Pro Video Downloader Dispatcher

Download videos from URLs using yt-dlp with format selection, quality control, and metadata extraction, all from within Claude Code.

When to Use This Command

Run this command when...

• You need to download a video from a supported platform for offline processing or analysis
• You want to extract audio-only from a video for transcription or content review
• You need to download in a specific format or quality level for a particular workflow

Avoid this command when...

• You need to download copyrighted content you do not have rights to use
• You want live streaming rather than downloading to a local file

Quick Start

Copy
# .claude/commands/pro-video-downloader-dispatcher.md
---
allowed-tools: ["Bash"]
---
Download video from the provided URL using yt-dlp.
Select best quality by default. Show progress and metadata.

Example usage:

/pro-video-downloader-dispatcher "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example" --format mp4

Example output:

Downloading: "Example Video Title"
Platform: YouTube
Format: mp4 (1080p)
Size: ~150 MB

[download]  42.3% of 150.2MiB at 5.2MiB/s ETA 00:18
[download] 100.0% of 150.2MiB at 5.1MiB/s

Saved: ./downloads/example-video-title.mp4
Duration: 3:42
Resolution: 1920x1080

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
Format selection	Choose between video formats (mp4, webm) and audio-only (mp3, m4a)
Quality control	Select resolution (best, 1080p, 720p, worst)
Metadata extraction	Pulls title, duration, description, and thumbnail URL
Platform support	Works with YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, and 1000+ other sites

URL --> yt-dlp --> Fetch Metadata --> Select Format
                                          |
                                    Download Stream
                                          |
                                    Post-Process
                                          |
                                    Save to Disk

Configuration

Option	Default	Description
format	best	Output format (mp4, webm, mp3, m4a, best)
quality	best	Video quality (best, 1080p, 720p, worst)
output	./downloads/	Output directory for saved files
subtitles	false	Download subtitles if available
metadata	true	Display video metadata before starting download

Best Practices

1. Check permissions first -- only download content you have the legal right to access and use.
2. Use quality selection -- downloading at 720p instead of 4K saves bandwidth and disk space when full quality is unnecessary.
3. Extract audio for transcription -- use --format mp3 when you only need the audio track for speech-to-text.
4. Download subtitles too -- subtitles are useful for accessibility, text analysis, and searchability.
5. Verify yt-dlp is installed -- run yt-dlp --version to confirm the tool is available in your PATH.

Common Issues

1. "yt-dlp not found" -- install it with pip install yt-dlp or brew install yt-dlp on macOS.
2. Video unavailable -- the video may be region-locked, private, or removed. Verify the URL works in a browser first.
3. Requested format not available -- not all videos support all formats. Use --format best to let yt-dlp choose the best option available.