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TubeSync

TubeSync is a YouTube channel and playlist synchronization tool that automatically downloads new videos from subscribed channels.

Why

If you follow specific YouTube channels and want their content available in your Plex library for offline viewing on any device, TubeSync automates the entire workflow. Subscribe to channels, and new videos are downloaded automatically and organized in a Plex-compatible folder structure. Unlike MeTube (which handles individual on-demand downloads), TubeSync runs continuously and keeps your library in sync with YouTube.

Compose File

Access

URL Description
https://tubesync.${DOMAINNAME} Web UI (Traefik forward-auth)

Architecture

  • Image: meeb/tubesync (s6-overlay init system)
  • User/Group: PUID=3118 / PGID=3200 (svc-app-tubesync:media)
  • Networks: tubesync-frontend (Traefik-facing)
  • Reverse proxy: Traefik with chain-auth@file middleware
  • Downloads: /mnt/archive-pool/content/media/youtube/tubesync

Root-Start Exceptions

TubeSync's s6-overlay tubesync-config-init service runs as root at startup: it sets the app user's UID/GID from PUID/PGID, then chowns and chmods both /run/app (mode 0700) and /config (mode 0755) before dropping privileges to run TubeSync. See Architecture for the full rationale:

  • read_only is omitted: the init service writes to the root filesystem during startup
  • user: is omitted: the init service requires root for privilege management and to re-permission /config
  • cap_add: CHOWN, FOWNER, SETUID, SETGID, SETPCAP — FOWNER is required so the init can chmod files after chowning them to the app user

Secrets

Managed via secret.sops.env (SOPS-encrypted, decrypted to .env at deploy time):

  • DOMAINNAME — base domain for Traefik routing

First-Run Setup

  1. Create the dataset vm-pool/apps/services/tubesync in TrueNAS
  2. Create a svc-app-tubesync group (GID 3118) and user (UID 3118, primary group media GID 3200) on the TrueNAS host
  3. Deploy and add YouTube channels/playlists in the web UI

Upgrade Notes

No special upgrade procedures. Image updates are managed by Renovate.