Standalone command-line interface to VidBee, built on the shared @vidbee/task-queue kernel. CLI invocations land in the same queue that the Desktop UI and Web/API host use; nothing bypasses the application.

The CLI is distributed independently of VidBee Desktop: you do not need to install or run the desktop app to use it. Common targets are CI runners, Docker images, agents, and headless Linux servers — places where shipping a 100 MB Electron bundle to invoke yt-dlp would be wrong.

Reference designs: docs/vidbee-desktop-first-cli-ytdlp-rss-design.md (CLI surface), docs/vidbee-task-queue-state-machine-design.md (kernel).

Install

Pick one. All three install the same @vidbee/cli Node package — there is no native binary today; we rely on Node ≥ 20 being available.

npm / pnpm / bun

# npm (most common)
npm install -g @vidbee/cli

# pnpm
pnpm add -g @vidbee/cli

# bun
bun install -g @vidbee/cli

npx @vidbee/cli ... works without a global install.

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

brew install vidbee/tap/vidbee

The tap (vidbee/homebrew-tap) is a separate repository tracked under NEX-148 follow-ups. The formula wraps the same npm tarball.

Shell installer

curl -fsSL https://vidbee.dev/cli/install.sh | sh

The installer downloads the npm tarball into ~/.vidbee/cli and writes a vidbee shim into ~/.local/bin, picking up your shell from $SHELL. Source: scripts/cli-install.sh.

Windows

Use the npm channel (npm install -g @vidbee/cli) for now. The shell installer requires bash + tar; on Windows we recommend WSL or an npm i -g install from PowerShell. If your PowerShell execution policy blocks scripts, run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process Bypass once for the current shell.

Need crash-recovery for `--vidbee-local`?

The in-process transport persists task state in SQLite when better-sqlite3 is available. It is declared as an optionalDependency; install it explicitly if you want crash-recovery:

npm install -g @vidbee/cli better-sqlite3

Three transports

The CLI talks to a taskQueueContract host. There are three transports, all wire-compatible:

Desktop loopback (default when a Desktop install is detected): reads the per-user automation descriptor (~/Library/Application Support/VidBee/automation.json on macOS, ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/VidBee/automation.json on Linux, %APPDATA%\VidBee\automation.json on Windows), handshakes for a 1h bearer token, and POSTs JSON to http://127.0.0.1:<port>/automation/v1/*.
Remote API (--vidbee-api <url>): same wire format against any VidBee Web/API host. Plain HTTP is rejected unless the host is loopback or RFC1918 private. HTTPS is required everywhere else.
In-process (--vidbee-local): instantiates TaskQueueAPI + YtDlpExecutor directly. No Desktop, no API server, no descriptor. Used for CI, Docker images, and the three-host equivalence test.

If the Desktop descriptor is missing or its PID is stale, the CLI tries to launch Desktop in background mode. Pass --vidbee-no-autostart to opt out and exit 3 instead. On a host with no Desktop installed, use --vidbee-api or --vidbee-local.

Argv contract

A single rule splits argv:

Tokens starting with --vidbee- are reserved (full list below). Unknown --vidbee-* tokens are treated as typos and rejected with exit code 2 — they are not silently passed through to yt-dlp.
Tokens starting with : are VidBee subcommands (:status, :download list, :version, …).
Everything else is order-preserved and forwarded to yt-dlp.

`--vidbee-*` flags

flag	meaning
`--vidbee-api <url>`	connect to a remote VidBee API instead of the local Desktop
`--vidbee-local`	run TaskQueueAPI in-process (CI / Docker)
`--vidbee-target <desktop\|api\|local>`	explicit transport selection
`--vidbee-pretty`	indent JSON output
`--vidbee-wait`	block until terminal status
`--vidbee-detach`	return immediately after enqueue (default)
`--vidbee-priority <user\|subscription\|background>`	set task priority (default: user)
`--vidbee-max-attempts <n>`	override outer retry cap (`0` disables)
`--vidbee-no-retry`	shortcut for `--vidbee-max-attempts 0`
`--vidbee-group-key <key>`	override per-group concurrency key
`--vidbee-timeout <ms>`	autostart wait budget (default `10000`)
`--vidbee-no-autostart`	do not launch Desktop in background mode
`--vidbee-token <token>`	skip handshake (for CI / smoke tests)

Probe vs download

The CLI inspects argv exactly once: if any of -j / --dump-json / -J / --dump-single-json / -F / --list-formats / --list-formats-as-table / --list-formats-old / --print / --get-* / -s / --simulate / --skip-download / --list-subs / --list-extractors / --list-extractor-descriptions / --update / --version is present, the run is a probe: yt-dlp is spawned directly, output is captured into the §4.4 envelope, and no task is enqueued. Otherwise the run is a download and goes through taskQueueContract.add({ kind: 'yt-dlp-forward', … }).

