I built a video downloader because yt-dlp scared my non-tech friends

Avenor Apps — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 19:13:05 +0000

My friend asked me: "How do I save this TikTok video?"

I said: "Easy, just install yt-dlp, add it to PATH, then run
yt-dlp --format bestvideo+bestaudio URL in your terminal."

She stared at me for 3 seconds and walked away.

That was the moment I decided to build Avenor Downloader.

The problem with existing solutions

4K Video Downloader — solid, but $15 one-time just to paste a URL feels heavy.

yt-dlp — powerful, but command-line only. My target users don't know what a terminal is.

Browser extensions — work until they don't. YouTube breaks them every few weeks.

Online "free" sites — ads everywhere, fake download buttons,
sometimes malware. I wouldn't send my mom to those.

The gap: something as powerful as yt-dlp, as simple as pasting a URL,
and actually trustworthy.

What I built

Avenor Downloader works in two ways:

Web app (free):

Paste URL → choose quality → download
Supports YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X, and 1000+ sites
Up to 1080p, 5 downloads per day
No install required, works in any browser

Desktop app (PRO — $29/year):

Unlimited downloads
Up to 8K quality
Batch downloads
Audio extraction (MP3/WAV)
Works offline after setup
Windows + macOS

The tech behind it

The core is built on top of yt-dlp — the most reliable extraction engine
that exists. But the UI layer is what makes it usable for normal humans.

The web frontend is vanilla JS + a clean interface that works on mobile too.
The desktop app uses Tauri (Rust + WebView) — lightweight,
no 200MB Electron bundle.

The backend handles the actual downloading, format conversion,
and quality selection server-side for the web version.

The hardest part: not the code

The hardest part was deciding what NOT to build.

Every video downloader app eventually becomes bloated:
playlist managers, channel subscriptions, schedulers, browser extensions...

I kept the scope ruthless: paste URL, pick quality, download.
That's the product. Everything else is a distraction.

The second hardest part: copyright. I added clear Terms of Service —
the tool is for personal use, saving content you have rights to,
offline viewing. I'm not responsible for how people use it.
Same approach as yt-dlp itself.

The free tier strategy

I made the web version genuinely free — not crippled-free.

5 downloads/day at 1080p is enough for the casual user who just
wants to save a video. They never need to pay.

PRO is for power users: developers archiving research, content creators
downloading reference material, people who need 4K/8K quality.

The conversion comes naturally — once someone hits the daily limit
on something they care about, the $29/year ask makes sense.

Numbers after launch

Web app available at avenordownload.app
Desktop app: Windows + macOS builds shipping
Supports 1000+ sites via yt-dlp engine

What I'd do differently

Start with the desktop app, not the web app.

Web requires a backend that's always running, handles abuse,
rate limits, and scales with traffic. Desktop is: ship a binary, done.

I reversed the order because "works without install" was my original pitch.
In hindsight, desktop-first then add web would have been faster.

The real lesson

The best tools are the ones that make technical power accessible.

yt-dlp can do everything. 99% of people will never use it
because they don't know it exists or how to run it.

That gap between "powerful tool" and "tool normal people can use"
is where indie developers live.

What's your go-to video downloader?
And what "technical power for normal people" tools have you built?

I quit using Notion for my side projects. Here's what I built instead.

Avenor Apps — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 19:08:31 +0000

I have 6 side projects running at the same time.

Features to build. Bugs to fix. Design ideas that come at 2am.
Marketing tasks. App Store updates. Server costs to track.

For a while, I used Notion. Then Trello. Then Linear.
Then back to Notion. Then a plain text file.

Nothing stuck.

Not because these tools are bad — they're excellent.
But they're built for teams. I'm one person with a laptop and too many ideas.

The real problem

Every time I opened Notion, I spent 15 minutes organizing my workspace
instead of actually building.

Linear felt like I was running a startup of 50 people when it was just me.

Trello boards turned into a graveyard of cards I'd never move.

I needed something that understood: one developer, multiple projects,
no meetings, no managers, just ship.

So I built it

I spent 3 months building Project Brain —
a project manager designed specifically for indie developers.

The core idea is simple:

Every project has 4 tabs: Features, Design, Bugs, Notes
Each tab has cards with statuses: Idea → In Progress → Done
That's it. No nested pages. No kanban boards with 8 columns. No sprints.

What I learned building it

1. Constraints are features.
The 4-tab structure felt limiting at first. But it forced me to categorize
every task clearly. Is this a feature or a bug? Design or a note?
That question alone saves 5 minutes of decision fatigue every day.

2. Mobile-first wasn't optional.
Half my best ideas happen away from my desk. If I can't capture
a bug fix idea while walking, it's gone forever. Project Brain is
built for iPhone — not "also available on mobile."

3. The tool should disappear.
The best productivity tool is one you don't think about.
You open it, log something, close it. Done.
I measured success by how fast I could get back to coding.

The tech stack

React Native + Expo for cross-platform mobile
Firebase for real-time sync and auth
TypeScript throughout
Monorepo with apps/mobile, apps/web, apps/desktop (Tauri, WIP)

The hardest part wasn't the code — it was resisting the urge to add
features I didn't need. Every "wouldn't it be cool if..." got a hard no
until the core was solid.

Where it is now

Live on the App Store: Project Brain
~50 users in the first month (mostly indie devs from Reddit and ProductHunt)
Version 1.1 shipped last week with sync improvements

The honest takeaway

Building your own tools is a trap and a superpower at the same time.

Trap: you can spend 3 months building a to-do list instead of your
actual product.

Superpower: you end up with something that fits your brain perfectly,
and you understand every line of it.

Would I do it again? Yes. Would I recommend everyone do it? No.

But if you're an indie developer drowning in half-finished Notion pages —
maybe give it a try.

What do you use to manage your side projects?
Curious if anyone else abandoned the big tools for something simpler.

DEV Community: Avenor Apps