[Bug]: `fabric` `yt-dlp-args` option values are not being passed through to `yt-dlp`

[superclarkk]

What happened?

Problem Description

The fabric --yt-dlp-args option values are not being passed through to yt-dlp. See the following, where --verbose is passed:

$ fabric --transcript --yt-dlp-args="--verbose" -y https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AXrN32Pn-7s
have shoulder pain? Don't blame your big muscles. Getting stronger shoulders isn't the answer. Here's some shoulder work that can actually help. Scott had pain in the front of his shoulder for 5 years that multiple professionals couldn't fix with stretching or dry needling. During my examination, I assessed his rotator cuff that controls the joint. Notice how easy his right side dropped my push, revealing not a strength issue, but a stability problem. To enhance this weak link, we started with a seated external rotation drill, slowly dropping his hand and pausing for 3 seconds in the parallel position. For somebody who had a ton of flexibility and strength and awkward positions, notice how hard this 4 lb weight was to perform. Next, we did an external rotation raise with a band trying to maintain a W formation to mimic his barbell rack position. Then press overhead. A day later, this press felt a lot better. And recently, he's back to lifting big weights, feeling much better. [Music]

This makes it difficult to debug yt-dlp-related issues.

Expected outcome

Note: Other than --verbose, the same options are used here as are constructed by youtube.go.

$ yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --skip-download --sub-format vtt --quiet --no-warnings --verbose --output "transcript.%(ext)s" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AXrN32Pn-7s
[debug] Command-line config: ['--write-auto-sub', '--skip-download', '--sub-format', 'vtt', '--quiet', '--no-warnings', '--verbose', '--output', 'transcript.%(ext)s', 'https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AXrN32Pn-7s']
[debug] System config "/etc/yt-dlp.conf": ['-o', '/media/path/to/youtube-dl/%(extractor)s/%(playlist_title)s/%(series)s-%(uploader)s-%(upload_date)s-%(episode_number)d-%(title)s.%(ext)s', '--sub-lang', 'en', '--no-mtime']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, pref UTF-8, out utf-8, error utf-8, screen utf-8
[debug] yt-dlp version stable@2025.09.26 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp [12b57d285] (pip)
[debug] Python 3.11.4 (CPython x86_64 64bit) - Linux-6.1.0-40-amd64-x86_64-with-glibc2.36 (OpenSSL 3.0.13 30 Jan 2024, glibc 2.36)
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 5.1.7-0 (setts), ffprobe 5.1.7-0, phantomjs 2.1.1
[debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.23.0, brotli-1.1.0, certifi-2025.08.03, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.32.5, sqlite3-3.41.2, urllib3-2.5.0, websockets-15.0.1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets
[debug] Plugin directories: none
[debug] Loaded 1833 extractors
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Providers: none
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Providers: memory
[debug] [youtube] [pot] PO Token Cache Spec Providers: webpo
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AXrN32Pn-7s
[youtube] AXrN32Pn-7s: Downloading webpage
[youtube] AXrN32Pn-7s: Downloading tv client config
[debug] [youtube] Forcing player 0004de42 in place of player 29a37ef6
        original url = /s/player/29a37ef6/player_ias.vflset/en_US/base.js
[youtube] AXrN32Pn-7s: Downloading tv player API JSON
[youtube] AXrN32Pn-7s: Downloading web safari player API JSON
[debug] Loading youtube-nsig.0004de42-main from cache
[debug] [youtube] Decrypted nsig SxwyXFsMKrWFycr => 9my8oALeOWLfEA
[debug] [youtube] Decrypted nsig jXe4XwQyHxx6X4w => 4qdmkKhQlRoKkA
[youtube] AXrN32Pn-7s: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] AXrN32Pn-7s: Downloading subtitles: en
[debug] Sort order given by extractor: quality, res, fps, hdr:12, source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto
[debug] Formats sorted by: hasvid, ie_pref, quality, res, fps, hdr:12(7), source, vcodec, channels, acodec, lang, proto, size, br, asr, vext, aext, hasaud, id
[debug] Default format spec: bestvideo*+bestaudio/best
[info] AXrN32Pn-7s: Downloading 1 format(s): 399+251-11
Deleting existing file transcript.en.vtt
[info] Writing video subtitles to: transcript.en.vtt
[debug] Invoking http downloader on "https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?v=AXrN32Pn-7s&ei=ibDgaJyDLLe5vdIPnrO6-Qc&caps=asr&opi=112496729&xoaf=5&xowf=1&xospf=1&hl=en&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=1759580921&sparams=ip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%2Cv%2Cei%2Ccaps%2Copi%2Cxoaf&signature=DE57ECBB32C9935EE53605677D53CEAC18BDA502.A18E71C7BBF559403A16BF487FBB4D30E4500EF8&key=yt8&kind=asr&lang=en&fmt=vtt"
[download] Destination: transcript.en.vtt
[download] Download completed

Operating System

macOS - Intel (amd64)

OS Version

$ uname -a
Linux myhost 6.1.0-40-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.153-1 (2025-09-20) x86_64 GNU/Linux



$ cat /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="12"
VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

How did you install Fabric?

Release Binary - Linux (amd64)

Version

$ /home/myuser/.local/bin/fabric --version
1.4.318

$ /path/to/bin/yt-dlp --version
2025.09.26

Relevant log output

Relevant screenshots (optional)

No response

[ksylvan]

I think the args are passed, but the way I call yt-dlp, the output of the command is not being sent to stdout.

I'll be makig some youtube related improvements soon.

[domjesus]

I just tried to transcript some random video, and I got this error: YouTube rate limit exceeded. Try again later or use different yt-dlp arguments like '--sleep-requests 1' to slow down requests. Error: exit status 1.

[tonymet]

@domjesus please try the PR branch above to see if it helps. you can run with --debug=3 to trace yt-dlp . I've tested the fix for --yt-dlp-args in #1810

[tonymet]

I did a test of 5 youtube URLs with fabric -y $URL -p summarize 100% success. Prior to v 1.4.320 I got about 10% success

Test script you can modify for your own testing.

https://gist.github.com/tonymet/d85a228b700d866f5c5c483360f10f3b