-o - (write yt-dlp output to stdout) is allowed in probe mode only.

Subcommands

vidbee :status
vidbee :version
vidbee :upgrade [--force] [--cache <path>]
vidbee :download list [--status queued|running|...] [--limit N] [--cursor C]
vidbee :download status <id>
vidbee :download logs <id>
vidbee :download cancel <id>
vidbee :download pause <id> [--reason text]
vidbee :download resume <id>
vidbee :download retry <id>
vidbee :history list
vidbee :history remove <id...>

:rss … is owned by NEX-132 and shares the same dispatch.

`:version`

Prints the installed CLI version + contract version + a link to the changelog. Does not contact any host — safe to run on a machine with no Desktop and no network.

{
  "ok": true,
  "mode": "subcommand",
  "subcommand": "version",
  "result": {
    "cli": "0.1.0",
    "contract": "0.1.0",
    "changelog": "https://github.com/nexmoe/vidbee/blob/main/apps/cli/CHANGELOG.md"
  }
}

`:upgrade`

Checks https://registry.npmjs.org/@vidbee/cli/latest and prints whether a newer version exists, along with the install command for each supported package manager. Does not auto-spawn npm install: global installs touch sudo / system PATH and are best left to the user.

The result is cached for 30 days under ~/Library/Caches/VidBee/cli-upgrade-check.json (macOS), ${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-~/.cache}/vidbee/cli-upgrade-check.json (Linux), or %LOCALAPPDATA%\VidBee\cli-upgrade-check.json (Windows). Pass --force to bypass the cache, or --cache <path> to redirect it.

{
  "ok": true,
  "mode": "subcommand",
  "subcommand": "upgrade",
  "result": {
    "current": "0.1.0",
    "latest": "0.2.0",
    "upToDate": false,
    "cached": false,
    "cachedAt": "2026-05-02T00:00:00.000Z",
    "registryUrl": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@vidbee/cli/latest",
    "installCommands": {
      "npm": "npm install -g @vidbee/cli",
      "pnpm": "pnpm add -g @vidbee/cli",
      "bun": "bun install -g @vidbee/cli",
      "brew": "brew upgrade vidbee/tap/vidbee"
    }
  }
}

Output

Every invocation prints exactly one JSON document on stdout. Exit codes follow design §4.4:

code	meaning
`0`	success (probe / detached enqueue / wait-mode terminal success)
`1`	wait-mode reached non-success (`failed`, `retry-scheduled`, `paused`, timeout)
`2`	argv parse error
`3`	Desktop / API unreachable
`4`	authentication failure
`5`	contract / version mismatch

Sensitive arguments (--password, --video-password, --ap-password, --twofactor, --add-headers Authorization:…, URL query strings with token= / access_token= / signature= / policy=) are redacted to <redacted> before any envelope, persisted task row, or projection sees them.

Versioning & releasing

CLI semver is independent of VidBee Desktop. The CLI starts at 0.1.0; Desktop continues on 1.x. We bump the CLI on its own cadence so a yt-dlp probe-flag fix doesn't have to wait for a Desktop release.

To cut a release:

Update apps/cli/package.json version and add a CHANGELOG.md entry.
Push a cli-vX.Y.Z tag. The cli-publish.yml workflow runs the build, runs the tests, and publishes to npm with pnpm publish using the NPM_TOKEN secret.
Verify on a clean machine: npx @vidbee/cli@latest :version should report the new version.

pnpm --filter @vidbee/cli build produces dist/index.mjs (single bundled ESM file) and dist/bin/vidbee.mjs (the npm bin). The published tarball includes only dist/, the README, the CHANGELOG, and the LICENSE — no source, no tests.

CI runs pnpm --filter @vidbee/cli test on every PR; the suite ships with 149+ unit tests covering parser, probe, envelope, transports, autostart, descriptor handshake, and the new local-info commands.

README.md

@vidbee/cli