YouTube Cookies Setup

YouTube Cookies Setup

This page explains when you actually need YouTube cookies in PigeonPod and how to export them safely.

What This Page Is For

Use this page when:

• downloads fail with Sign in to confirm you're not a bot
• you need age-restricted, members-only, or other account-protected YouTube content
• public YouTube access is unreliable from your deployment environment

Do not use this page as a default setup step. Most users do not need YouTube cookies for normal public content.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• a working PigeonPod instance
• access to User Settings
• a browser you trust
• a YouTube account
• a browser extension that can export cookies.txt

Recommended extensions:

• Chrome: Get cookies.txt LOCALLY
• Firefox: cookies.txt

Security note:

• be careful with browser extensions
• if you previously used the old Chrome extension named Get cookies.txt without LOCALLY, remove it

When You Should Use Cookies

YouTube cookies are useful when:

• YouTube applies bot checks to your server IP
• the instance runs from a cloud or datacenter network
• the content requires an authenticated account

You usually do not need cookies for:

• normal public videos
• a fresh setup that is already working without YouTube challenges

Steps

1. Open a private or incognito window

Start with a fresh private browsing session.

Then:

1. open one private/incognito window
2. log in to your YouTube account there
3. avoid opening extra private tabs for the same session if possible

The goal is to export a clean cookie session that will not be reused later.

2. Open the YouTube robots page

In the same private/incognito session, open:

https://www.youtube.com/robots.txt

This is the page you should use before exporting cookies.

3. Export youtube.com cookies

Use your browser extension to export cookies for youtube.com.

Requirements:

• export a real cookies.txt file
• do not use other unsupported formats
• keep the file private

Important limitation:

• PigeonPod expects uploaded cookies.txt content
• this workflow is not the same as using yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser

4. Close the private window immediately

After exporting:

• close the private/incognito window
• do not keep browsing with the same session

This reduces the chance of the exported cookies being rotated or invalidated quickly.

5. Upload the file to PigeonPod

In PigeonPod:

1. log in
2. open User Settings
3. open the cookies management area
4. choose Upload / Update YouTube Cookies
5. upload the exported cookies.txt
6. save

6. Retry one failed download

After uploading the cookies:

1. go back to a failed episode or target feed
2. retry one download manually
3. confirm whether the bot-check failure is gone

Verify

After uploading cookies, verify these checks:

1. the cookies upload succeeds in the UI
2. a previously failing YouTube download can now complete
3. the same feed no longer fails immediately with the bot-check error

If downloads still fail, do not assume cookies are working just because the upload succeeded. Always validate with a real retry.

Common Failures

“I uploaded cookies, but downloads still fail”

Check:

• the file is a real cookies.txt export
• the export was done from a private/incognito session
• the YouTube account can still access the target content in a browser
• the file was uploaded to the correct PigeonPod instance

“The cookies stop working after a while”

Possible causes:

• the cookies expired
• the browser session was reused
• YouTube rotated or invalidated the session

Fix:

• export a new file and upload it again

“Should I always enable cookies?”

No.

Using account cookies adds risk and maintenance overhead. Only use them when normal public access is not enough.

Security and Risk Notes

• using account cookies can lead to temporary or permanent account restrictions
• use them only when necessary
• consider using a throwaway account
• never share your exported cookie file

Related Pages

• Quick Start
• Configuration Overview
• Troubleshooting