Show HN: I turned the Namib Desert livestream into my macOS screensaver

A macOS screensaver that plays live video streams. Supports YouTube videos and direct HLS streams.

Turn any live stream into your screensaver/lockscreen. Some examples:

• macOS
• Swift compiler (Xcode Command Line Tools)
• yt-dlp (optional, for YouTube support)

Disclaimer: This project was entirely vibe-coded. I've never written Swift before in my life.

Note: This was tested exclusively on macOS Tahoe on an M2 MacBook. Your mileage may vary on other versions/hardware.

Using Homebrew:

Or using pip:

1. Build:

2. Install:

Or manually:

1. Open System Preferences → Screen Saver
2. Select Live Screensaver
3. Click Options to configure
4. Enter a video URL:
   • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID (live streams only)
   • HLS stream: https://example.com/stream.m3u8

Note: Only live YouTube videos are supported. Regular (non-live) YouTube videos will not work.

Note: macOS screensaver UI can be buggy. If the Options button is unresponsive, try closing and reopening System Settings. PRs welcome for anyone who can figure out why.

YouTube videos don't play:

• Make sure yt-dlp is installed and in your PATH
• Verify you're using a live YouTube stream - regular videos are not supported

Black screen: Wait a few seconds for loading, or try a different URL