Louis! A Yoto Make Your Own (MYO) client backed by YouTube

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Search YouTube, arrange a playlist, and save it to your Yoto Make Your Own (MYO) cards — Yoto’s blank cards you load your own audio onto.

Self-hosted Nuxt server app. Yoto OAuth token exchange and YouTube audio download (via yt-dlp) need a long-running server process, so a static export (Netlify/Vercel static, GitHub Pages, etc.) cannot power those flows.

Self-host · Download (desktop) · Native development · Contributing · Releases · Desktop

Personal use only. You are responsible for complying with YouTube’s Terms of Service and applicable law when downloading audio.

• Search YouTube and preview audio (server-side via yt-dlp)
• Browse and select your Yoto MYO cards
• Drag-and-drop playlist editing (desktop browser); phone Search / Library flow with Add-to-card
• Save playlists to Yoto with download / transcode progress
• Optional desktop app (macOS / Windows) — same app, no Docker required

Installers ship as Assets on each GitHub Release (same vX.Y.Z as Docker):

Latest release

After install, open Settings → Desktop API keys and add your Yoto client ID + YouTube Data API key. Register OAuth redirect http://127.0.0.1:4010/api/yoto/auth/callback on yoto.dev. Details: docs/DESKTOP.md.

Installers are currently unsigned (Gatekeeper / SmartScreen may warn). Signing notes: docs/DESKTOP_SIGNING.md.

Self-host the same release via GHCR:

docker pull ghcr.io/stuartromanek/louis:latest
# or pin: ghcr.io/stuartromanek/louis:vX.Y.Z

Compose / env setup below. Cut releases: docs/RELEASE.md.

Docker includes Node, yt-dlp, and ffmpeg — you only need Docker and API credentials.

git clone https://github.com/stuartromanek/louis.git
cd louis
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in LOUIS_YOTO_CLIENT_ID and LOUIS_YOUTUBE_API_KEY (see below)
docker compose up -d --build

Open http://localhost:4000. Health: GET /api/health.

Create a public client at yoto.dev:

You only need LOUIS_YOTO_CLIENT_ID. Leave LOUIS_YOTO_CLIENT_SECRET empty for PKCE.

Enable YouTube Data API v3 in Google Cloud Console and create an API key.

Copy [.env.example](.env.example). Use LOUIS_* names so the same file works for local dev, docker compose, and docker run --env-file .env without rebuilding the image. Legacy NUXT_* / NUXT_PUBLIC_* names still work as a deprecated fallback (LOUIS_* wins when both are set).

docker run -p 4000:4000 --env-file .env louis:local

• Single instance — save-job progress is in memory
• HTTPS in production — OAuth cookies set secure when NODE_ENV=production
• Persistent disk — recommended for the audio cache under LOUIS_AUDIO_WORK_DIR (cache/preview/, cache/save/). Stale jobs/ dirs and old cache files are swept on startup and after downloads.

For local Node (without Docker), install these first:

• Node.js 22+ (also used as yt-dlp’s JS runtime for YouTube signing)
• yt-dlp — keep it current; YouTube breaks outdated extractors
• ffmpeg — required for save
• Optional: LOUIS_YTDLP_COOKIES_FILE as above

npm install
cp .env.example .env
npm run dev

Dev server: port 4000.

Production without Docker:

npm run build
npm run start

MIT — see LICENSE.

Fonts (LT Saeada, self-hosted), OpenMoji icons, and SND UI sounds are used; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Security reports: SECURITY.md.