Using Pinchana Web
Open https://pinchana.cc or your self-hosted Pinchana Web deployment. The interface stays locked until a valid browser session exists.
1. Verify the browser session
Section titled “1. Verify the browser session”On first use, or after a session expires, Pinchana Web shows Cloudflare Turnstile. The browser sends the one-use token to its own /api/verify route. The Next.js server forwards it to Pinchana API /web/verify, and a successful signed session is stored in an HttpOnly cookie.
You never need an API machine key to use the Web interface.
2. Paste a supported URL
Section titled “2. Paste a supported URL”Paste or type a URL and submit it. For the normal scraper pipeline, Web calls same-origin /api/scrape, which forwards to API POST /v1/web/scrape and returns the same normalized v1 data model used by machine clients.
Supported normal-pipeline services are listed on Supported platforms.
General youtube.com and youtu.be URLs are different: when the selected API advertises DLP protocol v2, Web sends them through the private-download workflow instead of the normal scraper router.
3. Preview and save
Section titled “3. Preview and save”Normal scrape results can include video, images, audio, covers, or slideshow soundtracks. Pinchana Web previews authenticated assets through its own /api/media/... route so media requests inherit the server-held session.
The main download mode is remembered as Media or Audio. Music-service URLs automatically lock to audio behavior. Multi-file results can be saved individually or combined into a ZIP.
Audio extraction/conversion for normal scrape results happens in the browser with the locally bundled FFmpeg WebAssembly runtime. YouTube DLP files are streamed directly to the browser download manager instead of being buffered as a giant JavaScript Blob.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”Settings are grouped into:
- General — automatic saving, ZIP behavior, filename style, motion/background preferences, optional Twitter/X GIF conversion, and optional anonymous performance monitoring when the deployment has monitoring enabled.
- YouTube — DLP quality, codec, container, audio options, dubbed-track preference, embedded subtitle preference, and the encrypted Cookie Vault.
- API instance — select the default API or connect to a project-certified custom instance.
- About — public Web/API revisions, sanitized module build information, coarse device diagnostics, and current service/capability status.
Current Web defaults favor 1080p H.264/MP4 for DLP video, MP3 at 128 kb/s for converted DLP audio, Pretty filenames, automatic saving, and ZIP archives for multi-file results. The API capability response can narrow which DLP options are actually offered.
Privacy boundaries
Section titled “Privacy boundaries”Pinchana Web keeps the selected API origin and signed session server-side. Cookie Vault data is encrypted at rest in IndexedDB, and DLP cookie payloads are encrypted in the browser for the specific ephemeral worker before they cross the same-origin proxy.
See Settings and browser storage for the exact storage inventory and DLP protocol v2 for the private-download trust model.