Caution
The head repo for Tubeless has been pulled for unknown reasons. Unless development comes this way or I find the time to learn and update it, this project will remain stale. Sorry, I am not a dev and am still learning code.
I am not responsible for any security vulnerabilities or bugs that may crop up.
Feel free to fork this project as I want to see this evolve.
- Your next YouTube media manager
- Table of contents:
- Important
- What it does
- Features
- Screenshots
- Installation and configuration
- Migrating from Pinchflat
- Stability disclaimer
- Legal Use & Disclaimer
- License
- Star History
Important
Tubeless is a rebranded, actively-developed successor to Pinchflat. It supports drop-in migration from Pinchflat — both the original kieraneglin/pinchflat and the CommunityMaintained/pinchflat fork — and from here focuses on shipping new features and usability improvements rather than tracking upstream.
Migration is one-way: there is no supported path back to Pinchflat. See Migrating from Pinchflat. PRs welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
Tubeless is a self-hosted app for downloading YouTube content built using yt-dlp. It's designed to be lightweight, self-contained, and easy to use. You set up rules for how to download content from YouTube channels or playlists, and it'll do the rest, periodically checking for new content. It's perfect for people who want to download content for use with a media center app (Plex, Jellyfin, Kodi) or for those who want to archive media!
While you can download individual videos, Tubeless is best suited for downloading content from channels or playlists. It's also not meant for consuming content in-app - Tubeless downloads content to disk where you can then watch it with a media center app or VLC.
If it doesn't work for your use case, please make a feature request! You can also check out these great alternatives: Tube Archivist, ytdl-sub, and TubeSync
Legal: Tubeless is a self-hosted automation tool for content you have the right to access and copy. It contains no DRM circumvention and is not affiliated with YouTube, Google, Plex, or Jellyfin. Provided free, as-is, with no warranty and no liability — see DISCLAIMER.md and LICENSE. First startup requires accepting the terms.
See the wiki for the full list of features
services:
tubeless:
image: ghcr.io/communitymaintained/tubeless:latest
environment:
# Set the timezone to your local timezone
- TZ=America/Chicago
ports:
- '8945:8945'
volumes:
# Replace /host/path/to/config and /host/path/to/downloads
# below with the paths of your choosing
- /host/path/to/config:/config
- /host/path/to/downloads:/downloadsSee the wiki for other install methods, full instructions, & advanced installation
Tubeless is a drop-in replacement for Pinchflat — the data format is identical, so no database changes are needed. This works whether you're coming from the original kieraneglin/pinchflat or the CommunityMaintained/pinchflat fork. Just update the image reference in your Docker run command or compose file:
ghcr.io/kieraneglin/pinchflat:latest → ghcr.io/communitymaintained/tubeless:latest
ghcr.io/communitymaintained/pinchflat:latest → ghcr.io/communitymaintained/tubeless:latest
Also available on Docker Hub as communitymaintained/tubeless:latest.
Stop the old container, update the image reference, and recreate it. Your /config and /downloads volumes carry over unchanged.
Warning
Migration is one-way. Tubeless develops independently and won't guarantee forward-compatibility with Pinchflat, so there is no supported path back once you've migrated. Back up your /config directory before switching if you want a safety net.
This software is in active development, and anything can break at any time. I make no guarantees about the stability of this software, forward-compatibility of updates, or integrity (both related to and independent of Tubeless).
This project is intended only for downloading and managing content you have the legal right to access and copy (e.g., your own uploads, public‑domain works, or content licensed for download). You are responsible for complying with copyright law, platform terms of service, and any applicable regulations.
Not legal advice. This repository provides software only. It is not affiliated with YouTube, Plex, Jellyfin, or any other platform. The authors and contributors do not endorse or encourage unauthorized copying, circumvention of access controls, or other unlawful use.
If you plan to use this project publicly, make sure your usage and documentation do not promote or facilitate infringement or bypass of technical protection measures.
See LICENSE file