Keeping your offline library up to date manually can be a chore. Automate the entire process so that whenever a creator you follow publishes a new Short, it’s downloaded to your device or server without lifting a finger. Here’s how to set it up in 2025:

1. Use yt-dlp with a Simple Cron Job

Platform: Cross-Platform CLI
Link & Docs: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

1. Install yt-dlp

pip install yt-dlp

1. Create a Text File of Channel URLs
   List each channel’s Shorts feed URL in channels.txt, one per line:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=PLSHORTS_FOR_ChannelA
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=PLSHORTS_FOR_ChannelB

1. Write a Shell Script (download_shorts.sh)

#!/usr/bin/env bash
while IFS= read -r feed; do
# Fetch latest video IDs from RSS (requires xmlstarlet or similar)
vids=$(curl -s "$feed" | xmlstarlet sel -t -m "//entry/link[@rel='alternate']" -v @href)
for url in $vids; do
yt-dlp -a - --download-archive archive.txt -f bestvideo+bestaudio --merge-output-format mp4 <<< "$url"
done
done < channels.txt

• --download-archive archive.txt prevents re-downloading.

1. Schedule with Cron Runs the script at the top of every hour, grabbing any new Shorts from your channels.

0 /path/to/download_shorts.sh

2. Leverage the YouTube Data API & Python

Platform: Cross-Platform, Requires API Key
Docs & Signup: https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3

1. Enable YouTube Data API in Google Cloud and get an API key.
2. Install Dependencies

pip install google-api-python-client yt-dlp

1. Python Script (auto_shorts.py)

from googleapiclient.discovery import build
import subprocess, json, time

API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY'
CHANNEL_IDS = ['UCxxxxx', 'UCyyyyy']
ytdl_opts = ['yt-dlp', '-f', 'best', '--download-archive', 'archive.txt']

youtube = build('youtube', 'v3', developerKey=API_KEY)

def fetch_shorts(channel_id):
req = youtube.search().list(part='id', channelId=channel_id,
type='video', eventType='completed',
maxResults=10, publishedAfter=(time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ", time.gmtime(time.time()-3600))))
return ['https://youtu.be/' + item['id']['videoId'] for item in req.execute()['items']]

if __name__ == '__main__':
for cid in CHANNEL_IDS:
for url in fetch_shorts(cid):
subprocess.run(ytdl_opts + [url])

1. Automate
   Schedule this with cron or Windows Task Scheduler to run every hour or as often as you like.

3. No-Code Automation with Zapier or Make (Integromat)

Platforms: Web-Based Services
Links:

• Zapier: https://zapier.com/apps/youtube/integrations
• Make: https://www.make.com/en/integrations/youtube

1. Trigger: “New Video in Channel” on YouTube app—filter by Shorts (e.g., title contains /shorts/).
2. Action: Webhook or Code by Zapier module that calls yt-dlp on your server, or saves the URL to a Dropbox/Google Drive folder.
3. Run Frequency: Zapier polls every 5–15 minutes (depending on plan) to detect new Shorts.
4. Output: Use FTP/SSH or cloud-storage integrations to push downloaded files to your NAS.

4. Use RSS-to-Email + Email Parser + Script

1. Subscribe to Channel RSS: Add each Shorts RSS feed to an RSS-to-email service (e.g., Feedrabbit, Blogtrottr).
2. Email Parser: Configure an email parser (Zapier Email Parser, Mailparser.io) to extract the Shorts URL from incoming emails.
3. Webhook Trigger: When a new email arrives, the parser hits a webhook that runs your download script (via a small serverless function or IFTTT Webhooks).

This method requires minimal coding but leverages familiar email workflows.

5. Best Practices & Tips

• Maintain an Archive File: Always use --download-archive to skip duplicates.
• Monitor Logs: Redirect script output to a log file and set up alerts for errors.
• Split by Channel: Create separate output folders per channel for organized storage.
• Use a VPS or Home Server: Offload downloads to a dedicated machine that’s always online.
• Rate Limiting: Insert short sleeps (sleep 5) between yt-dlp calls to avoid being throttled by YouTube.