This article will outline the installation of the open-source Youtube front-end Cloudtube by Cadence – who also is the author of the open-source Instagram front-end called Bibliogram.

This allows you to watch Youtube with no ads and quite a bit more privacy.

Cloudtube is an alternative to Invidious, if you’ve heard of it.

Cloudtube consists of two different pieces of software:

• Second
• Cloudtube

Docker Installation: #

Second Installation: #

Pull and run the Second Docker image:

docker pull heywoodlh/second:latest
docker run -d --name=second \
	--restart=unless-stopped --network=host \
	-e WEBSITE_ORIGIN="http://localhost:3000" \
	heywoodlh/second

Second should now be running on port 3000 of your host.

Cloudtube Installaion #

Create the directories where the database and config will live for Cloudtube:

mkdir -p /opt/cloudtube/db
mkdir -p /opt/cloudtube/config

Now create a config file in /opt/cloudtube/config/config.js with the following content:

module.exports = {
        user_settings: {
                instance: {
                        default: "http://localhost:3000"
                }
        }
}

Make sure the Cloudtube files are owned by the UID/GID of the user in the container image:

chown -R 1000:1000 /opt/cloudtube/

Pull and run the Cloudtube Docker image:

docker pull heywoodlh/cloudtube:latest
docker run -d --name=cloudtube \
	--user=1000 \
	--restart=unless-stopped --network=host \
	-v /opt/cloudtube/db:/opt/cloudtube/db \
	-v /opt/cloudtube/config:/opt/cloudtube/config \
	heywoodlh/cloudtube

Access the web interface for Cloudtube on port 10412 of your host, I.E. http://server-name:10412.

Manual Installation (Debian-Based Instructions): #

This installation should be performed as the root user and these commands assume you are on Debian, Ubuntu or one of their derivative distributions.

Install Second: #

Install Python: #

apt-get update
apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip

Download Second and Install Dependencies: #

git clone https://git.sr.ht/~cadence/Second /opt/Second
pip3 install -r /opt/Second/requirements.txt

Configure Second: #

cp /opt/Second/configuration.sample.py /opt/Second/configuration.py

Edit configuration.py, reading the comments for each configuration setting:

nano /opt/Second/configuration.py

Install Second Systemd Service: #

Create system user for systemd service to use:

useradd --system --no-create-home --shell=/sbin/nologin cloudtube
chown -R cloudtube /opt/Second

cat >> /etc/systemd/system/second.service<< EOF

[Unit]
Description=Second
 
[Service]
User=cloudtube
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /opt/Second/index.py
WorkingDirectory=/opt/Second
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

EOF

Now start and enable the service to run on boot:

systemctl enable --now second.service

Install Cloudtube: #

Install npm: #

apt-get update
apt-get install -y npm

Download Cloudtube: #

git clone https://git.sr.ht/~cadence/cloudtube /opt/cloudtube

Install Cloudtube Dependencies: #

cd /opt/cloudtube
npm install

Configure Cloudtube: #

Create a config file in /opt/cloudtube/config/config.js with the following content:

module.exports = {
        user_settings: {
                instance: {
                        default: "http://localhost:3000"
                }
        }
}

Make sure the cloudtube user created earlier owns the files:

chown -R cloudtube /opt/cloudtube

Install Cloudtube Systemd Service: #

cat >> /etc/systemd/system/cloudtube.service<< EOF

[Unit]
Description=Cloudtube
 
[Service]
User=cloudtube
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start
WorkingDirectory=/opt/cloudtube
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

EOF

Now start and enable the service to run on boot:

systemctl enable --now cloudtube.service

Login to the web interface for Cloudtube on port 10412 on your server.