I built TypeType, a self-hostable video app for YouTube, NicoNico and BiliBili.

The idea is to keep the personal part of video watching on your own instance: history, playlists, favorites, subscriptions and watch progress. I wanted something I could actually use myself, where I can watch on my PC and continue from my phone with the same progress.

It is a full stack project, not just a frontend wrapper. It includes:

- Web app
- Extraction backend
- Media proxying
- PostgreSQL user data persistence
- Dragonfly caching
- Token service
- Downloader service

Current features:

- YouTube, NicoNico and BiliBili playback
- Search, trending, comments and channel pages
- Favorites, history, playlists and subscriptions
- Watch progress
- Media proxying for difficult playback cases
- Downloader service

The project came from my work around PipePipe and PipePipeExtractor. I started as a user reporting playback bugs, then helped other users debug issues, then wrote documentation, then moved into code contributions. TypeType grew from the same work: understand extraction and playback problems deeply, then build a self-hosted app around them.

The most interesting part technically is that video providers do not behave the same way. YouTube, NicoNico and BiliBili each have their own edge cases around manifests, stream URLs, headers, signed URLs, CDN behavior, range requests and proxying. A lot of the backend work is about turning those provider-specific details into something the app can use consistently.

I also wanted TypeType to keep the multi-platform spirit of PipePipe. PipePipe was never only about YouTube. It also supported services important to Japanese and Chinese users, and I wanted TypeType to keep that direction instead of becoming another YouTube-only project.

The project is still not perfect. There are missing pieces, setup improvements to make, and probably small bugs. But it is usable, actively maintained, and I use it myself.

I would appreciate feedback on:

- Whether the repo is easy to understand
- Whether the project idea is clear
- What looks technically interesting or questionable
- What would make you try it
- What would make the README/setup stronger

Links:

- [GitHub repo](https://github.com/Priveetee/TypeType)
- [Demo video](https://drive.proton.me/urls/NSE218KQQC#dDTyMgfeYsil)

TypeType: a self-hostable video app for YouTube, NicoNico and BiliBili