Agent skill

Video Download

Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp.

AGPL-3.0Auto-check passedMedia & Creative

Install Video Download

skills CLI

$ npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install calesthio/OpenMontage video-download --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/video-download .claude/skills/video-download && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "video-download" agent skill from https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage/tree/main/.agents/skills/video-download into .claude/skills/video-download/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "video-download", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage/tree/main/.agents/skills/video-download

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install calesthio/OpenMontage video-download --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/video-download .agents/skills/video-download && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "video-download" agent skill from https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage/tree/main/.agents/skills/video-download into .agents/skills/video-download/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "video-download", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install calesthio/OpenMontage video-download --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/video-download .cursor/skills/video-download && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "video-download" agent skill from https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage/tree/main/.agents/skills/video-download into .cursor/skills/video-download/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "video-download", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git --path .agents/skills/video-download

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install calesthio/OpenMontage video-download --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/video-download .gemini/skills/video-download && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "video-download" agent skill from https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage/tree/main/.agents/skills/video-download into .gemini/skills/video-download/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "video-download", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install calesthio/OpenMontage video-download

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/video-download .github/skills/video-download && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "video-download" agent skill from https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage/tree/main/.agents/skills/video-download into .github/skills/video-download/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "video-download", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install calesthio/OpenMontage video-download --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/video-download .opencode/skills/video-download && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "video-download" agent skill from https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage/tree/main/.agents/skills/video-download into .opencode/skills/video-download/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "video-download", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: video-download
GitHub stars: 66k
Token cost: ~885 tokens
SKILL.md length: 256 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 41
Repo updated: Oct 3, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: AGPL-3.0

At a glance

Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp.

Downloading a video from YouTube
SKILL.md covers Prerequisites, Commands, Quality Presets and Output Template Variables, plus 2 more sections
Calls yt-dlp, pip and brew
Extracting audio from a video URL

What it does

Video Download is an agent skill from calesthio/OpenMontage. Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp. No API keys needed. Use when: (1) Downloading a video from YouTube or other sites, (2) Extracting audio from a video URL, (3) Downloading subtitles/captions from a video, (4) Getting video metadata without downloading.

Its SKILL.md is about 890 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Media & Creative, covering Video production and Transcription. It works with YouTube and FFmpeg. The repository describes itself as: World's first open-source, agentic video production system. 12 production pipelines, 100+ tools, 700+ agent skill and production-knowledge files. Turn your AI coding assistant… The licence is AGPL-3.0.

When your agent uses it

Downloading a video from YouTube
Extracting audio from a video URL
Downloading subtitles/captions from a video
Getting video metadata without downloading

Example prompts

“/video-download”

Requirements

Python 3

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9327439. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- yt-dlp
- pip
- brew
- apt
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use pip, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Video Download loads about 885 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 75 tokens; SKILL.md has 256 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~75
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~885

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from calesthio/OpenMontage at commit 9327439, republished under its AGPL-3.0 licence (© calesthio). 256 words, ~885 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/video-download/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: video-download
description: Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp. No API keys needed. Use when: (1) Downloading a video from YouTube or other sites, (2) Extracting audio from a video URL, (3) Downloading subtitles/captions from a video, (4) Getting video metadata without downloading.

video-download

Download video and audio from URLs using yt-dlp directly. No wrapper scripts needed.

Prerequisites

yt-dlp: brew install yt-dlp or pip install yt-dlp
ffmpeg: brew install ffmpeg or apt install ffmpeg (required for merging video+audio streams)

Update yt-dlp periodically to keep up with site changes: yt-dlp -U or pip install -U yt-dlp.

Commands

Download best quality

bash

yt-dlp "URL" -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" --merge-output-format mp4

Download specific resolution

bash

# 720p
yt-dlp "URL" -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]" --merge-output-format mp4

# 1080p
yt-dlp "URL" -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]" --merge-output-format mp4

Audio only

bash

yt-dlp "URL" -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0

Download subtitles

bash

# Download video with English subtitles
yt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs en --merge-output-format mp4

# Download video with multiple subtitle languages
yt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs "en,es,fr" --merge-output-format mp4

