Free & Open Source • Written in C • v0.7

ShellBeats

Listen to YouTube music directly from your terminal. No distractions, no browser, no nonsense. Just pure music in your shell.

🔓 100% Free & Open Source
⚡
Simple to use
🎵
Stream & Download
📋
Create Playlists
📱
MP3 Player Ready
Surikata
Sync on All Devices
Explore Features ↓

Why ShellBeats?

Born from the need to listen to music quickly, without distractions, even offline.

Simple to Use

No complex configurations. Just install it and start listening. Intuitive keyboard shortcuts let you control everything without leaving your terminal.

Stream from YouTube

Search and play any song from YouTube instantly. No browser needed, no ads, no distractions. Just you and your music.

Download Your Music and Playlists

Save your favorite tracks for offline listening. Download singles or entire YouTube playlists with a single command.

Create Playlists

Organize your music into playlists. Export them as MP3 files ready to sync with your portable MP3 player.

MP3 Player Ready

All downloads are optimized and tagged. Just drag and drop to your MP3 player and enjoy your music anywhere.

Lightweight & Fast

Written in pure C with minimal dependencies. Uses almost no resources while delivering maximum performance.

Terminal Interface

A beautiful ncurses-based TUI designed for keyboard-driven workflows.

shellbeats ~ main
Main Interface
shellbeats ~ search
YouTube Search
shellbeats ~ playlist
Playlist Manager
shellbeats ~ download
Download Queue

SurikataSuriSync

Sync your playlists across all your computers and share them with the community.

Sync Everywhere

Push your playlists to the cloud and pull them on any other computer running shellbeats. Desktop, laptop, server — they all stay in sync.

Share with the Community

Your playlists can be discovered by other users on surikata.app. Import playlists shared by others directly into shellbeats.

Privacy First

Built on Surikata — a community designed around maximum creative freedom and privacy, free from big corp influence and marketing.

Some Features

Everything you need for a complete terminal music experience.

🔍

YouTube Search

Search millions of tracks directly from your terminal

▶️

Stream Playback & Playlists

Instant streaming of tracks or entire YouTube playlists

⬇️

MP3 Downloads

Save tracks in high-quality MP3 format

📁

Playlist Management

Create, edit, and organize your playlists

📥

Batch Downloads

Download entire playlists with one command

⏭️

Queue Download System

Build your download queue on the fly

⌨️

Keyboard Shortcuts

Full keyboard control, no mouse needed

🔄

SuriSync

Sync playlists across all your computers via surikata.app

🌍

Community Playlists

Share your playlists and import others from the Surikata community

🔀

Shuffle Mode

Randomize playback with infinite loop within any playlist or search

⏩

Seek & Jump

Seek forward/backward or jump to any position with configurable step

The Story

/*
 * ShellBeats
 * A terminal music player
 * 
 * Christmas 2025
 */

#include <passion.h>
#include <family.h>
#include <cigars.h>
#include <chess.h>

int main() {
    while (on_vacation) {
        play_chess(kids);
        smoke_cigar();
        write_code();
    }
    return SHELLBEATS;
}

Christmas Vacation Project

ShellBeats was born during the Christmas holidays of 2025. I wanted to return to writing C code after a long time there's something special about the simplicity and power of this language.

I was on vacation with my family, and between a cigar and a chess game with my kids, I started writing what would become ShellBeats. The goal was simple: listen to music quickly, without distractions, without opening a browser, without ads interrupting the flow.

What started as a small experiment grew into a full-featured terminal music player. Now I can queue up my favorite songs while working, download them for offline listening, and sync everything to my MP3 player for when I'm away from the keyboard.

— Made with ❤️ and lots of coffee

Get in Touch

Found a bug? Have a feature request? Just want to say hi?

compose_message.sh
🔐 security_check
Loading challenge...