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A privacy-first desktop downloader for YouTube and Instagram. No accounts. No cloud. No data leaves your machine.

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<h1 align="center">KineTube</h1>

<p align="center">
  A privacy-first desktop downloader for YouTube and Instagram.<br/>
  No accounts. No cloud. No data leaves your machine.
</p>

---

## What is KineTube

KineTube is a cross-platform desktop application that lets you download videos from YouTube and Instagram, transcribe them locally using Whisper AI, and manage your media -- entirely offline. It is built on Electron, React, and Express, and delegates all heavy lifting to battle-tested open-source tools (yt-dlp, FFmpeg, whisper.cpp, instaloader) that it downloads and manages automatically on first launch.

There is no server to sign up for, no API key to buy, and no usage limit. Everything runs on your computer.

---

## Features

| Category | Capability |
|---|---|
| **YouTube** | Videos, Shorts, channels, playlists -- up to 4K with FFmpeg merging |
| **Instagram** | Reels, posts, stories, full profile bulk-download (up to 500 posts) |
| **Audio extraction** | Rip MP3 from any video with one click |
| **Transcription** | Local Whisper AI transcription in 13 languages, five model sizes |
| **Batch downloads** | Mix YouTube and Instagram URLs in one queue |
| **Resume interrupted downloads** | If the app closes mid-download, the next launch offers to pick up where it left off |
| **Dark mode** | System-aware theme with manual override |
| **Private content** | Instagram login with 2FA support and multi-account management |
| **Filename control** | Prefix, suffix, numbering, and custom yt-dlp templates |
| **Progress streaming** | Real-time speed, ETA, and phase indicators via SSE |
| **In-app updates** | Current version and a manual "Check for Updates" button live in Settings |

---

## Architecture

```mermaid
graph TD
    A[Electron Main Process] --> B[Vite + React Frontend]
    A --> C[Express Backend :3001]

B -->|SSE streams| C
    B -->|REST JSON| C

C --> D[yt-dlp]
    C --> E[FFmpeg]
    C --> F[whisper.cpp]
    C --> G[instaloader Python]

D -->|video/audio| H[(Downloads Folder)]
    E -->|merged .mp4| H
    F -->|.txt transcript| H
    G -->|Instagram media| H
```

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User
    participant F as Frontend
    participant B as Backend
    participant Y as yt-dlp

U->>F: Paste URL + click Fetch
    F->>B: POST /api/info
    B->>Y: yt-dlp -J <url>
    Y-->>B: JSON metadata
    B-->>F: formats, title, thumbnail
    F->>U: Show quality picker

U->>F: Select quality + Download
    F->>B: GET /api/download (SSE)
    B->>Y: yt-dlp --newline --progress
    loop Real-time progress
        Y-->>B: progress line
        B-->>F: SSE progress event
        F-->>U: Speed / ETA / percent
    end
    B-->>F: SSE done event + filePath
    F->>U: Show success + Transcribe option
```

---

## Quick Start

### Prerequisites

- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) 18 or later
- [Python](https://www.python.org/) 3.8 or later (required for Instagram login only)

All other dependencies (yt-dlp, FFmpeg, whisper.cpp, instaloader) are downloaded automatically on first launch.

### Run in development

```bash
git clone https://github.com/spacesdrive/kinetube.git
cd kinetube
npm install
cd frontend && npm install && cd ..
npm run dev
```

This starts the Express backend, the Vite dev server, and Electron simultaneously via `concurrently`.

### Build a distributable

