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CLI tools guide ​

Remote PeerTube CLI ​

peertube-cli is a tool that communicates with a PeerTube instance using its REST API. It can be launched from a remote server/computer to easily upload videos, manage plugins, redundancies etc.

Installation ​

Ensure you have node installed on your system:

bash
node --version # Should be >= 20.x

Then install the CLI:

bash
sudo npm install -g @peertube/peertube-cli

CLI wrapper ​

The wrapper provides a convenient interface to the following sub-commands.

Usage: peertube-cli [command] [options]

Options:
  -v, --version                     output the version number
  -h, --help                        display help for command

Commands:
  auth                              Register your accounts on remote instances to use them with other commands
  upload|up [options]               Upload a video on a PeerTube instance
  redundancy|r                      Manage instance redundancies
  plugins|p                         Manage instance plugins/themes
  get-access-token|token [options]  Get a peertube access token
  help [command]                    display help for command

The wrapper can keep track of instances you have an account on. We limit to one account per instance for now.

bash
peertube-cli auth add -u 'PEERTUBE_URL' -U 'PEERTUBE_USER' --password 'PEERTUBE_PASSWORD'
peertube-cli auth list
┌──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┐
│ instance                     │ login                        │
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│ 'PEERTUBE_URL'               │ 'PEERTUBE_USER'              │
└──────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘

You can now use that account to execute sub-commands without feeding the --url, --username and --password parameters:

bash
peertube-cli upload <videoFile>
peertube-cli plugins list
...

peertube-cli upload ​

You can use this script to upload videos directly from the CLI.

Videos will be publicly available after transcoding (you can see them before that in your account on the web interface).

bash
cd ${CLONE}
peertube-cli upload --help

peertube-cli plugins ​

Install/update/uninstall or list local or NPM PeerTube plugins:

bash
cd ${CLONE}
peertube-cli plugins --help
peertube-cli plugins list --help
peertube-cli plugins install --help
peertube-cli plugins update --help
peertube-cli plugins uninstall --help

peertube-cli plugins install --path /my/plugin/path
peertube-cli plugins install --npm-name peertube-theme-example

peertube-cli redundancy ​

Manage (list/add/remove) video redundancies:

To list your videos that are duplicated by remote instances:

bash
peertube-cli redundancy list-remote-redundancies

To list remote videos that your instance duplicated:

bash
peertube-cli redundancy list-my-redundancies

To duplicate a specific video in your redundancy system:

bash
peertube-cli redundancy add --video 823

To remove a video redundancy:

bash
peertube-cli redundancy remove --video 823

PeerTube runner ​

PeerTube supports VOD/Live transcoding and VOD transcription (PeerTube >= 6.2) by a remote PeerTube runner.

The runner communicates with the PeerTube instance using HTTP and WebSocket and doesn't need to have a public IP. So you can run a runner on a classic server, a non-public server or even on your own computer!

You can read the admin documentation on how to use PeerTube runners on https://docs.joinpeertube.org/admin/remote-runners

Runner installation ​

Ensure you have node, ffmpeg and ffprobe installed on your system:

bash
node --version # Should be >= 20.x
ffprobe -version # Should be >= 4.3
ffmpeg -version # Should be >= 4.3

If you want to use video transcription:

bash
pip install whisper-ctranslate2 # or pipx install whisper-ctranslate2 depending on your distribution

Then install the CLI:

bash
sudo npm install -g @peertube/peertube-runner

Configuration ​

The runner uses env paths like ~/.config, ~/.cache and ~/.local/share directories to store runner configuration or temporary files.

Multiple PeerTube runners can run on the same OS by using the --id CLI option (each runner uses its own config/tmp directories):

bash
peertube-runner [commands] --id instance-1
peertube-runner [commands] --id instance-2
peertube-runner [commands] --id instance-3

You can change the runner configuration (jobs concurrency, ffmpeg threads/nice, whisper engines/models, etc.) by editing ~/.config/peertube-runner-nodejs/[id]/config.toml.

The runner TOML config template consists of:

toml
[jobs]
# How much concurrent jobs the runner can execute in parallel
concurrency = 2

[ffmpeg]
# How much threads a ffmpeg process can use
# 0 -> let ffmpeg automatically choose
threads = 0
nice = 20

[transcription]
# Choose between "openai-whisper" or "whisper-ctranslate2"
# Engine binary has to be installed manually (unlike the PeerTube instance that can install whisper automatically)
engine = "whisper-ctranslate2"
# Optional whisper binary path if not available in global path
enginePath = "/var/prunner/.local/pipx/venvs/whisper-ctranslate2/bin/whisper-ctranslate2"
# Whisper model: "tiny", "base", "small", "medium", "large-v2" or "large-v3"
model = "large-v2"

# Registered instances are saved in the config file
[[registeredInstances]]
url = "..." # URL of the instance
runnerToken = "..." # Shared runner token secret
runnerName = "..." # Runner name declared to the PeerTube instance

[[registeredInstances]]
url = "..."
runnerToken = "..."
runnerName = "..."

