A NodeJS based media downloader capable of saving 4k videos from your Zotero collection to your local computer or network storage location using FFmpeg.
This application uses ytdl-core, FFMPEG-static and the axios to interact with the Zotero Public API Note: You do not need to install a 3rd party version of FFMPEG to use this app.
this application automatically creates and manages a manifest.json
file to track which videos have been downloaded already. If a video's unique video ID is in the manifest, it will not be redownloaded even if it is present in the specified zotero collection, and even if the video is not in the destination directory. You can manually edit the manifest.json
file if you need to redownload a video (e.g. if you deleted the downloaded file accidentally)
npm install zotero-media-downloader
config
and run
functions from the package, and use them in the following way:
const { config, start } = require('zotero-media-downloader');
const main() {
config({
ZOTERO_API_KEY: "
main();
3. In the Zotero Desktop or Web App, create a new `collection` that matches the value you have specified for your `ZOTERO_VIDEO_COLLECTION_NAME` environment variable in your config. e.g. `zytdl`. You can also create and specify `ZOTERO_AUDIO_COLLECTION_NAME` in the same way. See Below for all config properties.
4. While Zotero Desktop and `zotero-media-downloader` server are running, use the Zotero Connector browser plugin to add urls to the specified collection.
5. Monitor the console and your specified output directory for newly downloaded videos.
***
## Configuration
Note: some of these values like `ZOTERO_API_KEY`, `ZOTERO_USER_ID`, and `YT_USER_COOKIE` should be specified in a .env file and not commited to your source control to protect their sensitivity. This is not in the scope of this README, please see packages `dotenv` && `dotenv-parse-variables` for more information.
| Property Name | Data Type | Required | Default Value | Description |
|----------------------------------|-----------|----------|---------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ZOTERO_API_KEY | String | yes | "" | Your API key from Zotero. See Instructions Below. |
| ZOTERO_USER_ID | String | yes | "" | Your User ID from Zotero. See Instructions Below. |
| ZOTERO_VIDEO_COLLECTION_NAME | String | no | "zdl_video" | The name of the Zotero collection you want to be monitored for video download links. |
| ZOTERO_AUDIO_COLLECTION_NAME | String | no | undefined | The name of the Zotero collection you want to be monitored for audio download links. |
| YT_USER_COOKIE | String | no | "" | Youtube cookie value from your browser. required for certain age restricted videos. See Instructions Below. |
| VIDEO_FILE_FORMAT | String | no | "mp4" | The format you wish to save videos in. Some options are "mp4", "mkv" |
| AUDIO_FILE_FORMAT | String | no | "mp3" | The format you wish to save audio in. Some options are "mp3", "flac". |
| BASE_PATH | String | no | "/" | Path to the location you wish downoaded content to be saved in. Can be an absolute or relative path. |
| DEBUG | Boolean | no | false | Prints additional console information. |
| DRYRUN | Boolean | no | false | Will prevent any videos rom actually being downloaded. Zotero API will still be accessed like normal |
| LOOP_INTERVAL_MINUTES | Number | no | 5 | This is the number in minutes that zotero will be polled for new videos in the specified collections |
| CHANNEL_DOWNLOAD_MAX_DEPTH | Number | no | -1 | If channel links are detected in the collection, this value refers to the max number of most recent videos to download from the channel. |
| DOWNLOAD_BATCH_SIZE | Boolean | no | 5 | The number of videos to download simulaneously. This value should be increased or decreased depending on the speed of your internet connection. |
| PRESERVE_LOG | Boolean | no | false | If set to true, prevent the console output from clearing after each loop |
***
## Advanced Usage
### **How to Find your Zotero API key and User ID**
To find your `API key` and `userID` for zotero, login to your zotero web account and navigate to https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys
1. On this page look for `"Your userID for use in API calls is <YOUR_USER_ID>"` and copy your user id to your config
2. Create a new `API key` by clicking on `Create new private key`. Once named and configured (Defaults should be fine), click `Save Key` and copy the string to your config.
### **How to find your Youtube cookie value**
1. open chrome
2. navigate to youtube and login to your (age-unrestricted) account.
3. press `f12` or right click the page, and select `inspect element`
4. select the `network` tab in chrome dev tools
5. navigate to any youtube video in your browser
6. in the chrome dev tools filter box, search for `heartbeat`, select it in the list. (many requests will have this value, heatbeat is just an example)
7. Expand/Scroll to the `Request Headers` section on the right.
8. copy the full `cookie` request header value and paste it in your config.
9. ![Cookie Value Location](./res/cookie-screenshot.png)
### **Using the DownloadManager class directly**
If you need more control over how and when downloading occurs, you can import the DownloadManager class directly and use it as required. Note: the config function automatically injects your config into process.env
```js
const {config, loop, DownloadManager} = require('zotero-media-downloader');
const main customUsage = async () => {
config({
ZOTERO_API_KEY: "<your-zotero-api-key>",
ZOTERO_USER_ID: "<your-zotero-user-id>"
});
const { LOOP_INTERVAL_MINUTES, DRYRUN } = process.env;
await DownloadManager.buildManifest();
DRYRUN && console.log(`[DRYRUN] no videos will be downloaded and the manifest will not be changed. The Zotero API will still be accessed.`)
setInterval(loop, LOOP_INTERVAL_MINUTES * 60 * 1000);
loop();
}
customUsage();
zotero-media-downloader
as an NPM packageDryrun
modezotero-youtube-downloader
to zotero-media-downloader
youtube
in the README.md
to prepare for adding more downloadersDRYRUN
SUB_DIRECTORY
ZOTERO_COLLECTION_NAME
to ZOTERO_VIDEO_COLLECTION_NAME
ZOTERO_AUDIO_COLLECTION_NAME
FILE_FORMAT
to VIDEO_FILE_FORMAT
AUDIO_FILE_FORMAT
CHANNEL_DOWNLOAD_MAX_DEPTH
to limit maximum number videos that can be downloaded from a channel