This software is provided as a technical demonstration and is intended for use only with content that you own or have explicit rights to download, such as CC0 or Creative Commons–licensed media. The author does not encourage, support, or condone the use of this software in violation of applicable laws or third-party terms of service.
A desktop YouTube downloader built with Wails (Go + React).
A few years back I built ElectronYoutubeDownloader as a fun weekend project to mess around with Electron. It worked, but Electron apps are... chunky.
When I discovered Wails, I wanted to see what a native Go backend with a React frontend felt like. This is basically a rewrite of that project, but lighter, faster, and with some extra goodies I always wanted to add.
- YouTube Downloads - Paste a URL, pick a format, download
- yt-dlp - Default download engine (yt-dlp); auto-downloaded like FFmpeg; Deno auto-installed for YouTube signature solving; switch to legacy built-in or add extra flags in Settings
- Multiple Formats - MP3, M4A, MP4, WebM (H.264+AAC for MP4, AAC for audio)
- Queue System - Add multiple videos, download them in parallel
- Browse & Search - Search YouTube or check trending videos directly in the app
- Standalone Converter - Convert local media files using FFmpeg with pre-made presets
- Auto FFmpeg - Don't have FFmpeg? The app will download it for you
- Auto Updates - Startup notification, opt-in beta/pre-release channel, and in-app download from GitHub Releases
- Themes - Light/dark mode + accent color customization
- Localization - English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Greek
- Cross-platform - Linux, Windows, macOS
| Layer | Tech |
|---|---|
| Backend | Go 1.26, yt-dlp (default), kkdai/youtube (legacy) |
| Frontend | React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Zustand |
| Framework | Wails v2 |
| UI Components | shadcn/ui |
- Go 1.26+
- Node.js 24+ and pnpm 11.5.3 (via Corepack; pinned in
packageManager) - Wails CLI:
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest
Linux only:
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev
# Fedora
sudo dnf install gtk3-devel webkit2gtk4.1-develThis repo is a pnpm monorepo (Turborepo). The desktop app lives in apps/desktop, the browser extension in apps/extension, the marketing site in apps/web, and shared packages in packages/.
First clone (from repo root):
git clone https://github.com/teofanis/ybdownloader.git
cd ybdownloader
./scripts/setup-dev.shThat script runs corepack enable and corepack pnpm install. Corepack downloads the pnpm version pinned in package.json (packageManager: pnpm@11.5.3) on first install — you do not install pnpm globally.
Daily dev (after setup):
pnpm dev:desktop # Wails desktop app (hot reload)
pnpm dev:extension # Plasmo extension dev server
pnpm dev:web # Marketing site (Astro, port 4321)
pnpm test # Go + JS unit tests
pnpm e2e # Playwright smoke tests (desktop UI + Wails mock)
pnpm audit # Dependency security audit (high+)If you already ran corepack enable on this machine, pnpm install is enough. The preinstall hook verifies the running pnpm matches packageManager.
npm and yarn are blocked. If an old global pnpm shadows Corepack, use
corepack pnpm installor./scripts/setup-dev.sh.
pnpm build # JS packages via Turbo (desktop UI + extension)
pnpm build:web # Marketing site (apps/web/dist)
pnpm build:desktop-ui # Desktop frontend only (apps/desktop/frontend/dist)
pnpm build:desktop # Full Wails app for your platform (apps/desktop/build/bin/)
pnpm build:extension # Extension default target (Chrome MV3)
pnpm build:extension:release 1.0.0 # Chrome + Firefox zips for ext-v* releases| Script | Output |
|---|---|
build:desktop |
apps/desktop/build/bin/ |
build:extension |
apps/extension/build/chrome-mv3-prod/ |
build:extension:release |
apps/extension/chrome-extension-*.zip, firefox-extension-*.zip |
Desktop releases: push tag v*. Extension releases: push tag ext-v* (see extension-release.yml).
pnpm test # Go (apps/desktop) + JS packages via Turbo
pnpm run test:go # Go only
pnpm test:coverage # Vitest coverage (desktop UI + shared)
pnpm e2e # Playwright (apps/e2e)Pre-commit hooks are set up via Husky. On commit, it runs:
gofmt+go vet+golangci-lintfor Go filesprettier+eslintfor TypeScript/React files
You can also run manually:
pnpm lint # Go + all JS packages
pnpm run lint:go # Go only.
├── apps/
│ ├── desktop/ # Wails app (Go backend + React UI)
│ │ ├── internal/ # Domain, infra, app bindings
│ │ └── frontend/ # Desktop UI (@ybdownload/desktop-ui)
│ ├── extension/ # Browser extension (@ybdownload/extension)
│ ├── web/ # Marketing site (@ybdownload/web)
│ └── e2e/ # Playwright E2E tests
├── packages/
│ ├── shared/ # URLs, formats, deep links, release helpers, markdown
│ └── ui/ # Shared React components (shadcn/ui)
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml
└── turbo.json
Architecture diagrams (Mermaid): GitHub Wiki — source in docs/wiki/.
- Playlist support
- Library support (Online Sync or Backup)
- Social Sharing / Listening now support ?
- Share Playlists from local (tunneling ?)
- Would be fun to play with (Listen together with friends)
- Add an actual player + system tray ?
- Auto-organising library /songs - perhaps could also do categorizing etc (AI playtime ?)
- Download history / persistence
- Custom FFmpeg presets in converter
- Subtitle downloads
- More languages
PRs welcome if you want to tackle any of these.
If you find this useful:
- ⭐ Star the repo
- ☕ Buy me a coffee
- 💰 PayPal
- 💖 Thanks.dev
- 💜 Sponsor on GitHub
- Wails - Great framework, makes Go + web UIs feel native
- yt-dlp - Default download engine
- kkdai/youtube - Legacy YouTube client library
- shadcn/ui - Clean component library
- FFmpeg - The backbone of media conversion
MIT - do whatever you want with it.
This started as a playground project and still is one. If something breaks, open an issue!
