Command line

Run ytmgo with no arguments and you get the player. Give it a subcommand and it does one thing and exits. Useful for a quick lookup, a shell alias, or a script.

ytmgo                    # open the interactive player
ytmgo search homage      # print matching tracks
ytmgo play homage        # play the first match, ctrl+c to stop
ytmgo download homage    # download the first match

Quotes are optional. ytmgo play mild high club homage works as typed.

search

Prints what YouTube Music returns, numbered, with artist and duration. Nothing is queued or downloaded.

$ ytmgo search bebalee
1. Bebalee  ·  Fairuz  (4:11)
2. Bebalee (Live)  ·  Fairuz  (5:02)
...

play

Plays the first match straight away, without opening the UI. It shows on Discord the same way the player does. Ctrl+C stops it.

ytmgo play homage

download

Downloads the first match to the folder set on the Settings page, in the format set there. Both are overridable per run.

ytmgo download homage                  # settings' folder and format
ytmgo download -f mp3 homage           # force MP3
ytmgo download -l . homage             # into the current directory
ytmgo download -f mp3 -l ~/Music homage

Album art is embedded in the file, so downloaded tracks carry their cover into any other player.

Whole albums

-a switches every subcommand from tracks to albums. Downloading one creates a folder named after the album, with the tracks numbered so they sort in order.

ytmgo search -a currents            # list matching albums
ytmgo download -a currents          # download the album into its own folder
ytmgo download -a -f mp3 -l . currents

Flags

Flag	Meaning
-a, --album	Work on albums instead of single tracks
-f, --format	m4a (default) or mp3
-l, --location	Destination directory. . for the current one, created if missing

Flags can go anywhere

ytmgo download bebalee -f mp3 and ytmgo download -f mp3 bebalee do the same thing. Flags after the query used to be swallowed into the search text; they are lifted out before parsing now.

Environment

Variable	Effect
YTMGO_INSTALL_DIR	Where the installer puts the binary
YTMGO_VERSION	Install a specific release instead of the latest
YTMGO_FORCE	Reinstall even when the current version is already present