using-youtube-download

using-youtube-download is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from besoeasy/open-skills. It costs 23 tokens per session (999 once invoked), scanned B, original, MIT.

Instructions for saving YouTube videos or audio files using yt-dlp and ffmpeg, with options for video quality and file format.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to download videos as MP4 files, extract audio as MP3, choose a maximum resolution, or save subtitles when supported.
Why use it?
It provides the commands and setup needed to combine separate video and audio streams or convert downloads into usable files.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to download videos as MP4 files, extract audio as MP3, choose a maximum resolution, or save subtitles when supported.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/besoeasy/open-skills/using-youtube-download
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add besoeasy/open-skills --skill using-youtube-download
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/besoeasy/open-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for using-youtube-download

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/besoeasy/open-skills/using-youtube-download/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/besoeasy/open-skills/using-youtube-download)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/besoeasy/open-skills/using-youtube-download"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/besoeasy/open-skills/using-youtube-download/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for using-youtube-download

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/besoeasy/open-skills/using-youtube-download"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/besoeasy/open-skills/using-youtube-download.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 23 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 999 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan B 2 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe. Third-party audits
  • NVIDIA SkillSpector warn 7 Sept 2026
SkillSpector: 3 findings, up to high

These are SkillSpector’s own severities. On a checked sample its high-severity flags on skills were ~96% false positives — a documented command, a public API, a “never do X” rule — so we show them as a caution to read, not a verdict. Why →

  • high Tool Misuse · line 19
    Tool calls are chained to bypass individual safety checks or escalate capabilities beyond what any single tool call would allow.
    Fix: Limit tool chaining depth and validate the output of each tool before passing it to the next. Require explicit user approval for multi-step chains.
  • medium Privilege Escalation · line 19
    Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.
    Fix: Avoid sudo/root unless strictly required. Prefer least-privilege patterns. If elevation is needed, document the justification and scope.
  • medium Privilege Escalation · line 22
    Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.
    Fix: Avoid sudo/root unless strictly required. Prefer least-privilege patterns. If elevation is needed, document the justification and scope.
How audits are shown
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00023 $0.00999
Opus 5 $0.00012 $0.00500
Sonnet 5 $0.00005 $0.00200
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00100

Measured 12d ago against content hash 85b424e98967, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

using-youtube-download scanned grade B with 2 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 12d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Asks for rootmediumPrivilege escalation

A mod that escalates privileges can change anything on the machine, not only the project.

sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
skills/using-youtube-download/SKILL.md · 123 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 123 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

YouTube Download Skill

Teach how to download YouTube videos as video files and MP3 audio, defaulting to highest quality.

Prerequisites

Install (Linux/macOS):

python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
# or
sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

# ffmpeg
sudo apt install ffmpeg   # Debian/Ubuntu
brew install ffmpeg       # macOS (Homebrew)

Windows: use the yt-dlp.exe release and install ffmpeg for Windows.


Download highest-quality video (merged MP4)

This downloads the best video and best audio and merges them into an MP4 (default highest quality).

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" --merge-output-format mp4 -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" <VIDEO_URL>

Notes:

  • -f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" prefers separate best video and audio streams and falls back to the single best format.
  • --merge-output-format mp4 ensures a widely compatible container.
  • Output template %(title)s.%(ext)s names the file by video title.

To force a max resolution (e.g., 1080p):

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best" --merge-output-format mp4 -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" <VIDEO_URL>

Download as MP3 (highest audio quality)

Extract and convert the best available audio to MP3 (highest quality):

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" <VIDEO_URL>

Options:

  • -x / --extract-audio extracts audio.
  • --audio-format mp3 converts to MP3.
  • --audio-quality 0 tells ffmpeg to use best VBR quality.

If you prefer 320kbps constant bitrate MP3:

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --postprocessor-args "-b:a 320k" -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" <VIDEO_URL>

Download a playlist

Download an entire playlist (preserve order):

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" --merge-output-format mp4 -o "%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" <PLAYLIST_URL>

Read the full file on GitHub · 123 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 12d ago First seen · 123 lines · 23 tokens per session scan B 85b424e98967

Subscribe to this mod's changes

using-youtube-download is a skill published in the GitHub repository besoeasy/open-skills (132 stars, last pushed 7d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 23 tokens to every session and 999 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 2 findings (asks for root, makes network calls). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.