{"slug": "cobalt", "name": "Cobalt", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 6, "warners": 1, "score": 2.21, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-12-10", "latest": "2026-10-07", "why": "Cobalt + Liquid-Rust + iSH enables offline writing with iPad portability", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Cobalt + Liquid-Rust + iSH enables offline writing with iPad portability", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/bandarlabs/cobalt", "official_url": "https://github.com/bandarlabs/cobalt", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Cobalt", "cobalt"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 778955408, "item_id": 48684713, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48684713", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "cobalt instances or yt-dlp", "excerpt": "cobalt instances or yt-dlp : https://cobalt.meowing.de", "context": "", "use_case": "Video downloading", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which free video downloader do you trust in 2026?"}, {"id": 742988050, "item_id": 46436753, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46436753", "by": "Leftium", "date": "2025-12-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I think #2 is actually simpler", "excerpt": "I'm not sure if !cobalt would meet Kagi's guidelines for public bangs. Eventually, zBang will execute bangs locally before falling back to a Kagi network call. It's open source: https://github.com/Leftium/zbang I just remembered my other project can support cobalt. Just enter the youtube URL and press ENTER (or click the buttons): https://mm.leftium.com?p=C4S2BsFMAIF5oEQGED2AjAhuY0AikBbFBAKBIG1VNsA6KrYAXRIBNIAzDAV2zk", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: My not-for-profit search engine with no ads, no AI, & all DDG bangs"}, {"id": 742888737, "item_id": 46430546, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430546", "by": "Leftium", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just added !cobalt to my custom bangs as `https://cobalt.meowing.de#%s`, and it works.", "excerpt": "(replying to dead reply downthread) Kagi (custom) bangs[1] already supports `!cobalt <youtube video>` I just added !cobalt to my custom bangs as `https://cobalt.meowing.de#%s`, and it works. Kagi also accepts new public bangs: https://github.com/kagisearch/bangs#contribution-guidelines Kagi bangs are free for everyone (a subscription is required for custom bangs and regular search). - Example of how to use Kagi bangs", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube video downloading", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: My not-for-profit search engine with no ads, no AI, & all DDG bangs"}, {"id": 739525456, "item_id": 46220341, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46220341", "by": "transpute", "date": "2025-12-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Cobalt + Liquid-Rust + iSH enables offline writing with iPad portability", "excerpt": "Cobalt + Liquid-Rust + iSH enables offline writing with iPad portability, lockdown mode security and battery life, retaining interoperability with Linux static publishing toolchains. No jailbreaks or sideloading required. Due to lack of JIT on iOS, Jekyll is too slow to run on iSH. Liquid-Rust (https://github.com/cobalt-org/liquid-rust) templates, even with partial compatibility for the Ruby-based Liquid template eng", "context": "", "use_case": "Static site generator", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cobalt: static blogging on iPhone and iPad via iSH, with Rust Liquid templates"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 748619537, "item_id": 46788721, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46788721", "by": "singularity99", "date": "2026-01-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tried commercial platforms (Cobalt, Synack, HackerOne) but they're still $8K+ per test", "excerpt": "Hey HN! I'm excited to share CodePhreak v4.0 \u2013 an open-source autonomous pentesting platform that uses multi-agent AI to find security vulnerabilities in your infrastructure. *The Problem:* Two years ago, I was paying $8K-15K per pentest for my SaaS company. At quarterly testing (required for SOC2), that's $32K-60K/year just to check if we introduced new bugs. For a startup, this was unsustainable. Manual pentesting ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["video downloading", "youtube video downloading", "static site generator"], "compared": [{"slug": "codex", "name": "Codex", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "kagi", "name": "Kagi", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "elevenlabs", "name": "ElevenLabs", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 803667360, "item_id": 50229210, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50229210", "by": "thepoet", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I built an SDK and apps that allows e-ink apps with sandboxing and permissions model, auto-updates, shared capabilities etc. to be built for Kobo", "excerpt": "More than ambitious, I can now build things I had no time for but had the idea and architecture in place since long. A cool side project for me recently has been to allow reading more than books on my Kobo reader. I built an SDK and apps that allows e-ink apps with sandboxing and permissions model, auto-updates, shared capabilities etc. to be built for Kobo https://github.com/BandarLabs/Cobalt", "context": "", "use_case": "e-ink apps SDK for Kobo", "switched_from": "", "story": "We should be more ambitious with the software we build"}, {"id": 788004480, "item_id": 49250280, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49250280", "by": "thepoet", "date": "2026-08-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "while building the UI components for an SDK for Kobo e-ink apps", "excerpt": "Thank you for this! This is perfect and what I was looking for while building the UI components for an SDK for Kobo e-ink apps https://github.com/BandarLabs/Cobalt", "context": "", "use_case": "UI SDK for e-ink apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: In your experience, what are sound conventions for e-ink UI development?"