# Download only subtitles (no video)
yt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs en --skip-download

Get metadata (no download)

bash

yt-dlp "URL" --dump-json --no-download

List available formats

bash

yt-dlp "URL" -F

Specify output directory

bash

yt-dlp "URL" -o "./downloads/%(title)s.%(ext)s" --merge-output-format mp4

Quality Presets

Quality	Format flag
Best	`-f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best"` (default)
1080p	`-f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]"`
720p	`-f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]"`
480p	`-f "bestvideo[height<=480]+bestaudio/best[height<=480]"`
Worst	`-f "worstvideo+worstaudio/worst"`

Output Template Variables

Common variables for -o templates:

Variable	Description
`%(title)s`	Video title
`%(ext)s`	File extension
`%(id)s`	Video ID
`%(uploader)s`	Channel/uploader name
`%(upload_date)s`	Upload date (YYYYMMDD)
`%(duration)s`	Duration in seconds
`%(resolution)s`	Video resolution

Tips

Always use --merge-output-format mp4 to avoid ending up with .webm or .mkv files.
Use --no-download with --dump-json for metadata-only queries -- no files written to disk.
If a download fails with HTTP errors, update yt-dlp first (yt-dlp -U).
Use -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio" to save bandwidth when full resolution is not needed.
yt-dlp automatically handles rate limiting and retries.
The --dump-json output includes title, duration, uploader, view_count, description, formats, subtitles, and much more.

Troubleshooting

"yt-dlp: command not found": Install it (pip install yt-dlp) and ensure your PATH includes pip's bin directory.
"ffmpeg: command not found": Install ffmpeg. Without it, downloads fail when video and audio are separate streams (common on YouTube for HD).
Downloads fail or return errors: Run yt-dlp -U to update. Sites change frequently and yt-dlp ships fixes regularly.

Files

Just SKILL.md in .agents/skills/video-download of calesthio/OpenMontage.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9327439

Compare with similar skills

Video Download next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Video Download compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Video Download this skillcalesthio/OpenMontage	66k	—	~885	Automated safety check: Pass	AGPL-3.0	7 days ago
Video Transcript Downloadersundial-org/awesome-openclaw-skills	663	2 repos	~574	Automated safety check: Pass	None	7 mo ago
Ffmpeg Skillkajisho5/ffmpeg-skill	1.9k	—	~7.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	yesterday
Video Clipping ReferenceRightNow-AI/openfang	18k	—	~4.1k	Automated safety check: Warn	Apache-2.0	3 mo ago
Video Clip Extractorlinzzzzzz/openclip	569	—	~2.8k	Automated safety check: Warn	MIT	1 mo ago
Watchmathiaschu/watch	142	—	~4k	Automated safety check: Warn	MIT	4 mo ago

Similar skills

Video Transcript Downloader
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Media & CreativeAuto-check passed
Ffmpeg Skill
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Video Clipping Reference
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Watch
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Questions about Video Download

What does Video Download do?

Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp. Video Download is an agent skill from calesthio/OpenMontage. Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp.

When should I use Video Download?

Video Download fits situations like: downloading a video from YouTube; extracting audio from a video URL; downloading subtitles/captions from a video; getting video metadata without downloading.

How do I install Video Download in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/video-download in calesthio/OpenMontage) into .claude/skills/video-download in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Video Download in Codex?

Run `npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/video-download in calesthio/OpenMontage) into .agents/skills/video-download in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Video Download in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add calesthio/OpenMontage --skill video-download -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/video-download, .gemini/skills/video-download, .github/skills/video-download and .opencode/skills/video-download in your project.

What does Video Download need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Video Download needs the command-line tools its instructions call (yt-dlp, pip, brew and apt). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Video Download access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use pip, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Video Download safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Video Download use?

Video Download is published under the AGPL-3.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Video Download use?

About 885 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Video Download?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Video Download: Video Transcript Downloader (sundial-org/awesome-openclaw-skills, 663 stars), Ffmpeg Skill (kajisho5/ffmpeg-skill, 1.9k stars), Video Clipping Reference (RightNow-AI/openfang, 18k stars) and Video Clip Extractor (linzzzzzz/openclip, 569 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Video Download?

calesthio (a GitHub user) maintains it in calesthio/OpenMontage, which has 65,930 GitHub stars. The repository holds 41 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 3, 2026.

Source: calesthio/OpenMontage on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Video Download

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

video-download

Prerequisites

Commands

Download best quality

Download specific resolution

Audio only

Download subtitles

Get metadata (no download)

List available formats

Specify output directory

Quality Presets

Output Template Variables

Tips

Troubleshooting

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from calesthio/OpenMontage

Related

Questions about Video Download