How to Self Host Piped: The Ad-Free and Privacy-Focused YouTube Frontend Alternative

Introduction:

I was frustrated by the annoying pop-ups from YouTube asking me to disable ad blockers, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. I made a simple PHP script with yt-dlp to create a custom player. While my makeshift solution worked, it lacked the full functionality of a genuine YouTube frontend. A few days later, I stumbled upon Piped, an open-source project that promised not only ad-free viewing but also a comprehensive set of features. I took a look at their documentation and learned how to install piped on my own server. This guide tells about my journey and the steps I took to reclaim control over my online video streaming experience.

If you just want to use piped with no ads i deployed a public instance for everyone to use!

Public piped Instance

Prerequisites:

Before you start with the installation, ensure you have the following prerequisites in place:

Some kind of Server
Domain:
- A registered domain to host your Piped instance.
Software:
- Git
- Docker
- Docker Compose plugin
Cloudflare Account:
- An active Cloudflare account.

What is Piped?

Piped is designed as a self-hosted alternative to YouTube's interface, prioritizing user control by removing advertisements and tracking scripts. For me, it emerged as the perfect solution after my attempt at creating a custom player using a PHP script fell short of the full functionality I desired.

Benefits of Piped:

No ads
Privacy
No Tracking
Most features like YouTube

Installation of Piped:

Cloning Piped-Docker Repository:
- Command: git clone https://github.com/TeamPiped/Piped-Docker.git
Navigating to Piped-Docker Directory:
- Command: cd Piped-Docker
Running Configuration Script:
- Command: ./configure-instance.sh
- Set up the domain names. For example, when asked for pipedproxy.example.com, just replace the example.com with your own domain name. Choose nginx as Reverse proxy when prompted.
Creating DNS Records:
- Create all 3 DNS records to your Server's public IP
Launching Piped Instance:
- Command: docker-compose up -d
- This starts the docker container up
Configuring Nginx with Certbot for TLS:
- Installed Certbot via Snap: sudo snap install --classic certbot
- Ran Certbot with Cloudflare DNS verification:
sudo certbot certonly --dns-cloudflare --dns-cloudflare-credentials /path/to/cloudflare.ini -d piped.example.com -d pipedapi.example.com -d pipedproxy.example.com
- Once again, change the example.com to your own Domain.
- Replaced /path/to/cloudflare.ini with the path to my Cloudflare API credentials file.
- Example cloudflare.ini file:

Create a file named cloudflare.ini with the following content:

# Cloudflare API credentials
dns_cloudflare_email = your_email@example.com
dns_cloudflare_api_key = your_cloudflare_api_key

Set proper permissions on this file to enhance security:

chmod 600 /path/to/cloudflare.ini

Remember to replace your_email@example.com with your Cloudflare account email and your_cloudflare_api_key with your actual Cloudflare API key.

Finally Nginx Configuration:

Configure Nginx Configuration with TLS (HTTPS) for a secure connection.

   server {
      listen 443 ssl http2;
      listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
      server_name piped.example.com pipedproxy.example.com pipedapi.example.com; # For all 3 hostnames
      ssl_certificate /path/to/certificate/fullchain.pem;
      ssl_certificate_key /path/to/certificate/privkey.pem;
      ssl_session_timeout 1d;
      ssl_session_cache shared:MozSSL:10m;
      ssl_session_tickets off;

      ssl_protocols TLSv1.3;
      ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
      add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000" always;
      add_header Cache-Control 'no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, max-age=0';

      ssl_stapling on;
      ssl_stapling_verify on;
      proxy_read_timeout 1d;
      proxy_connect_timeout 300;
      proxy_send_timeout 300;
      location / {
          proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
          proxy_set_header Host $host;
      }
   }

Conclusion:

The discovery of Piped not only resolved the issue with the ad blocker but also granted me control over my video streaming experience. The benefits of an ad-free and private platform are really nice. By sharing my journey, I hope others can also explore the realm of self-hosting and tailor their digital space to align with their preferences. In a world inundated with ads and privacy concerns, taking control is empowering.