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The Download Panel lets you pull videos from the web directly into your Masterselects project. It uses yt-dlp via the Native Helper, which means any site yt-dlp supports is also available in Masterselects.

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Supported sites

PlatformDetection
YouTubeyoutube.com, youtu.be
TikToktiktok.com
Instagraminstagram.com
Twitter / Xtwitter.com, x.com
Facebookfacebook.com, fb.watch
Redditreddit.com
Vimeovimeo.com
Twitchtwitch.tv
OtherAny HTTP(S) URL supported by yt-dlp
Unrecognized platforms are stored under Downloads/Other/ inside your project folder.

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Requirements

  • Native Helper must be running. The Download Panel uses the Native Helper to invoke yt-dlp. Without it, downloads will not work.
  • yt-dlp must be installed separately on your system and available on your PATH.
yt-dlp is not bundled with Masterselects or the Native Helper. You must install it yourself before using the Download Panel. See the yt-dlp installation guide for your platform.
See Native Helper for setup instructions.

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Workflow

1

Start the Native Helper

In a terminal, navigate to the tools/native-helper directory and run:
cargo run --release
The helper starts a WebSocket server on port 9876 and an HTTP server on port 9877.
2

Open the Download Panel

In Masterselects, find the Download tab in the dock panel system.
3

Paste a URL

Paste any supported video URL into the URL field. The panel automatically detects the platform and fetches metadata (title, thumbnail, duration).
4

Choose quality

Click the download button on a video card. A format dialog shows available quality options. The system prefers H.264 in MP4 for maximum WebCodecs compatibility.
5

Download

Confirm your selection. The file downloads and appears automatically in the Media Panel.

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Adding directly to the timeline

You do not have to go through the Media Panel first. You can add a download straight to the timeline:
  • Click the + button on a video card to download and place the clip at the current playhead position.
  • Or drag a video card from the Download Panel and drop it onto the timeline track.

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Project storage

Downloaded files are organized into platform-specific subfolders inside your project: 
{ProjectFolder}/
  Downloads/
    YT/
    TikTok/
    Instagram/
    Twitter/
    Facebook/
    Reddit/
    Vimeo/
    Twitch/
    Other/
If no project is open, files are kept in memory only and are not saved to disk.

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YouTube search

To search YouTube by keyword (rather than pasting a URL), configure a YouTube Data API key:
  1. Open Settings from the menu.
  2. Enter your YouTube Data API key.
Without an API key, you can still paste YouTube URLs directly. Metadata for YouTube links is fetched via the oEmbed API at no cost and with no key required.

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Troubleshooting

IssueSolution
Downloads failConfirm the Native Helper is running
No quality options shownInstall the Native Helper for quality selection
Non-YouTube URL failsThe Native Helper is required for all non-YouTube platforms
Video will not playPrefer H.264 — check codec support in your browser
Audio missingEnsure the audio track was included in the selected format
”URL may not be supported”yt-dlp may not support this particular site

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