User configurable youtube rate limiting and optional cookies for bot detection

config/settings.py

@@ -240,6 +240,10 @@ class ConfigManager:
             "m3u_export": {
                 "enabled": False
             },
+            "youtube": {
+                "cookies_browser": "",      # "", "chrome", "firefox", "edge", "brave", "opera", "safari"
+                "download_delay": 3,        # seconds between sequential downloads
+            },
             "hydrabase": {
                 "url": "",
                 "api_key": "",

core/youtube_client.py

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ This client provides:
 import sys
 import os
 import re
+import time
 import platform
 import asyncio
 import uuid
@@ -111,6 +112,11 @@ class YouTubeClient:
         # Callback for shutdown check (avoids circular imports)
         self.shutdown_check = None
 
+        # Rate limiting — serialize YouTube downloads with delay
+        self._download_semaphore = threading.Semaphore(1)
+        self._download_delay = config_manager.get('youtube.download_delay', 3)
+        self._last_download_time = 0
+
     def set_shutdown_check(self, check_callable):
         """Set a callback function to check for system shutdown"""
         self.shutdown_check = check_callable
@@ -153,6 +159,12 @@ class YouTubeClient:
             'age_limit': None,  # Don't skip age-restricted
         }
 
+        # Cookie support — use browser cookies for YouTube auth
+        from config.settings import config_manager
+        cookies_browser = config_manager.get('youtube.cookies_browser', '')
+        if cookies_browser:
+            self.download_opts['cookiesfrombrowser'] = (cookies_browser,)
+
         # Track current download progress (mirrors Soulseek transfer tracking)
         self.current_download_id: Optional[str] = None
         self.current_download_progress = {
@@ -187,6 +199,17 @@ class YouTubeClient:
             logger.error("yt-dlp is not installed")
             return False
 
+    def reload_settings(self):
+        """Reload YouTube settings from config (called when settings are saved)."""
+        from config.settings import config_manager
+        self._download_delay = config_manager.get('youtube.download_delay', 3)
+        cookies_browser = config_manager.get('youtube.cookies_browser', '')
+        if cookies_browser:
+            self.download_opts['cookiesfrombrowser'] = (cookies_browser,)
+        elif 'cookiesfrombrowser' in self.download_opts:
+            del self.download_opts['cookiesfrombrowser']
+        logger.info(f"🔄 YouTube settings reloaded (delay={self._download_delay}s, cookies={'enabled' if cookies_browser else 'disabled'})")
+
     async def check_connection(self) -> bool:
         """
         Test if YouTube is accessible by attempting a lightweight API call (async, Soulseek-compatible).
@@ -568,6 +591,7 @@ class YouTubeClient:
             loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
 
             def _search():
+                from config.settings import config_manager
                 ydl_opts = {
                     'quiet': True,
                     'no_warnings': True,
@@ -583,6 +607,11 @@ class YouTubeClient:
                     'user_agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36',
                 }
 
+                # Add cookie support for search (avoids bot detection)
+                cookies_browser = config_manager.get('youtube.cookies_browser', '')
+                if cookies_browser:
+                    ydl_opts['cookiesfrombrowser'] = (cookies_browser,)
+
                 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
                     # Search YouTube (max 50 results)
                     search_results = ydl.extract_info(f"ytsearch50:{query}", download=False)
@@ -837,42 +866,54 @@ class YouTubeClient:
         """
         Background thread worker for downloading YouTube videos.
         Updates active_downloads dict with progress.
+        Serialized via semaphore with configurable delay between downloads.
         """
         try:
-            # Update state to downloading
+            with self._download_semaphore:
-            with self._download_lock:
+                # Enforce delay since last download completed
-                if download_id in self.active_downloads:
+                elapsed = time.time() - self._last_download_time
-                    self.active_downloads[download_id]['state'] = 'InProgress, Downloading'  # Match Soulseek state
+                if self._last_download_time > 0 and elapsed < self._download_delay:
+                    wait_time = self._download_delay - elapsed
+                    logger.info(f"⏳ Rate limiting: waiting {wait_time:.1f}s before next YouTube download")
+                    time.sleep(wait_time)
 
