# yt-sub-rs [](https://crates.io/crates/yt-sub) [](https://github.com/pawurb/yt-sub-rs/actions)
yt-sub is a simple CLI for subscribing to YouTube RSS feeds without using a YouTube account.
## Usage
```text
YouTube RSS subscription CLI
Usage: ytsub <COMMAND>
Commands:
init Initialize config file [aliases: i]
settings Display current settings [aliases: s]
run Check and notify about fresh videos [aliases: r]
channel-data Get a channel data based on its handle [aliases: d]
follow Subscribe to a channel [aliases: f]
unfollow Unsubscribe [aliases: u]
list List followed channels [aliases: l]
help Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
Options:
-h, --help Print help
-V, --version Print version
```
Install CLI:
```bash
cargo install yt-sub
```
Initialize the settings file at `~/.config/yt-sub-rs/config.toml`:
```bash
ytsub init
```
`~/.config/yt-sub-rs/config.toml`
```toml
channels = []
last_run_at_path = "~/.yt-sub-rs/last_run_at.txt"
[[notifiers]]
Log = []
```
Follow preferred channels based on [their URL handle](https://www.youtube.com/@ManofRecaps):
```bash
ytsub follow --handle @ManofRecaps
```
Display the list of your channels by typing:
```bash
ytsub list
# You are following:
#
# name: Man of Recaps
# handle: @ManofRecaps
# channel_id: UCNCTxLZ3EKKry-oWgLlsYsw
# channel_url: https://www.youtube.com/@ManofRecaps
# RSS feed: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCNCTxLZ3EKKry-oWgLlsYsw
```
Now you can run:
```bash
ytsub run
# New video - Man of Recaps Rings of Power RECAP: Season 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjeUx_HHtF0
```
to trigger notifications about freshly released videos from your observed channels. The first `run` invocation will notify you about videos released in the last 7 days. Subsequent runs will inform about videos released since the previous `run` event.
You can customize this period by appending the `--hours-offset` option:
```bash
# notify about videos published in the last 24 hours
ytsub run --hours-offset 24
```
The time of the last run is stored in the `~/.yt-sub-rs/last_run_at.txt` file.
You can unfollow a channel by typing:
```bash
ytsub unfollow --handle @ManofRecaps
```
## Notifiers configuration
By default, CLI is configured to log to the `stdout`. You can configure Slack notifications like this:
`~/.config/yt-sub-rs/config.toml`
```toml
[[notifiers]]
[notifiers.Slack]
webhook_url = "https://hooks.slack.com/services/XXX/XXX/XXX"
channel = "yt-videos"
```
You can obtain the `webhook_url` value as described [in the Slack docs](https://api.slack.com/messaging/webhooks).
## Manually finding an RSS `channel_id`
CLI will try to find the matching `channel_id` based on the URL handle. But proxied YouTube API calls are sometimes throttled. So if the `follow` command fails, you have to obtain this data manually. Go to the [channel videos tab](https://www.youtube.com/@ManofRecaps/videos) and run this JS in the console to extract the RSS `channel_id`:
```javascript
document.querySelector('link[rel="alternate"][type="application/rss+xml"]').href.match(/channel_id=([^&]+)/)[1];
```
This snippet works on Firefox. Alternatively, you can look for this value manually in the source code:
Now you can subscribe by providing all the data like this:
```bash
sub follow --handle @ManofRecaps --channel-id UCNCTxLZ3EKKry-oWgLlsYsw --desc 'Man of Recaps'
```
## CRON invocation
Currently, a recommended way to use the CLI is via the CRON scheduler. By appending the `--cron` flag to the `run` command CLI will output the logs with timestamps:
```
RUST_LOG=info ytsub run --cron
# [2024-10-14T13:03:58Z INFO yt_sub::logger] New video - Man of Recaps Rings of Power RECAP: Season 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjeUx_HHtF0
```
This mode of execution is the most useful with Slack notifications configured.
## Status
This project is in the early stages of development, so feedback and PRs are welcome.