This pages describes how to remotely control youtube running within a browser from the command-line. In practice this sort of script may not be used directly from the command-line but rather attached to a keyboard shortcut or run from another script that forms a larger process. keyboard shortcut This approach only works for Linux due to the limitations of the Chrome extension it uses. If you have programming experience you may be able to adapt the approach for another operating system. I would direct anyone interested in doing this to mozeidon as an example of a remote control from Chrome which can be run from the command-line. mozeidon Chrome This approach only works for Chromium-based browsers. I got it working with Brave, but Vivalid is another Chrome-based browser. How this works This entire page is effectively alternative and more complete documentation for streamkeys which, almost incidentally provides this feature. This page, however, focuses on command-line usage for Linux - documents and works around some issues in streamkeys, and is an easy-to-find article on the topic of controlling youtube from the command-line. streamkeys Streamkeys was written with the intention of controlling youtube, or other media players, running with Chrome from any other tabs. However, incidentally it also provides support for MPRIS which is a generally linux protocol for controlling multimedia players from the command-line. This standard can be used to cotrol youtube playback from the command-line. You can do things like: Stop the player
Skip forward
Get the current position in the audio. Suitable for adding to notes or shared with others.
Get the length of the video Stop the player Skip forward Get the current position in the audio. Suitable for adding to notes or shared with others. Get the length of the video Obtaining the may be particularly useful when combined yt-dlp to obtain subtitles for the video. yt-dlp Setting everything up Unfortunately stream has been removed from the Chrome extension store, has a build process that depends on deprecated libraries, and requires an out of date build process. It does however still work. You need to download streamkeys, build it, and manually add it to Chrome. This may be good experience for you if you ever intend to develop a browser extension. Requirements: uv is needed to use an old version of python required by node-gyp which is required by node-sass


nvm is required to use an old version of node used for building the extension


python3-dbus is needed for the interface used to communicate with the extension from the command-line


playerctl is a command-line tool to communicate with mediaplayers (includig streamkeys after some configuration). uv is needed to use an old version of python required by node-gyp which is required by node-sass uv is needed to use an old version of python required by node-gyp which is required by node-sass uv node-gyp node-sass nvm is required to use an old version of node used for building the extension nvm is required to use an old version of node used for building the extension nvm node python3-dbus is needed for the interface used to communicate with the extension from the command-line python3-dbus is needed for the interface used to communicate with the extension from the command-line python3-dbus playerctl is a command-line tool to communicate with mediaplayers (includig streamkeys after some configuration). playerctl is a command-line tool to communicate with mediaplayers (includig streamkeys after some configuration). playerctl Both of these tools are standard, broadly used develoment tools To install requiments: sudo apt-get install pipx


sudo apt-get install python3-dbus


pipx install uv


Follow the instructions here to install nvm. Note that nvm updaes you shell configuration and requires you to reload this configuraiton aor restart your shell sudo apt-get install pipx sudo apt-get install pipx sudo apt-get install pipx sudo apt-get install python3-dbus sudo apt-get install python3-dbus sudo apt-get install python3-dbus pipx install uv pipx install uv pipx install uv Follow the instructions here to install nvm. Note that nvm updaes you shell configuration and requires you to reload this configuraiton aor restart your shell Follow the instructions here to install nvm. Note that nvm updaes you shell configuration and requires you to reload this configuraiton aor restart your shell Follow the instructions here nvm nvm To make a build of streamkeys: cd ~/.local. I like to keep third-party installed code here - but you may store your code elsewhere.


Clone streamkeys. git clone git@github.com:berrberr/streamkeys.git


cd streamkeys


Create a  uv virtualenv with an old python uv venv --python=3.10


Activate the uv virtual virtualenv source .venv/bin/activate


Install node 16 nvm install 16


Enable node 16 nvm use 16


Add this python python --version should return 3.10 and node --version should 16.


Set up the build environment with npm install


Create the extension npm run dev cd ~/.local. I like to keep third-party installed code here - but you may store your code elsewhere. cd ~/.local. I like to keep third-party installed code here - but you may store your code elsewhere. ~/.local Clone streamkeys. git clone git@github.com:berrberr/streamkeys.git Clone streamkeys. git clone git@github.com:berrberr/streamkeys.git git clone git@github.com:berrberr/streamkeys.git cd streamkeys cd streamkeys cd streamkeys Create a  uv virtualenv with an old python uv venv --python=3.10 Create a  uv virtualenv with an old python uv venv --python=3.10 uv venv --python=3.10 Activate the uv virtual virtualenv source .venv/bin/activate Activate the uv virtual virtualenv source .venv/bin/activate source .venv/bin/activate Install node 16 nvm install 16 Install node 16 nvm install 16 nvm install 16 Enable node 16 nvm use 16 Enable node 16 nvm use 16 nvm use 16 Add this python python --version should return 3.10 and node --version should 16. Add this python python --version should return 3.10 and node --version should 16. python --version node --version Set up the build environment with npm install Set up the build environment with npm install npm install Create the extension npm run dev Create the extension npm run dev npm run dev To install streamkeys: Locate the extension ./build/unpacked-dev


