tonhowtf/omniget · error

YouTube requires yt-dlp. Failed to get yt-dlp

Error message

YouTube requires yt-dlp. Failed to get yt-dlp: {}

What it means

The YouTube platform implementation depends on the external yt-dlp binary. get_media_info calls ytdlp::ensure_ytdlp(), which is supposed to locate or download yt-dlp; when that fails (binary missing and auto-install failed), the platform cannot proceed and wraps the underlying error in this message.

Solutions

1. Install yt-dlp manually (pip install yt-dlp, or download from GitHub releases) and ensure it is on PATH.
2. Check network access and any proxy/firewall blocking the yt-dlp download host used by ensure_ytdlp.
3. Verify the yt-dlp binary is executable (chmod +x) and matches the platform architecture.
4. Upgrade to a recent yt-dlp version — YouTube frequently breaks older extractors.
5. Inspect the underlying error in the message body ('Failed to get yt-dlp: {}') for the actual cause.

Example fix

// before
let info = youtube.get_media_info(url).await?; // fails: no yt-dlp

// after
if which::which("yt-dlp").is_err() {
    println!("installing yt-dlp first...");
}
let info = youtube.get_media_info(url).await?;

// Rust
if which::which("yt-dlp").is_err() {
    eprintln!("yt-dlp not found on PATH; ensure_ytdlp will attempt install");
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling get_media_info (or download, which shares the path) on any YouTube URL while ensure_ytdlp fails: no yt-dlp on PATH, download/install of yt-dlp failed (no network, blocked host, write-protected install dir), or the binary is present but not executable.

Common situations: Fresh machine or container without yt-dlp installed; sandboxed/offline environment where ensure_ytdlp cannot download; corrupted or outdated yt-dlp that YouTube rejects; antivirus or permissions blocking the downloaded binary.

Understand the failure class

Background: "not installed", "pip install", "required for": how missing-dependency errors surface across open-source libraries — this error's family across 34 libraries.

Related errors

• o yt-dlp não está disponível
• yt-dlp not found
• o yt-dlp não está disponível
• yt-dlp falhou
• não achei nenhum vídeo nessa URL (Watch Later precisa da…

AI-assisted analysis of tonhowtf/omniget@8600b91f42 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5b4de78daf7ba2b8. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src-tauri/omniget-core/src/platforms/youtube.rs:273

    fn can_handle(&self, url: &str) -> bool {
        if let Ok(parsed) = url::Url::parse(url) {
            if let Some(host) = parsed.host_str() {
                let host = host.to_lowercase();
                return host == "youtube.com"
                    || host.ends_with(".youtube.com")
                    || host == "youtu.be"
                    || host == "youtube-nocookie.com"
                    || host.ends_with(".youtube-nocookie.com");
            }
        }
        false
    }

    async fn get_media_info(&self, url: &str) -> anyhow::Result<MediaInfo> {
        let ytdlp_path = ytdlp::ensure_ytdlp()
            .await
            .map_err(|e| anyhow!("YouTube requires yt-dlp. Failed to get yt-dlp: {}", e))?;

        Self::fetch_with_ytdlp(url, &ytdlp_path).await
    }

    async fn download(
        &self,
        info: &MediaInfo,
        opts: &DownloadOptions,
        progress: mpsc::Sender<ProgressUpdate>,
    ) -> anyhow::Result<DownloadResult> {
        let _ = progress.send(ProgressUpdate::percent(0.0)).await;

        let ytdlp_path = if let Some(ref p) = opts.ytdlp_path {
            p.clone()
        } else {
            ytdlp::ensure_ytdlp().await?
        };

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