```bash
# Build the React frontend first
npm run build:frontend

# Then package for your platform
npm run dist:win    # Windows NSIS installer
npm run dist:mac    # macOS DMG
npm run dist:linux  # Linux AppImage
```

---

## How It Works

### YouTube downloads

KineTube calls yt-dlp under the hood. When you paste a URL and click Fetch, the backend runs `yt-dlp -J` to pull metadata and return available format streams to the frontend. On download, it constructs a format selector string such as `bestvideo[height<=1080][ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]` and streams progress back line-by-line over SSE. If FFmpeg is available, video and audio tracks are merged automatically.

If KineTube closes while a video is downloading, it remembers the request and offers to resume it on the next launch - yt-dlp resumes its own partial file rather than starting over.

### Instagram

Public content uses yt-dlp directly. Profile pages and private content route through `instaloader`, a Python library that handles Instagram's session-based authentication and pagination. KineTube wraps this in two helper scripts (`instaloader_login.py`, `instaloader_profile.py`) that communicate with the Express backend over stdin/stdout. Sessions are stored locally under `backend/sessions/` as binary cookie files.

### Transcription

After a download completes, or for any existing audio/video file, KineTube extracts a 16 kHz mono WAV via FFmpeg and passes it to `whisper-cli.exe` (whisper.cpp). The transcript is saved as a `.txt` file next to the source media. Five model sizes are available from Tiny (75 MB) to Large (2.9 GB) and are downloaded on demand from Hugging Face.

---

## Tech Stack

| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Desktop shell | Electron 33 |
| Frontend | React 19, Vite 8, Tailwind CSS 4, shadcn/ui |
| Backend | Express 5, Node.js |
| Downloader | yt-dlp (auto-managed) |
| Merger | FFmpeg (auto-managed) |
| Transcription | whisper.cpp v1.8.4 (auto-managed - prebuilt on Windows, built from source on macOS/Linux) |
| Instagram scraping | instaloader (Python, `pip install instaloader`) |
| Theme | next-themes |
| Icons | Lucide React |

---

## Project Structure

```
kinetube/
  electron/           # Electron main process and preload
  backend/
    routes/           # Express route handlers (download, info, instagram, transcribe, setup)
    utils/            # yt-dlp/ffmpeg/whisper.cpp managers, shared download helper, pending-download registry
    sessions/         # Instagram session files (gitignored)
    downloads/        # Default download output (gitignored)
    models/           # Whisper model files (gitignored)
  frontend/
    src/
      components/     # React components (shadcn-based UI)
      components/ui/  # shadcn/ui primitives
      lib/             # Shared frontend helpers (fetch client, URL cleaning, cn())
```

---

## Configuration

All settings persist in `localStorage` and survive app restarts.

| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Output folder | Custom path or default to `backend/downloads/` |
| Filename template | yt-dlp variables: `%(title)s`, `%(uploader)s`, `%(upload_date)s`, `%(id)s` |
| Numbering | Prepend a zero-padded sequence number to filenames |
| Prefix / suffix | Arbitrary text prepended or appended to every filename |
| Default Whisper model | Tiny / Base / Small / Medium / Large |
| Transcription language | Auto-detect or any of 13 preset languages |

---

## Instagram Setup

Instagram support requires Python to be installed and accessible on your PATH.

```bash
pip install instaloader
```

Once Python is detected, you can log in directly from the sidebar inside the app. Two-factor authentication is fully supported. Multiple accounts can be added and switched between without re-authenticating.

If you prefer to authenticate outside the app, copy the instaloader session file into `backend/sessions/session-<username>` and use the session import option in Settings.

---

## Keyboard Shortcuts

| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle DevTools | F12 |
| New search | Click logo or "New search" button |
| Submit URL | Enter |

---

## Contributing

Contributions are welcome. To get started:

1. Read [`CLAUDE.md`](CLAUDE.md) - project identity, architecture map, and engineering standards.
2. Fork the repository and create a branch from `main`.
3. Follow the Quick Start instructions above to run the project locally.
4. Make your changes. Keep commits focused and the diff readable - see [`docs/workflows/GIT.md`](docs/workflows/GIT.md).
5. Run `npm test` (backend + frontend) before opening a pull request - see [`docs/workflows/TESTING.md`](docs/workflows/TESTING.md).
6. Open a pull request with a clear description of what changed and why.

For larger changes, open an issue first to discuss the approach before investing time in the implementation. If your change touches yt-dlp, FFmpeg, whisper.cpp, or instaloader, read [`docs/philosophy/CROSS_PLATFORM.md`](docs/philosophy/CROSS_PLATFORM.md) first - these are currently Windows-only.

---

## License

[MIT](LICENSE) -- use it, modify it, ship it.

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