Introduction
ytkew plays music from your YouTube Music account without a browser. It takes its interface and keybindings from kew, and its playback from mpv — so a slow redraw can never stutter the audio.
Requirements
Section titled “Requirements”| Needs | For |
|---|---|
mpv |
playback. Required. |
yt-dlp |
resolving stream URLs. Required. |
| A truecolor terminal | cover art and themes. |
| PipeWire | the visualizer only. Everything else works without it. |
| A YouTube Music account | your own library only. Search, radio and lyrics need no credentials. |
What it is not
Section titled “What it is not”- Not a downloader. It streams, like the web player does.
- Not official. It talks to YouTube Music’s internal API through ytmapi-rs, which can change at any time. When YouTube breaks something, the fix usually lands there first.
- Not affiliated with YouTube or Google in any way.
Where to go next
Section titled “Where to go next”- Install — including the desktop entry and icon
- Signing in — three ways, one of them automatic
- Keys — both presets