Well you know what they say “Great minds think quicker than mine and probably have already had that thought.”

“Give me a Python script using yt-dlp that I can run on a cronjob that will download the videos from any of my subscribed channels since the last time the script was run”

You can use the following Python script to download videos from your subscribed channels since the last run. This script uses yt-dlp and stores the last download timestamp to track new videos.

First, ensure you have yt-dlp installed:

pip install yt-dlp

Then, create a script called download_videos.py:

import os
import json
import subprocess
from datetime import datetime

# Configuration
last_run_file = 'last_run.json'
download_directory = 'downloads'

# Ensure the download directory exists
os.makedirs(download_directory, exist_ok=True)

# Load the last run time
if os.path.exists(last_run_file):
    with open(last_run_file, 'r') as f:
        last_run = json.load(f)['last_run']
else:
    last_run = datetime.now().isoformat()

# Update the last run time to now
current_run = datetime.now().isoformat()

# Command to get videos from subscribed channels since the last run
command = [
    'yt-dlp',
    '--download-archive', 'archive.txt',
    '--output', f'{download_directory}/%(title)s.%(ext)s',
    '--date-after', last_run,
    '--no-post-overwrites',
    '--merge-output-format', 'mp4',
    'https://www.youtube.com/channel/CHANNEL_ID',  # Replace with your channel URL
]

# Run the command
subprocess.run(command)

# Save the current run time
with open(last_run_file, 'w') as f:
    json.dump({'last_run': current_run}, f)

print("Download complete. Next run will check for videos since:", current_run)

Setting Up the Cron Job

1. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x download_videos.py
   

2. Open your crontab:

   crontab -e
   

3. Add a line to run the script at your desired interval (e.g., daily at 2 AM):

   0 2 * * * /path/to/python /path/to/download_videos.py
   

Notes

• Replace CHANNEL_ID in the script with your actual channel IDs or use a playlist URL if preferred.
• The archive.txt file keeps track of already downloaded videos to avoid duplicates.
• Adjust the paths to Python and your script as needed.