Content Backup

Simple bash script that takes a list of either YouTube channels or playlists downloads the content then converts them to mp3.

This is a back up tool for your own content or content that you have permission to download

Back Up

• Entire Channel with just the channel url
• Append /videos to channel name to avoid shorts
• Accepts playlist URLS

Features

• Embeds the video thumbnail into the mp3 file
• Creates /covers in each download location to save thumbnails
• Keeps track of what has been downloaded to avoid duplication
• Ensure that a single instance of the back up is running

Required Packages

• yt-dlp
• ffmpeg
• jq
• curl
• flock

Docker

Build the image:

docker build -t youtube-content-backup .

Run it with a mounted config file and a separate download directory:

docker run -d \
	--name youtube-content-backup \
	-e CONFIG_FILE="/config/config.json" \
	-e DOWNLOAD_DIR="/downloads" \
	-e LOG_DIR="/logs" \
	-e YTDLP_JS_RUNTIMES="node" \
	-e YTDLP_COOKIES_FILE="/config/cookies.txt" \
	-v "$PWD/config.json:/config/config.json" \
	-v "$PWD/cookies.txt:/config/cookies.txt:ro" \
	-v "$PWD/downloads:/downloads" \
	-v "$PWD/logs:/logs" \
	youtube-content-backup

The container default schedule is every 2 hours (0 */2 * * *). Set CRON_SCHEDULE to override it. The container runs backup.sh with the config file path from CONFIG_FILE and writes downloads to DOWNLOAD_DIR. Cron output is written to LOG_DIR/backup.log.

If YouTube requests return HTTP Error 403: Forbidden, export browser cookies to cookies.txt, mount it, and set YTDLP_COOKIES_FILE as shown above.

If you see challenge solving failed warnings, ensure YTDLP_JS_RUNTIMES is set (defaults to node in this project). You can optionally set YTDLP_REMOTE_COMPONENTS (for example ejs:github) for runtime EJS component downloads.

Another instance is running, exiting. is expected when CRON_SCHEDULE triggers a new run before the previous run finishes. The lock prevents overlapping downloads.

On container startup, backup.sh runs once immediately, then cron continues on the configured schedule.

Docker Compose

Example docker-compose.yml:

services:
	youtube-content-backup:
		build: .
		container_name: youtube-content-backup
		restart: unless-stopped
		environment:
			CRON_SCHEDULE: "0 */2 * * *"
			CONFIG_FILE: /config/config.json
			DOWNLOAD_DIR: /downloads
			LOG_DIR: /logs
			YTDLP_JS_RUNTIMES: node
			YTDLP_COOKIES_FILE: /config/cookies.txt
		volumes:
			- ./config.json:/config/config.json:ro
			- ./cookies.txt:/config/cookies.txt:ro
			- ./downloads:/downloads
			- ./logs:/logs

Start it with:

docker compose up -d

Automatic Releases

Pushes to main trigger the GitHub Actions release workflow. It automatically creates a new git tag, GitHub Release, and GHCR image for the next version.

Version bumps are inferred from the commits since the last tag:

• major if a commit includes a breaking change marker, such as !: in the subject or BREAKING CHANGE: in the body
• minor if a commit uses a feat commit message
• patch for everything else

The release workflow tags the repository with the computed version and publishes the Docker image with the same version tag, plus latest.