freedesktop 25.08 runtime. macOS requires version 15+ on Apple Silicon.

Installation and platform requirements are in the
distribution guide.
Retrieve candidate artifacts from the Release workflow run once its builds
finish. Published downloads follow package and source review.

Not included

• Flathub or AUR listings, a signed pacman repository or automatic updates.
• Linux ARM64, Intel/universal macOS, Windows ARM64, AppImage, DEB/RPM,
  MSI/MSIX installers or a DMG.
• Windows publisher signing, macOS Developer ID signing or notarization.
• Live chat, downloads or official Google OAuth sign-in.
• Completed interactive Windows/macOS QA or native-source qualification.

Known limitations

• YouTFast is an unofficial client. YouTube changes can break extraction;
  keep yt-dlp current. Playback stays signed out by default.
• Windows Credential Manager can reject sessions larger than its 2560-byte
  secret limit. Native account behavior requires interactive validation.
• Browser-session import needs Python with the yt_dlp module. Flatpak
  cannot read host browser profiles; use cookies.txt import there.
• Signed-in playback retry is available only for browser-imported accounts.
• Flatpak is distributed as a bundle without an update remote. Install the
  next bundle to update.

Changes since 0.1.0
· Changelog
· License: GPL-3.0-only

YouTFast 0.1.0

YouTFast 0.1.0

YouTube, native and fast. The first release of a small desktop YouTube
client built with Rust, egui and libmpv: in-window playback with hardware
decoding, a local library that works without an account, and optional sign-in.
No browser engine, no telemetry and no YouTFast-operated backend.

Note

Pre-release, and help is welcome. Every package below was built and tested
headlessly on GitHub-hosted runners, but YouTFast is young and has rough
edges. Nobody has tried the Windows (#5)
or macOS (#6) builds on a
real machine yet; please report what you find.

On the same search results page, full screen and signed out, YouTFast used
161 MiB and 0% CPU while an Electron app showing youtube.com used 658 MiB
and 18% of a core (benchmarks).

Downloads

Platform	File	Notes
Linux (any distribution)	youtfast-v0.1.0-x86_64.flatpak	Recommended. Bundles libmpv, yt-dlp and Deno.
Linux (Ubuntu 24.04+, glibc 2.39+)	youtfast-v0.1.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	Uses the system libmpv, yt-dlp and a JS runtime.
Arch Linux	youtfast-0.1.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst	Install with pacman -U. AUR recipe: youtfast-v0.1.0-aur.tar.gz.
Windows x86_64	youtfast-v0.1.0-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu.zip	Bundles libmpv. Needs yt-dlp and Deno on PATH.
macOS 15+ Apple Silicon	youtfast-v0.1.0-aarch64-apple-darwin.zip	Bundles libmpv. Needs yt-dlp and Deno.

Corresponding source: Rust source with locked dependencies,
Flatpak sources,
Windows native sources
and macOS native sources.

Quick start

# Linux (Flatpak)
flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install --user ./youtfast-v0.1.0-x86_64.flatpak
flatpak run io.github.bcosta19.YouTFast

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -U ./youtfast-0.1.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

On Windows, extract the whole ZIP and run youtfast.exe. On macOS,
copy YouTFast.app to Applications and open it from Finder. The app is ad-hoc signed, so macOS may ask
you to approve it in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Install a current
yt-dlp and
Deno on both.

Verify a download with sha256sum --check --ignore-missing checksums.txt.
See the installation guide
for runtime requirements and the user guide
for controls, library and accounts.

Included

• Playback: libmpv video with hardware decoding where available, full
  screen, theater mode, a movable mini player, captions, chapters, queue
  editing, keyboard shortcuts and desktop media controls.
• Browsing: search for videos, channels and playlists with filters,
  paginated feeds, channel tabs, Shorts and back/forward navigation.
• Watch page: comments with image/GIF attachments, optional transcripts,
  timeline previews and SponsorBlock.
• Library without an account: subscriptions, Watch later, history with
  resume, Google Takeout import and new-upload notifications.
• Optional accounts: named sessions in the system credential store, ratings
  and playlist edits, with rollback when YouTube refuses a change.
• Interface: English and Brazilian Portuguese, light and dark themes,
  palettes and Omarchy integration on native Linux installs.
• Reliability and privacy: ordered saves that preserve unreadable files,
  bounded downloads and decoding, clear playback errors and redacted, rotating
  local diagnostic logs.

Not included

• Flathub and AUR listings, a signed pacman repository and automatic updates.
• Linux ARM64, Intel/universal macOS, ARM Windows, AppImage, DEB/RPM,
  MSI/MSIX installers or a DMG.
• Windows publisher signing and macOS notarization.
• Live chat, downloads and official Google OAuth sign-in.

Planned work lives in the roadmap;
no dates are promised.

Known limitations

• YouTFast is an unofficial client, not affiliated with YouTube or Google.
  YouTube changes can break extraction until yt-dlp or RustyPipe catch up;
  keep yt-dlp current. Signing in is optional and can trigger verification or
  account restrictions, so playback stays signed out by default.
• Windows Credential Manager may reject very large sessions.
• Importing a browser session needs python3 with the yt_dlp module; the
  Flatpak cannot read host browser profiles, so use a cookies.txt file there.
• Signed-in playback retry works only for browser-imported accounts.
• The Flatpak is a single x86_64 bundle without an update remote; install the
  next bundle to update.

Thanks

Thanks to the mpv, yt-dlp, RustyPipe, egui, winit, fastframe, Flatpak and
Lucide contributors.

Changelog ·
License: GPL-3.0-only