Run the server ​

In a shell ​

You need to run the runner in server mode first so it can run transcoding jobs of registered PeerTube instances:

bash
peertube-runner server

You can also decide which kind of job the runner can execute with --enable-job <type> option. This way you can have one dedicated runner for transcription tasks (on a GPU machine for example) and another one for transcoding tasks.

bash
# Only transcription tasks
peertube-runner server --enable-job video-transcription
# Only VOD transcoding tasks
peertube-runner server --enable-job vod-web-video-transcoding --enable-job vod-hls-transcoding --enable-job vod-audio-merge-transcoding
# Only "studio" transcoding
peertube-runner server --enable-job video-studio-transcoding
# Only "live" transcoding
peertube-runner server --enable-job live-rtmp-hls-transcoding

As a Systemd service ​

If your OS uses systemd, you can also configure a service so that the runner starts automatically.

To do so, first create a dedicated user. Here, we are calling it prunner, but you can choose whatever name you want. We are using /srv/prunner as his home dir, but you can choose any other path.

bash
useradd -m -d /srv/prunner -s /usr/sbin/nologin prunner

Note

If you want to use /home/prunner, you have to set ProtectHome=false in the systemd configuration (see below).

Now, you can create the /etc/systemd/system/prunner.service file (don't forget to adapt path and user/group names if you changed it):

Systemd
[Unit]
Description=PeerTube runner daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
User=prunner
Group=prunner
ExecStart=peertube-runner server
WorkingDirectory=/srv/prunner
SyslogIdentifier=prunner
Restart=always

; Some security directives.
; Mount /usr, /boot, and /etc as read-only for processes invoked by this service.
ProtectSystem=full
; Sets up a new /dev mount for the process and only adds API pseudo devices
; like /dev/null, /dev/zero or /dev/random but not physical devices. Disabled
; by default because it may not work on devices like the Raspberry Pi.
PrivateDevices=false
; Ensures that the service process and all its children can never gain new
; privileges through execve().
NoNewPrivileges=true
; This makes /home, /root, and /run/user inaccessible and empty for processes invoked
; by this unit. Make sure that you do not depend on data inside these folders.
ProtectHome=true
; Drops the sys admin capability from the daemon.
CapabilityBoundingSet=~CAP_SYS_ADMIN

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Note

You can add the parameter --id instance-1 on the ExecStart line, if you want to have multiple instances. You can then create multiple separate services. They can use the same user and path.

Finally, to enable the service for the first time:

bash
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable prunner.service
systemctl restart prunner.service

Next time, if you need to start/stop/restart the service:

bash
systemctl stop prunner.service
systemctl start prunner.service
systemctl restart prunner.service

You can also check the status (and last logs):

bash
systemctl status prunner.service

To edit the runner configuration: juste edit the /srv/prunner/.config/peertube-runner-nodejs/default/config.toml file, and restart the service (this file will be created when the runner starts for the first time).

If you are using the --id parameter, you can change specific configuration by editing the file /srv/prunner/.config/peertube-runner-nodejs/[id]/config.toml.

INFO

For every peertube-runner commands described below, you have to run them as the prunner user. So for example, to call the list-registered command: sudo -u prunner peertube-runner list-registered. Otherwise the script will read the wrong configuration and cache files, and won't work as expected.

Register ​

Then, you can register the runner to process transcoding job of a remote PeerTube instance:

bash
peertube-runner register --url http://peertube.example.com --registration-token ptrrt-... --runner-name my-runner-name
bash
sudo -u prunner peertube-runner register --url http://peertube.example.com --registration-token ptrrt-... --runner-name my-runner-name

The runner will then use a websocket connection with the PeerTube instance to be notified about new available transcoding jobs.

Unregister ​

To unregister a PeerTube instance:

bash
peertube-runner unregister --url http://peertube.example.com --runner-name my-runner-name
bash
sudo -u prunner peertube-runner unregister --url http://peertube.example.com --runner-name my-runner-name

List registered instances ​

bash
peertube-runner list-registered
bash
sudo -u prunner peertube-runner list-registered

List jobs ​

Runner >= 0.1.0

To list jobs that are processed by the runner:

bash
peertube-runner list-jobs
peertube-runner list-jobs --include-payload
bash
sudo -u prunner peertube-runner list-jobs
sudo -u prunner peertube-runner list-jobs --include-payload

Graceful shutdown ​

Ask the runner to shutdown when it has finished all of its current tasks:

bash
peertube-runner graceful-shutdown
bash
sudo -u prunner peertube-runner graceful-shutdown

Update the runner package ​

You can check if there is a new runner version using:

bash
sudo npm outdated -g @peertube/peertube-runner
Package                    Current  Wanted  Latest  Location                                Depended by
@peertube/peertube-runner    0.0.6   0.0.7   0.0.7  node_modules/@peertube/peertube-runner  lib

To update the runner:

bash
# Update the package
sudo npm update -g @peertube/peertube-runner
# Check that the version changed (optional)
sudo npm list -g @peertube/peertube-runner
# Restart the service (if you are using systemd)
sudo systemctl restart prunner.service

Server tools ​

Server tools are scripts that interact directly with the code of your PeerTube instance. They must be run on the server, in peertube-latest directory.

