7. Automate Downloading New Content Using Your Configs

This part of the walkthrough is for Docker + Unraid users. For folks running ytdl-sub differently, you're on your own for automation :-) (for any Windows experts, would love to include how to automate Windows downloads via a .bat script or something in this tutorial - please reach out if you know how).

Mounting directories with docker-compose

The first step is to ensure you have LinuxServer's Universal Cron mod enabled via the environment variable. For the GUI image, this is already included (no need to add it).

services:
  ytdl-sub:
    image: ghcr.io/jmbannon/ytdl-sub:latest
    container_name: ytdl-sub
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=America/Los_Angeles
      - DOCKER_MODS=linuxserver/mods:universal-cron  # <-- Make sure you have this!
    volumes:
      # ensure directories have user permissions
      - </path/to/ytdl-sub/config>:/config
      - </path/to/ytdl-sub/tv_shows>:/tv_shows
    restart: unless-stopped

This will tell your container to install and enable cron on start.

Some Context

LinuxServer containers create the user abc in the docker container and assigns it the respective PUID and PGID permissions to it. We want the cron job to run as this user to ensure downloaded files get these permissions instead of root permissions.

Creating the Cron Job

Follow the guide for your installed version of ytdl-sub, either GUI or Headless.

GUI

Create the script located at /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron by running these commands in the GUI terminal:

echo '#!/bin/bash' > /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron
echo "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" >> /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron
echo "echo 'Cron started, running ytdl-sub...'" >> /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron
echo "cd /config/ytdl-sub-configs" >> /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron
echo "ytdl-sub --config=config.yaml sub subscriptions.yaml" >> /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron
chmod +x /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron
chown abc:abc /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron

To create the cron definition, run the following command:

echo "# min   hour    day     month   weekday command" > /config/crontabs/abc
echo "  0     */6     *       *       *       /config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron" >> /config/crontabs/abc

Headless

Log into the container as abc using the command:

docker exec -u abc -it ytdl-sub /bin/bash

Create the script located at /config/run_cron by running these commands:

echo '#!/bin/bash' > /config/run_cron
echo "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" >> /config/run_cron
echo "echo 'Cron started, running ytdl-sub...'" >> /config/run_cron
echo "cd /config" >> /config/run_cron
echo "ytdl-sub --config=config.yaml sub subscriptions.yaml" >> /config/run_cron
chmod +x /config/run_cron
chown abc:abc /config/run_cron

To create the cron definition, run the following command:

echo "# min   hour    day     month   weekday command" > /config/crontabs/abc
echo "  0     */6     *       *       *       /config/run_cron" >> /config/crontabs/abc

Testing the Cron Script

The cron job is setup to "Run the run_cron script every 6 hours". Feel free to change the cron schedule to your liking.

This will perform a download using config.yaml and subscriptions.yaml. You can test that the script works by running:

GUI

/config/ytdl-sub-configs/run_cron

Headless

/config/run_cron

Ensure your output directory points to your Docker mount

Assuming you mounted the /tv_shows directory, make sure ytdl-sub is writing to that output directory.

You're done! You are now downloading your subscriptions every six hours. Cron does not need to be updated if you update your container with a new image - it's setup-once-and-forget!

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<<-- Part VI: Modifying Your Config For Your Media Player -- Previous -- | -- Next -- Part VIII: Using Prebuilt Presets and our Example Presets -->>