Youtube Traveller

Youtube Traveller is an automated tool that can quickly navigate though youtube autoplay suggestions to see where the algorithm takes you.

It works by opening a browser, navigating to the given youtube video, skipping any pre-roll ads, and clicking the hidden autoplay "Play Now" button for as long as you want.

Quick Start

1. Install Node.js 20
2. Run npx youtube-traveller -u "<youtube url>"

CLI Options

Options:
      --help                  Show help                                [boolean]
      --version               Show version number                      [boolean]
  -u, --url                   The YouTube URL to start with  [string] [required]
      --no-csv                Skip csv generation at the end
                                                      [boolean] [default: false]
  -i, --iterations            The maximum number of videos to follow
                                                         [number] [default: 100]
      --output-dir            The location to save results
                                                    [string] [default: "output"]
      --no-screenshots, --ns  Save screenshots of each page
                                                      [boolean] [default: false]
  -r, --save-recording        Save a screenrecording of the browser
                                                      [boolean] [default: false]
      --youtube-api-key       Youtube api key, may also be set in the
                              environment variable YOUTUBE_API_KEY      [string]

Details

This runs in a seperate version of chrome downloaded to the .cache directory. It will not interfear with your regular browser or any services you are logged into. It does not run headless, it will open up a window which may take focus away from anything else you care working on. Running headless may be possible in a future version.

To save the video details, save a YouTube API v3 api key to the YOUTUBE_API_KEY environment variable, or use the --youtube-api-key flag.

Known Issues

• It will fail when trying to play an age restricted video, since login is not implemented
• Youtube shorts and livestreams will usually cause a failure

Future Enhancements

• Run headless
• Allow login to a youtube account