Parse logs ​

To parse PeerTube last log file:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run parse-log -- --level info
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run parse-log -- --level info

--level is optional and could be info/warn/error

You can also remove SQL or HTTP logs using --not-tags:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run parse-log -- --level debug --not-tags http sql
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run parse-log -- --level debug --not-tags http sql

Regenerate video thumbnails ​

Regenerating local video thumbnails could be useful because new PeerTube releases may increase thumbnail sizes:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run regenerate-thumbnails
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run regenerate-thumbnails

Add or replace specific video file ​

You can use this script to import a video file to replace an already uploaded file or to add a new web compatible resolution to a video. PeerTube needs to be running. You can then create a transcoding job using the web interface if you need to optimize your file or create an HLS version of it.

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run create-import-video-file-job -- -v [videoUUID] -i [videoFile]
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run create-import-video-file-job -- -v [videoUUID] -i [videoFile]

Move video files from filesystem to object storage ​

Use this script to move video related files (video files, original video file, captions, etc.) to object storage.

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-object-storage -v [videoUUID]
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-object-storage -v [videoUUID]

The script can also move all video related files that are not already in object storage:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-object-storage --all-videos
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-object-storage --all-videos

Move video files from object storage to filesystem ​

PeerTube >= 6.0

Use this script to move video related files (video files, original video file, captions, etc.) from object storage to the PeerTube instance filesystem.

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-file-system -v [videoUUID]
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-file-system -v [videoUUID]

The script can also move all video related files that are not already on the filesystem:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-file-system --all-videos
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run create-move-video-storage-job -- --to-file-system --all-videos

Update object storage URLs ​

PeerTube >= 6.2

Use this script after you migrated to another object storage provider so PeerTube updates its internal object URLs (a confirmation will be demanded first). Restart PeerTube after running the script.

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run update-object-storage-url -- --from 'https://region.old-s3-provider.example.com' --to 'https://region.new-s3-provider.example.com'
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run update-object-storage-url -- --from 'https://region.old-s3-provider.example.com' --to 'https://region.new-s3-provider.example.com'

Cleanup remote files ​

PeerTube >= 6.2

Use this script to recover disk space by removing remote files (thumbnails, avatars...) that can be re-fetched later by your PeerTube instance on-demand:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run house-keeping -- --delete-remote-files
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run house-keeping -- --delete-remote-files

:::

Generate storyboard ​

PeerTube >= 6.0

Use this script to generate storyboard of a specific video:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run create-generate-storyboard-job -- -v [videoUUID]
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run create-generate-storyboard-job -- -v [videoUUID]

The script can also generate all missing storyboards of local videos:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run create-generate-storyboard-job -- --all-videos
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run create-generate-storyboard-job -- --all-videos

Prune filesystem/object storage ​

Some transcoded videos or shutdown at a bad time can leave some unused files on your storage. To delete these files (a confirmation will be demanded first):

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run prune-storage
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run prune-storage

Update PeerTube instance domain name ​

Changing the hostname is unsupported and may be a risky operation, especially if you have already federated. If you started PeerTube with a domain, and then changed it you will have invalid torrent files and invalid URLs in your database. To fix this, you have to run the command below (keep in mind your follower instances will NOT update their URLs).

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run update-host
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run update-host

Reset user password ​

To reset a user password from CLI, run:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run reset-password -- -u target_username
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run reset-password -- -u target_username

Install or uninstall plugins ​

The difference with peertube plugins CLI is that these scripts can be used even if PeerTube is not running. If PeerTube is running, you need to restart it for the changes to take effect (whereas with peertube plugins CLI, plugins/themes are dynamically loaded on the server).

To install/update a plugin or a theme from the disk:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run plugin:install -- --plugin-path /local/plugin/path
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run plugin:install -- --plugin-path /local/plugin/path

From NPM:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run plugin:install -- --npm-name peertube-plugin-myplugin
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run plugin:install -- --npm-name peertube-plugin-myplugin

To uninstall a plugin or a theme:

bash
cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest
sudo -u peertube NODE_CONFIG_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE_ENV=production npm run plugin:uninstall -- --npm-name peertube-plugin-myplugin
bash
cd /var/www/peertube-docker
docker compose exec -u peertube peertube npm run plugin:uninstall -- --npm-name peertube-plugin-myplugin