1. Setting up the environment
2. Downloading your first playlist or channel
3. Checking download progress
4. Adding new playlists while it’s running
5. Managing multiple playlists safely

This guide assumes you’re using the Docker-based version of the yt-dlp scheduler setup described earlier.

• Docker (and optionally Docker Compose)
• Internet access
• Basic command-line usage

Create a working folder, for example:

mkdir -p ~/yt_scheduler/{config,logs,downloads}
cd ~/yt_scheduler

You should have:

yt_scheduler/
├── config/        # contains urls.txt and downloaded.txt
├── logs/          # contains download.log
├── downloads/     # where videos will be saved

From inside yt_scheduler/ (where your Dockerfile is):

docker build -t yt-scheduler .

In config/urls.txt, add one YouTube link per line.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLabc123...
https://www.youtube.com/@examplechannel

💡 You can mix playlists and channels — yt-dlp will handle both.

If you don’t want to paste manually, you can generate the list automatically:

yt-dlp --flat-playlist -i --get-id "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLabc123..." \
  | sed 's#^#https://youtu.be/#' >> config/urls.txt

docker run -d \
  --name yt_downloader \
  -e MAX_PER_DAY=5 \
  -e DELAY_HOURS=4 \
  -v $(pwd)/config:/app/config \
  -v $(pwd)/logs:/app/logs \
  -v $(pwd)/downloads:/app/downloads \
  yt-scheduler

The downloader now:

• Reads all links from config/urls.txt
• Downloads up to 5 videos per day
• Waits 4 hours between downloads
• Logs to logs/download.log

You can adjust limits anytime by changing environment variables and restarting the container.

See what’s happening in real time:

docker logs -f yt_downloader

You’ll see messages like:

[2025-11-05 10:00:00] Starting download: https://youtu.be/abcd123
[2025-11-05 10:10:00] Completed: https://youtu.be/abcd123
[2025-11-05 10:10:00] Sleeping for 4.23 hours before next download.

All activity is also written to:

logs/download.log

You can view it anytime:

tail -n 50 logs/download.log

All completed videos are stored in:

downloads/

Organized by playlist or channel name.

Yes — you can safely add new playlists while the container is running!

Here’s how:

1. Edit your config/urls.txt on the host machine. Add new YouTube playlist or channel URLs (one per line). Example:

   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLabc123...
   https://www.youtube.com/@newchannel
   

2. Save the file — the container will automatically process new entries the next time it loops through the list. It won’t re-download videos already in downloaded.txt.

3. If you want to force it to check right away, you can restart the container:

   docker restart yt_downloader

   The script resumes where it left off, keeping all logs and archives intact.

You have two options:

• Just keep appending URLs to the same config/urls.txt.
• The script downloads all items sequentially.
• Good if you’re fine with one long queue.

If you want each playlist handled independently, give each its own folders:

yt_scheduler/
├── playlist1/{config,logs,downloads}
├── playlist2/{config,logs,downloads}

Run each with a unique container name and volume bindings:

docker run -d \
  --name yt_playlist1 \
  -e MAX_PER_DAY=5 \
  -e DELAY_HOURS=4 \
  -v $(pwd)/playlist1/config:/app/config \
  -v $(pwd)/playlist1/logs:/app/logs \
  -v $(pwd)/playlist1/downloads:/app/downloads \
  yt-scheduler

docker run -d \
  --name yt_playlist2 \
  -e MAX_PER_DAY=3 \
  -e DELAY_HOURS=6 \
  -v $(pwd)/playlist2/config:/app/config \
  -v $(pwd)/playlist2/logs:/app/logs \
  -v $(pwd)/playlist2/downloads:/app/downloads \
  yt-scheduler

Each container runs independently and maintains its own limits and schedules.

✅ Yes. Just append new URLs to config/urls.txt. The script checks that file each time it finishes or restarts.

✅ The script keeps progress in:

• downloaded.txt (prevents re-downloading)
• logs/download.log (records history)

When restarted, it picks up where it left off.

When the log ends with:

[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] All videos processed.

and no new URLs remain in config/urls.txt.

Yes — just stop and restart with new values:

docker stop yt_downloader
docker rm yt_downloader
docker run -d \
  -e MAX_PER_DAY=10 \
  -e DELAY_HOURS=2 \
  -v $(pwd)/config:/app/config \
  -v $(pwd)/logs:/app/logs \
  -v $(pwd)/downloads:/app/downloads \
  yt-scheduler

Use only for:

• Your own videos
• Public domain or Creative Commons content Downloading copyrighted videos without permission violates YouTube’s Terms of Service.