Go to the extension page in chrome "chrome://extensions"


Add a developer extension with the path of build/unpacked-dev Locate the extension ./build/unpacked-dev Locate the extension ./build/unpacked-dev ./build/unpacked-dev Go to the extension page in chrome "chrome://extensions" Go to the extension page in chrome "chrome://extensions" Add a developer extension with the path of build/unpacked-dev Add a developer extension with the path of build/unpacked-dev build/unpacked-dev To enable streamkeys for use with debug (MPIRS), you must run a script. Find the id of the streamkeys extension. Go to brave://extensions/ and click on the Details of streamkeys package. This should have an ID - copy this ID.
Run the script python3 ./build/unpacked-dev/native/mpris_host_setup.py install $ID with this ID. Find the id of the streamkeys extension. Go to brave://extensions/ and click on the Details of streamkeys package. This should have an ID - copy this ID. brave://extensions/ Run the script python3 ./build/unpacked-dev/native/mpris_host_setup.py install $ID with this ID. python3 ./build/unpacked-dev/native/mpris_host_setup.py install $ID The command playerctl pause should now pause youtube and playerctl play start it. playerctl pause playerctl play Usage You can use playerctl from the command-line. You may like to explore the documentation. This script can be wrapped for ther purposes. playerctl I use the following scripts (amongst others): skip: Skip 10 seconds forward (or number of seconds given) skip #!/bin/bash
playerctl position | perl -pe "\$_ = \$_ + ${1-10}" | xargs playerctl position; playerctl position #!/bin/bash
playerctl position | perl -pe "\$_ = \$_ + ${1-10}" | xargs playerctl position; playerctl position back: Skip 10 seconds backwards (or number of seconds given) back #!/bin/bash
skip ${1:--10} #!/bin/bash
skip ${1:--10} pos: Return the position into the video pos #!/bin/bash
playerctl position #!/bin/bash
playerctl position yt-position: Return the percentage through the video yt-position #!/bin/bash
length=$(playerctl metadata  | grep length | awk '{ print $3 }')
pos=$(playerctl position)
perl -e 'my ($a,$b) = @ARGV; print(int($a * 1000000 / $b * 100) . "%\n")' "$pos" "$length" #!/bin/bash
length=$(playerctl metadata  | grep length | awk '{ print $3 }')
pos=$(playerctl position)
perl -e 'my ($a,$b) = @ARGV; print(int($a * 1000000 / $b * 100) . "%\n")' "$pos" "$length" yt-link: Return a link to the video 10 seconds ago yt-link #!/bin/bash
mozeidon tabs  get  | jq '.[] | .[] | select(.url | test("youtube\\.com")) | .url ' -rc | { read line ; echo $line\&t=$(playerctl position | perl -pe '$_ -= 10') ; } #!/bin/bash
mozeidon tabs  get  | jq '.[] | .[] | select(.url | test("youtube\\.com")) | .url ' -rc | { read line ; echo $line\&t=$(playerctl position | perl -pe '$_ -= 10') ; } I use this script (and others) to refer to videos while taking notes in Obsidian. If you are interested in note taking you might like to read my review of note taking in Obsidian. Obsidian review of note taking in Obsidian Alternatives ytmdesktop is a desktop app for youtube which can be remotely controlled via http. There tends to be a risk that such players attached to a changing website like google will stop working unless they have dedicated maintainers. ytmdesktop remotely controlled via http You may prefer to download media from youtube using yt-dlp to download media and play it in another player. yt-dlp A shortcut to jump to the youtube tab may be sufficient for your uses. I have down this before with a combination of key simulation with xdotool interacting with the tab selection feature and wmctrl to raise windows. You can aso used mozeidon to select tabs xdotool wmctrl It is to be noted that the youtube website provides a variety of social and recommednation featues that other approaches do not support. References yt-dlp
mozeidon yt-dlp yt-dlp mozeidon mozeidon About me I am @readwithai. I create tools for reading, research and agency sometimes using the markdown editor Obsidian. @readwithai Obsidian I also create a stream of tools that are related to carrying out my work. stream of tools I write about lots of things - including tools like this - on X. My blog is more about reading and research and agency. X blog

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