}, {"id": 787768656, "item_id": 49235541, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49235541", "by": "thepoet", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "an app development platform for my Kobo eReader", "excerpt": "I have high myopia that is progressively getting worse so started working on building an app development platform for my Kobo eReader so that I can live without my mac and phone. https://github.com/BandarLabs/Cobalt Have built the SDK and some apps like an HN Client, ChatGPT client, Claude Code permissions sidekick, RSS Reader, some games etc. (all in the same above repo) It has 8x less powerful hardware than a moder", "context": "has high myopia", "use_case": "apps on Kobo eReader", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)"}, {"id": 787698992, "item_id": 49231187, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49231187", "by": "thepoet", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I decide to build an SDK platform to develop and deploy apps on it.", "excerpt": "I have a Kobo that was kept unused in a similar state for a few years until I decide to build an SDK platform to develop and deploy apps on it. My Kobo does not support apps on its Linux platform. I have been using it to read HN, as an RSS reader over my news and blog sources, generate audiobooks on topics I want to understand with ElevenLabs, Exa and OpenAI and listen via connecting its bluetooth to my speakers and ", "context": "built SDK for Kobo", "use_case": "apps on a Kobo e-reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reviving a four year old reMarkable 2"}, {"id": 786551440, "item_id": 49159465, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49159465", "by": "thepoet", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I ended up building an entire SDK, an HN client, an RSS discovery & reader and an audiobook generator", "excerpt": "A bit idealistic for the crowd here but has some good points. The other day I wanted to build personal apps for my Kobo device. It has a single ~800Mhz core and 512 MB of RAM, probably eight times less than a rasbperry pi, but runs a Linux. I wanted to break free from watching my laptop screen for long Claude sessions partially due to degrading eyesight and have a sidekick for approvals streamed to the Kobo. Apart fr", "context": "built personal apps for a Kobo Clara BW", "use_case": "personal apps and SDK for Kobo", "switched_from": "", "story": "Devtools must be open source"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46417748", "title": "Show HN: My not-for-profit search engine with no ads, no AI, & all DDG bangs", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225695", "title": "We should be more ambitious with the software we build", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49987419", "title": "Show HN: TikTok user finder and video donwloader", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49658302", "title": "Re-Engineering YouTube for the Living Room: Bringing \"Chrobalt\" to RDK", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49213660", "title": "Ask HN: In your experience, what are sound conventions for e-ink UI development?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49233423", "title": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {"warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {"compare": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 799837232, "item_id": 49989827, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49989827", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "compare", "quote": "what's benefit over open source cobalt.tools", "excerpt": "what's benefit over open source cobalt.tools ? https://cobalt.directory", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: TikTok user finder and video donwloader"}, {"id": 794565473, "item_id": 49660342, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49660342", "by": "troupo", "date": "2026-09-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Youtube decided to run a stripped down version of Chrome (Cobalt)", "excerpt": "All apps on smart TVs are browser apps. Some, like Youtube, get special privileges (that is, can run their own app), but also need to run some kind of UI since TVs have no standard UI libraries. Youtube decided to run a stripped down version of Chrome (Cobalt). Others (IIRC Netflix) run their own renderer. Or do weird stuff, see Comcast and Lightning https://www.lightningjs.io/ TVs own interfaces are some bespoke one", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Re-Engineering YouTube for the Living Room: Bringing \"Chrobalt\" to RDK"}, {"id": 778955408, "item_id": 48684713, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48684713", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "cobalt instances or yt-dlp", "excerpt": "cobalt instances or yt-dlp : https://cobalt.meowing.de", "context": "", "use_case": "Video downloading", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which free video downloader do you trust in 2026?"}, {"id": 748619537, "item_id": 46788721, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46788721", "by": "singularity99", "date": "2026-01-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tried commercial platforms (Cobalt, Synack, HackerOne) but they're still $8K+ per test", "excerpt": "Hey HN! I'm excited to share CodePhreak v4.0 \u2013 an open-source autonomous pentesting platform that uses multi-agent AI to find security vulnerabilities in your infrastructure. *The Problem:* Two years ago, I was paying $8K-15K per pentest for my SaaS company. At quarterly testing (required for SOC2), that's $32K-60K/year just to check if we introduced new bugs. For a startup, this was unsustainable. Manual pentesting ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 742988050, "item_id": 46436753, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46436753", "by": "Leftium", "date": "2025-12-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I think #2 is actually simpler", "excerpt": "I'm not sure if !cobalt would meet Kagi's guidelines for public bangs. Eventually, zBang will execute bangs locally before falling back to a Kagi network call. It's open source: https://github.com/Leftium/zbang I just remembered my other project can support cobalt. Just enter the youtube URL and press ENTER (or click the buttons): https://mm.leftium.com?p=C4S2BsFMAIF5oEQGED2AjAhuY0AikBbFBAKBIG1VNsA6KrYAXRIBNIAzDAV2zk", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: My not-for-profit search engine with no ads, no AI, & all DDG bangs"}, {"id": 742888737, "item_id": 46430546, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430546", "by": "Leftium", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just added !cobalt to my custom bangs as `https://cobalt.meowing.de#%s`, and it works.", "excerpt": "(replying to dead reply downthread) Kagi (custom) bangs[1] already supports `!cobalt <youtube video>` I just added !cobalt to my custom bangs as `https://cobalt.meowing.de#%s`, and it works. Kagi also accepts new public bangs: https://github.com/kagisearch/bangs#contribution-guidelines Kagi bangs are free for everyone (a subscription is required for custom bangs and regular search). - Example of how to use Kagi bangs", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube video downloading", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: My not-for-profit search engine with no ads, no AI, & all DDG bangs"}, {"id": 739525456, "item_id": 46220341, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46220341", "by": "transpute", "date": "2025-12-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Cobalt + Liquid-Rust + iSH enables offline writing with iPad portability", "excerpt": "Cobalt + Liquid-Rust + iSH enables offline writing with iPad portability, lockdown mode security and battery life, retaining interoperability with Linux static publishing toolchains. No jailbreaks or sideloading required. Due to lack of JIT on iOS, Jekyll is too slow to run on iSH. Liquid-Rust (https://github.com/cobalt-org/liquid-rust) templates, even with partial compatibility for the Ruby-based Liquid template eng", "context": "", "use_case": "Static site generator", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cobalt: static blogging on iPhone and iPad via iSH, with Rust Liquid templates"}]}