H-CLI

A terminal-based streaming client with a themed UI, multi-source support, and MPV playback.

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Install

One-line install (recommended)

Linux / macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Thanukamax/h-cli/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Thanukamax/h-cli/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

The installer automatically detects your OS and architecture, downloads the correct binary from GitHub Releases, verifies the SHA256 checksum, and installs to ~/.local/bin (Linux/macOS) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\hcli\bin (Windows).

Options (Linux/macOS):

# Install a specific version
curl -fsSL ... | bash -s -- --version v1.0.0

# Install to /usr/local/bin (requires sudo)
curl -fsSL ... | bash -s -- --sudo

# Install to a custom directory
curl -fsSL ... | bash -s -- --dir /opt/bin

Options (Windows):

# Save and run with flags
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Thanukamax/h-cli/main/scripts/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
.\install.ps1 -Version v1.0.0
.\install.ps1 -InstallDir "C:\Tools"

Manual download

Download the latest release for your platform from Releases:

Platform	File
Linux x86_64	hcli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
macOS arm64 (Apple Silicon)	hcli-macos-arm64.tar.gz
Windows x86_64	hcli-windows-x86_64.zip

# Linux / macOS
tar xzf hcli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
sudo mv hcli /usr/local/bin/

# Windows — extract the zip, then add the folder to your PATH

Verify checksums

Each release includes a SHA256SUMS file:

# Linux
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

# macOS
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

# Windows (PowerShell)
(Get-FileHash hcli-windows-x86_64.zip -Algorithm SHA256).Hash
# Compare with the hash in SHA256SUMS

With pipx / uv (requires Python 3.9+)

pipx install git+https://github.com/Thanukamax/h-cli.git

or with uv:

uv tool install git+https://github.com/Thanukamax/h-cli.git

Requirements

• MPV - Video player (mpv.io)
• yt-dlp - Required for downloads and some external mirrors (pip install yt-dlp)

Optional (terminal mascot / image rendering)

• chafa - Terminal image renderer (hpjansson.org/chafa)
• Pillow and chafa.py are Python dependencies (auto-installed via pip/pipx/uv)
• pyfiglet - ASCII art text banners (auto-installed)

If these are missing, H-CLI works fine — you just won't see the mascot art.

System Dependencies

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt update && sudo apt install mpv ffmpeg chafa
pip install yt-dlp

Linux (Fedora)

sudo dnf install mpv ffmpeg chafa
pip install yt-dlp

Windows

winget install mpv
choco install chafa    # or: scoop install chafa
pip install yt-dlp

Commands

Command	Description
hcli	Interactive mode
hcli "search term"	Search and stream
hcli -q 1080	Stream at 1080p
hcli -d	Download mode
hcli --clear-cache	Clear stream cache

Playback Controls

Key	Action
n / enter	Next episode
p	Previous episode
s	Skip to specific episode
r	Replay current
d	Download current episode
q	Quit

Panic Quit

Press space 3 times within 2 seconds at any point during the session to instantly kill the app. This works during loading screens, playback, prompts — everywhere. On trigger it kills MPV, wipes the stream cache, clears the terminal, and hard-exits.

How It Works

1. Search - Scrapes search results from the configured source
2. Episode listing - Fetches and sorts episodes chronologically
3. Stream extraction - Resolves direct MP4 URLs via AJAX + base64 decoding pipeline
4. Caching - LRU cache (100 entries) persists resolved URLs between sessions
5. Preloading - Background thread resolves the next 2 episodes while you watch
6. Playback - Launches MPV with the resolved stream URL

File Locations

Path	Description
~/.cache/h-cli/	Stream URL cache (Linux)
~/.h-cli/	Stream URL cache (Windows)
~/Videos/H-CLI/	Downloaded episodes

Disclaimer

This tool is for educational purposes only. Not affiliated with any streaming sites.

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Made by Thanukamax