Terebi

A native macOS player for local media, yt-dlp-supported videos (including YouTube) and Miruro episodes, with ordered playback queues, saved playback positions, compact mode and Chromecast support.

Build and install

Requires macOS 15+, Xcode Command Line Tools with Swift 6, Python 3.9+ and Homebrew build tools. Build natively on Apple Silicon or Intel; Rosetta and cross-architecture builds are not supported.

brew install pkg-config meson ninja
# Intel Macs also need: brew install nasm
make install
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Open Terebi from ~/Applications or Spotlight. The CLI is installed at ~/.local/bin/terebi; add that directory to your shell's PATH to keep it available.

The first build downloads dependencies. Quit Terebi before updating, then run make install again. To install elsewhere, use make install APPDIR="/Applications" (requires a writable directory) or set PREFIX to change the CLI prefix.

To run without installing, use make run. The built .build/terebi.app is self-contained; no separate FFmpeg, Python or yt-dlp installation is needed at runtime. Builds are ad-hoc signed, not notarized. Bundled licenses and source archives are in the app's Resources; public binary redistribution needs a separate license audit.

Usage

Local files: use ⌘O, drag files onto the player, or choose Finder's Open With. Multiple files form a queue in natural filename order, with automatic advance. Use View → Show Queue to play, reorder or remove items; + → file icon or dropping files onto the sidebar appends them. The queue lasts only for the session; opening other media replaces it.
Streams: use Open Stream… (⇧⌘O) or drop an HTTP(S) video link. To append without replacing playback, press the sidebar's +, then the link icon: the URL field opens upwards; Return fetches and adds the video. The link icon toggles the field; Esc dismisses it and cancels a pending fetch. Fetch errors leave the queue unchanged. Links are passed to the bundled yt-dlp without a site allowlist; extraction must return a single streamable video, not a playlist or channel. Miruro keeps its dedicated resolver: links must use https://barelystarted.miruro.tv/watch/<opaque-id>/<slug>?ep=<episode> with an explicit positive episode number.
Stream queues: integrations can supply an ordered yt-dlp/Miruro queue with --new-instance --queue-file /absolute/queue.json, or append without interrupting the running player using --enqueue --queue-file /absolute/queue.json (also for a single item). Enqueue starts playback if the player is empty or not running. The same sidebar supports play, reorder, remove, previous/next and automatic advance. Unresolved titles, including the selected row, load serially at lower priority without waiting for playback loading, buffering or quality extraction. YouTube uses a title-only oEmbed request; other sites use yt-dlp metadata and Miruro uses optional episode metadata. Arrival still depends on the site/network; failed lookups retain the supplied label, and full playback metadata takes precedence. Playback sources still resolve fresh when selected or revisited; local-file batches still use natural filename order. yt-dlp items use the original page URL for resume and version-1 progress reports; recognized YouTube video URLs still canonicalize.
Seeking: click or drag the progress track or thumb to seek. The thumb centers on the cursor, clamped to the track endpoints.
Miruro metadata: titles and opening/ending intervals load independently of playback when available. Small rounded gaps mark interval boundaries in the slider. Inside a segment, Skip Opening or Skip Ending appears at the top-right below the titlebar for up to ten seconds or until the segment ends; clicking seeks to its end. A light background fill grows as the offer expires, with a short entrance/exit transition; Reduce Motion uses stepped countdown updates without the transition. Ignored offers stay dismissed until the media is closed or replaced. Missing/invalid metadata leaves playback usable, and timings may differ between cuts. Nothing skips automatically.
Resume: videos resume their saved position; finished videos restart from the beginning. Live and audio-only media do not save progress.
Compact mode: press P for a floating player; double-click it to restore. Drag noninteractive areas to move the window. The queue starts hidden each time you enter compact mode; ⇧⌘L or gear → Show Queue expands it below the video. The same shortcut toggles the normal sidebar, whose visibility is preserved when leaving compact mode. Use the titlebar pin to keep the normal window on top.
Quality: yt-dlp defaults to SDR up to 1080p when resolution is reported. Missing resolution/codec hints are left to native probing. Use gear → Quality for other reported resolutions or automatic quality.

