[dspillett]

> why do you need to host it on a server? It can be just a standalone app

Your Windows/Linux/OSX device, or a VM or container on it, can be the server if you wish. This way the creators don't need to make two UXs (web for the server, native for the other).

A lot of people run thier self-hosted apps on an external server or home lab (or mix/multiple) with those resources being "properly" setup as infrastructure with backups and such, using their PCs/laptops/tablets/phones as relatively dumb clients/caches that can be easily replaced (pulling local content back from the server the old devices synced to) if lost/damaged. This is one reason self-housing that way is popular.

> using yt-dlp and have thought of making a simple app

I've seen a few desktop apps that seem to be wrappers around yt-dlp (and/or other similar utilities). I've not used any of them so can't comment on their stability/reliability/other, but I'd do a search before writing your own from scratch (unless you want to do that for fun anyway!) as you might find what you want already exists.

[jagermo]

it also neatly integrates into easy-to-use things like runtipi. I have it on my spare home server, running a tandoor instance, invidious and metube for watching stuff later/offline.