---
name: vid-rip
description: Smart yt-dlp wrapper. Download any video (YouTube, TikTok, IG Reels, Twitter/X, SoundCloud, etc) with auto-best-quality format picking. Optional reframe to 9:16 (Reel/Short), 1:1 (square), or 16:9 (landscape) via centered crop. Audio-only mode for sampling. Strips watermarks via cropping when possible. Use when the user pastes a video URL and wants it downloaded, asks to "rip this", "download this video", "save this Reel", "get the audio from", or wants footage prepped for a 9:16 edit.
---


# vid-rip

One command for every social-video grab. Auto-picks best quality, optionally reframes for whatever format you're editing.

## Just download

```bash
python3 ~/.claude/skills/vid-rip/scripts/rip.py "https://youtu.be/XXX"
# → ./<title>.mp4 at best available quality
```

## Reframe to 9:16 (Reel / Short)

```bash
python3 ~/.claude/skills/vid-rip/scripts/rip.py "https://x.com/user/status/123" --reframe 9:16
# → centered crop, scaled to 1080x1920
```

Other reframes: `1:1` (1080x1080), `16:9` (1920x1080), `4:5` (1080x1350 IG portrait).

## Audio only

```bash
python3 ~/.claude/skills/vid-rip/scripts/rip.py "https://soundcloud.com/u/track" --audio
# → <title>.mp3 (extracted, 320k)
```

Or as WAV for sampling:

```bash
python3 ~/.claude/skills/vid-rip/scripts/rip.py "<url>" --audio --format wav
```

## Strip TikTok watermark

```bash
python3 ~/.claude/skills/vid-rip/scripts/rip.py "https://www.tiktok.com/@u/video/123" --no-watermark
# uses TikTok's no-watermark API path when yt-dlp supports it; falls back to bottom-crop
```

## Trim while you download

```bash
python3 ~/.claude/skills/vid-rip/scripts/rip.py "<url>" --start 12 --duration 8
# downloads only seconds 12–20
```

## Output folder

```bash
python3 ~/.claude/skills/vid-rip/scripts/rip.py "<url>" --output ~/Downloads/clips/
```

## Flags

- `<url>` — positional, required
- `--output` — output folder (default cwd)
- `--reframe` — `9:16`, `1:1`, `16:9`, `4:5`
- `--audio` — audio-only mode
- `--format` — audio format: `mp3` (default), `wav`, `flac`, `m4a`, `opus`
- `--no-watermark` — strip TikTok / IG watermarks
- `--start` — start seconds (trim front)
- `--duration` — duration in seconds (trim length)
- `--filename` — override output filename (no extension)

## First-run install

Auto-installs `yt-dlp`. ffmpeg expected on PATH.

## Pairs well with

- `beatcut` / `lyric-engine` — rip + cut + caption in three commands
- `shazam-clip` — rip audio, then ID it
- `clip-search` — rip a long video, then semantic-search inside it