-            # Set current download ID for progress hook
+                # Update state to downloading
-            self.current_download_id = download_id
-
-            # Perform actual download
-            file_path = self._download_sync(youtube_url, title)
-
-            # Clear current download ID
-            self.current_download_id = None
-
-            if file_path:
-                # Mark as completed/succeeded (match Soulseek state)
                 with self._download_lock:
                     if download_id in self.active_downloads:
-                        # IMPORTANT: Keep original filename for context lookup!
+                        self.active_downloads[download_id]['state'] = 'InProgress, Downloading'  # Match Soulseek state
-                        # The filename must match what was used to create the context entry
-                        # We store the actual file path separately
-                        self.active_downloads[download_id]['state'] = 'Completed, Succeeded'  # Match Soulseek
-                        self.active_downloads[download_id]['progress'] = 100.0
-                        self.active_downloads[download_id]['file_path'] = file_path
-                        # DO NOT update filename - keep original_filename for context matching
 
-                logger.info(f"✅ YouTube download {download_id} completed: {file_path}")
+                # Set current download ID for progress hook
-            else:
+                self.current_download_id = download_id
-                # Mark as errored
-                with self._download_lock:
-                    if download_id in self.active_downloads:
-                        self.active_downloads[download_id]['state'] = 'Errored'
 
-                logger.error(f"❌ YouTube download {download_id} failed")
+                # Perform actual download
+                file_path = self._download_sync(youtube_url, title)
+
+                # Clear current download ID
+                self.current_download_id = None
+
+                # Record completion time for rate limiting
+                self._last_download_time = time.time()
+
+                if file_path:
+                    # Mark as completed/succeeded (match Soulseek state)
+                    with self._download_lock:
+                        if download_id in self.active_downloads:
+                            # IMPORTANT: Keep original filename for context lookup!
+                            # The filename must match what was used to create the context entry
+                            # We store the actual file path separately
+                            self.active_downloads[download_id]['state'] = 'Completed, Succeeded'  # Match Soulseek
+                            self.active_downloads[download_id]['progress'] = 100.0
+                            self.active_downloads[download_id]['file_path'] = file_path
+                            # DO NOT update filename - keep original_filename for context matching
+
+                    logger.info(f"✅ YouTube download {download_id} completed: {file_path}")
+                else:
+                    # Mark as errored
+                    with self._download_lock:
+                        if download_id in self.active_downloads:
+                            self.active_downloads[download_id]['state'] = 'Errored'
+
+                    logger.error(f"❌ YouTube download {download_id} failed")
 
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"❌ YouTube download thread failed for {download_id}: {e}")

web_server.py

@@ -2796,7 +2796,7 @@ def handle_settings():
             if 'active_media_server' in new_settings:
                 config_manager.set_active_media_server(new_settings['active_media_server'])
 
-            for service in ['spotify', 'plex', 'jellyfin', 'navidrome', 'soulseek', 'download_source', 'settings', 'database', 'metadata_enhancement', 'file_organization', 'playlist_sync', 'tidal', 'tidal_download', 'listenbrainz', 'acoustid', 'import', 'lossy_copy', 'ui_appearance']:
+            for service in ['spotify', 'plex', 'jellyfin', 'navidrome', 'soulseek', 'download_source', 'settings', 'database', 'metadata_enhancement', 'file_organization', 'playlist_sync', 'tidal', 'tidal_download', 'listenbrainz', 'acoustid', 'import', 'lossy_copy', 'ui_appearance', 'youtube']:
                 if service in new_settings:
                     for key, value in new_settings[service].items():
                         config_manager.set(f'{service}.{key}', value)
@@ -2816,6 +2816,9 @@ def handle_settings():
             navidrome_client.reload_config()
             # Reload orchestrator settings (download source mode, hybrid_primary, etc.)
             soulseek_client.reload_settings()
+            # Reload YouTube client settings (rate limiting, cookies)
+            if hasattr(soulseek_client, 'youtube'):
+                soulseek_client.youtube.reload_settings()
             # FIX: Re-instantiate the global tidal_client to pick up new settings
             tidal_client = TidalClient()
             print("✅ Service clients re-initialized with new settings.")

