Dance Cut — Mac YouTube and Instagram helper

1. Unzip this folder.
2. Double-click Start Dance Cut Helper.command.
3. Keep the Terminal window open.
4. In Dance Cut, expand Import YouTube / Instagram, paste links, and click Import.

Python 3.10+ must be installed. Setup installs yt-dlp, imageio-ffmpeg and curl-cffi into a private .runtime directory next to this launcher. It downloads the tools from PyPI once. You may inspect server.py before running it.

The helper listens only on 127.0.0.1:8766. It accepts requests only from this Dance Cut site and local development origins. It reads no browser cookies, passwords, or Instagram login sessions. Audio is retrieved directly from YouTube or Instagram and converted locally. Temporary files are deleted after delivery. The editor stores imported audio in this browser until Close session.

Private, removed, login-required and rate-limited videos can fail. Audio-page links are not reels: open a reel using the sound and use that reel's URL. You can also add saved MP4 files directly to Dance Cut.

YouTube: paste a video, youtu.be, Shorts or recorded live-video URL. Only that single video is imported, even if the URL includes a playlist. Live broadcasts and videos longer than 30 minutes are not supported. Instagram: only the audio contained in the reel is retrieved.
