ytmusicapi-rs

A Rust library for the YouTube Music API.

[!NOTE] 🚧 Work in Progress: currently implementing only playlist reading features. Search, library management, and uploads are not yet supported.

Features

• 🔐 Authentication: Browser cookies or OAuth device flow
• 📋 Playlist APIs: List library playlists, get playlist tracks
• ❤️ Liked Songs: Access your liked songs playlist
• 📄 Pagination: Automatic handling of large playlists
• 🦀 Idiomatic Rust: Builder pattern, strong typing, async/await

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
ytmusicapi = { version = "0.1.0" }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["rt-multi-thread", "macros"] }

Quick Start

Option A: Browser headers

1. Open YouTube Music in your browser and log in
2. Open Developer Tools (F12) → Network tab
3. Find any request to music.youtube.com
4. Copy the cookie and x-goog-authuser headers
5. Save as headers.json:

{
  "cookie": "__Secure-3PAPISID=...; other_cookies...",
  "x-goog-authuser": "0"
}

Option B: OAuth device flow

1. Create a YouTube Data API OAuth client (type: TVs and Limited Input devices)
2. Run the device flow in code to obtain an oauth.json token file:

use ytmusicapi::{OAuthCredentials, OAuthToken};

# async fn setup_oauth() -> ytmusicapi::Result<()> {
let credentials = OAuthCredentials::new("CLIENT_ID", "CLIENT_SECRET")?;
let device = credentials.request_device_code().await?;
println!("Visit {} and enter {}", device.verification_url, device.user_code);
// Wait for the user to finish in the browser...
let token = credentials.exchange_device_code(&device.device_code).await?;
token.to_file("oauth.json")?;
# Ok(())
# }

You can reuse oauth.json later without repeating the flow.

Use the Library

use ytmusicapi::{BrowserAuth, OAuthCredentials, OAuthToken, YTMusicClient};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> ytmusicapi::Result<()> {
    // Browser cookies
    let auth = BrowserAuth::from_file("headers.json")?;
    
    let client = YTMusicClient::builder()
        .with_browser_auth(auth)
        .build()?;

    // Or OAuth (uncomment to use)
    // let token = OAuthToken::from_file("oauth.json")?;
    // let creds = OAuthCredentials::new("CLIENT_ID", "CLIENT_SECRET")?;
    // let client = YTMusicClient::builder()
    //     .with_oauth_token_and_credentials(token, creds)
    //     .build()?;

    // List all playlists
    let playlists = client.get_library_playlists(None).await?;
    for pl in &playlists {
        println!("{}: {}", pl.playlist_id, pl.title);
    }

    // Get a specific playlist with tracks
    let playlist = client.get_playlist("PLxxxxxx", None).await?;
    for track in &playlist.tracks {
        println!("{} - {}", 
            track.artists.first().map(|a| a.name.as_str()).unwrap_or("Unknown"),
            track.title.as_deref().unwrap_or("Unknown"));
    }

    // Get liked songs
    let liked = client.get_liked_songs(Some(50)).await?;
    println!("You have {} liked songs", liked.tracks.len());

    Ok(())
}

API Reference

YTMusicClient

Types

• Playlist - Full playlist with metadata and tracks
• PlaylistSummary - Brief playlist info (for library listing)
• PlaylistTrack - Track within a playlist
• Artist, Album, Thumbnail - Common types

Examples

• List playlists with browser auth:

  cargo run --example list_playlists
  

• OAuth device flow (requires CLIENT_ID/CLIENT_SECRET env vars):

  CLIENT_ID=... CLIENT_SECRET=... cargo run --example oauth_device_flow
  

TODO / Missing Parity

• Auth parity: accept fully formed OAuth headers/custom clients; visitor-id bootstrap; mobile context toggle
• Pagination/continuations: finish library playlist paging and general continuation handling for new endpoints
• Search + suggestions: search API plus suggestion fetch/remove
• Library reads/actions: library songs/albums/artists, subscriptions/channels, history add/remove, ratings, account info
• Playlists: create/edit/delete, add/remove items, rate playlists
• Browse metadata: home feed, artist/album/user/channel/podcast info, related songs, lyrics (incl. timed), taste profile get/set
• Explore/Charts and watch/queue (get_watch_playlist)
• Uploads: list upload songs/albums/artists, upload song, delete upload entity
• Podcasts: channel/podcast/episode APIs, saved episodes

Acknowledgements

This library is a Rust port of ytmusicapi.

License

MIT License - see license for details.