Keyboard shortcuts

Action	Default shortcut
Play / pause	Space or K
Seek backward / forward 5 seconds	← / →
Seek backward / forward 10 seconds	J / L
Step one frame backward / forward	, / .
Volume down / up	↓ / ↑
Mute / unmute	M
Fullscreen	F or ⌃⌘F; Esc to leave
Compact mode	P or ⌃⌘P
Show/hide queue (normal or compact)	⇧⌘L
Always on top	⇧P
Close media	⇧⌘W
Quit	Q or ⌘Q

Chromecast

Open media, select the Cast icon or Playback → Cast to Device, and choose a receiver on the same LAN. Allow macOS Local Network access and incoming firewall connections. Use Find Cast Devices… to retry discovery.

Playback controls and queue navigation work on the receiver. Play on This Mac returns to local playback at the receiver's position. Keep the Mac connected: it relays the media and prevents idle system sleep during playback, while allowing display sleep when casting. Closing the lid or explicitly sleeping the Mac can interrupt playback.

Cast output is limited to 1080p/30 fps; frame stepping and stream quality changes are local-only. Use Cast only on a trusted network. AirPlay is not supported.

Command line

terebi "/path/to/video.mp4"
terebi 'https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw'
terebi --new-instance --no-config "/path/to/video.mp4"
terebi --enqueue --queue-file "/absolute/private/session/queue.json"
terebi --help

The CLI opens one file or supported stream, reusing the running player by default. With no arguments, it opens or activates the player. --new-instance starts a separate player; --no-config uses built-in settings on a fresh launch. Put these options before the media argument. Before installation, use .build/terebi instead of terebi.

For native episode-URL playback, ordered stream queues, external resolved sources and progress reporting, see the integration contract.

Configuration

The optional config file is ~/.config/terebi/config.toml, or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/terebi/config.toml when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is absolute. To print all supported settings and key bindings:

terebi --default-config

Copy the settings you want to change into the config file; omitted settings keep their defaults. Settings load at startup, so restart the player after editing. Changes made through menus are session-only.

The queue shortcut can be rebound with show_queue and hide_queue under [keys]; give both actions the same chord to keep a single toggle.

Miruro providers

Choose Playback → Miruro → Video Host or Caption Provider in Terebi's menu bar, or use gear → Miruro, to change providers for the session. Video and caption providers are independent; available names come from the episode response. These menus do not write the config file.

Optional startup preferences:

[miruro]
video_provider = ""
caption_provider = ""

An empty or omitted preference means Auto. Automatic video selection prefers a usable Sun host, then the returned provider order. Automatic captions prefer the selected video's provider, then Sun, then the returned order. An unavailable or unsupported preference falls back to automatic selection; choosing captions does not change the video host. Provider names accept up to 128 ASCII letters, digits, underscores or hyphens; valid names need not be available for every episode. Unknown config keys and non-string values are rejected.

Only native-playable sources are offered: iframe embeds and sources requiring a proxy or HLS rewriting are excluded. Provider selection does not switch into dubbed audio.

Limitations

SDR output only; HDR is not supported.
No embedded or YouTube captions, manual audio-track selection, rotation or deinterlacing. External WebVTT subtitles are supported for resolved streams.
yt-dlp support does not guarantee playback: extraction must yield HTTP(S)/HLS media without download-only fragment assembly. Audio-only results with explicit codec metadata are unsupported. Private, age-restricted, region-blocked or sign-in-required videos may fail; browser cookies are not used. Rebuild and reinstall for bundled extractor updates.
Seeking can be slow on long-GOP or unindexed media. Live streams cannot be sought, and expired stream URLs are not automatically refreshed.
Audio-device changes during playback are not handled.

Development

Install FFmpeg for test fixtures (brew install ffmpeg), then run make check. The suite requires a graphical macOS session and a working audio device; it launches players and plays short test audio. See the Makefile for individual check targets.

For the focused native compact-queue smoke (transparent, noninteractive app window), run TEREBI_CHECK_COMPACT_QUEUE_ONLY=1 make check-startup. make check-window check-config covers dropdown geometry, resizing, metadata aspect changes, restoration and configurable queue shortcuts without displaying windows.

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