webui/index.html

@@ -3267,6 +3267,34 @@
                                     </div>
                                 </div>
 
+                                <!-- YouTube Settings (shown when youtube or hybrid mode) -->
+                                <div id="youtube-settings-container" style="display: none;">
+                                    <div class="form-group">
+                                        <label>YouTube Browser Cookies:</label>
+                                        <select id="youtube-cookies-browser" class="form-select">
+                                            <option value="">None (No cookies)</option>
+                                            <option value="chrome">Chrome</option>
+                                            <option value="firefox">Firefox</option>
+                                            <option value="edge">Edge</option>
+                                            <option value="brave">Brave</option>
+                                            <option value="opera">Opera</option>
+                                            <option value="safari">Safari</option>
+                                        </select>
+                                        <div class="setting-help-text">
+                                            If YouTube shows "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot", select your browser here.
+                                            SoulSync will use your browser's YouTube cookies to authenticate.
+                                        </div>
+                                    </div>
+                                    <div class="form-group">
+                                        <label>YouTube Download Delay:</label>
+                                        <input type="number" id="youtube-download-delay" min="0" max="30" step="1"
+                                            value="3" placeholder="3">
+                                        <div class="setting-help-text">
+                                            Seconds between YouTube downloads to avoid bot detection. Default: 3
+                                        </div>
+                                    </div>
+                                </div>
+
                                 <div class="form-group">
                                     <label>Log Level:</label>
                                     <select id="log-level-select" class="form-select" onchange="changeLogLevel()">

webui/static/script.js

@@ -2845,6 +2845,10 @@ async function loadSettingsData() {
         document.getElementById('youtube-min-confidence').value = settings.download_source?.youtube_min_confidence || 0.65;
         document.getElementById('tidal-download-quality').value = settings.tidal_download?.quality || 'lossless';
 
+        // Populate YouTube settings
+        document.getElementById('youtube-cookies-browser').value = settings.youtube?.cookies_browser || '';
+        document.getElementById('youtube-download-delay').value = settings.youtube?.download_delay ?? 3;
+
         // Update UI based on download source mode
         updateDownloadSourceUI();
 
@@ -3019,6 +3023,7 @@ function updateDownloadSourceUI() {
     const mode = document.getElementById('download-source-mode').value;
     const hybridContainer = document.getElementById('hybrid-settings-container');
     const tidalContainer = document.getElementById('tidal-download-settings-container');
+    const youtubeContainer = document.getElementById('youtube-settings-container');
 
     // Show hybrid settings only when hybrid mode is selected
     hybridContainer.style.display = mode === 'hybrid' ? 'block' : 'none';
@@ -3026,6 +3031,9 @@ function updateDownloadSourceUI() {
     // Show Tidal download settings when tidal mode is selected
     tidalContainer.style.display = mode === 'tidal' ? 'block' : 'none';
 
+    // Show YouTube settings when youtube or hybrid mode is selected
+    youtubeContainer.style.display = (mode === 'youtube' || mode === 'hybrid') ? 'block' : 'none';
+
     // Check Tidal download auth status when switching to tidal mode
     if (mode === 'tidal') {
         checkTidalDownloadAuthStatus();
@@ -3573,6 +3581,10 @@ async function saveSettings(quiet = false) {
         ui_appearance: {
             accent_preset: document.getElementById('accent-preset')?.value || '#1db954',
             accent_color: document.getElementById('accent-custom-color')?.value || '#1db954'
+        },
+        youtube: {
+            cookies_browser: document.getElementById('youtube-cookies-browser').value,
+            download_delay: parseInt(document.getElementById('youtube-download-delay').value) || 3,
         }
     };