Universal Downloader — Download Videos, Thumbnails, Screenshots & Files

Option A — Oracle Cloud “Always Free” VPS (best free option: always-on, no sleep, no cold start): a real tiny cloud server, free for life. Takes ~10 minutes and needs any domain you own (for https).

1. Sign up at oracle.com/cloud/free → “Start for free”. A card is used only to verify you — Always Free resources are never charged. Pick your home region carefully: it cannot be changed later.
2. Console → Compute → Instances → Create instance: image Ubuntu 22.04, shape VM.Standard.A1.Flex (ARM), 2 OCPU / 12 GB RAM (up to 4 OCPU / 24 GB — still free). Confirm it shows “Always Free eligible”.
3. When it is running, note the public IP address. Then open TWO firewalls (the #1 reason servers seem “unreachable”):
   (a) Console: Networking → your VCN → Security Lists → Default Security List → Add Ingress Rules: source 0.0.0.0/0, protocol TCP, destination port 443 — add the same rule for port 80.
   (b) SSH in (ssh ubuntu@YOUR-IP) and run:
   sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT && sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT && sudo netfilter-persistent save
   (Ubuntu images ship with a restrictive firewall — without this step nothing answers.)
4. Point a domain: at your DNS provider add an A record — e.g. cobalt.yourdomain.com → your instance’s public IP.
5. Install Docker and run cobalt:
   curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sudo sh
sudo docker run -d --name cobalt --restart=always -e API_URL=https://cobalt.yourdomain.com/ -e CORS_WILDCARD=1 -p 127.0.0.1:9000:9000 ghcr.io/imputnet/cobalt:11
   (API_URL is your exact public URL with the trailing slash — wrong API_URL breaks file links.)
6. Add free automatic https with Caddy — create /home/ubuntu/Caddyfile containing:
   cobalt.yourdomain.com {
  reverse_proxy host.docker.internal:9000
}
   then run:
   sudo docker run -d --name caddy --restart=always --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway -p 80:80 -p 443:443 -v caddy_data:/data -v /home/ubuntu/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile caddy:2
7. Open https://cobalt.yourdomain.com — you should see cobalt’s status page. Paste it above as the primary → 🔌 Test. Done: always-on, no sleeping, no 60–90 s cold starts.

Note: even an Oracle server is a datacenter IP — YouTube may still refuse it (bot-check). TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook and most others work fine. Keep Option B as your backup so a download always has a second route.

Option B — Render (free tier — recommended as your backup slot):

1. Sign up at render.com → New + → Web Service → "Existing Image" → image URL: ghcr.io/imputnet/cobalt:11 → Instance type: Free.
2. Add exactly these environment variables:
   API_URL=https://YOUR-APP-NAME.onrender.com/ (your exact public URL, with the trailing slash — wrong API_URL breaks file links)
   API_PORT=10000 (Render's default port; bullet-proof binding)
   Leave CORS_WILDCARD alone — its default (1) is what browsers need. Do NOT set it to 0.
3. Create Web Service → wait until it shows Live. Free instances sleep after ~15 min idle — the first request afterwards can take up to a minute while the server wakes up (with a primary + backup set, the tool simply switches to the other server).
4. Come back here, paste https://YOUR-APP-NAME.onrender.com/ in the backup box above → 💾 Save → done.

Option C — Koyeb (easiest, free tier, no card):

1. Sign up at koyeb.com (free account, no card).
2. Create App → choose Docker → image: ghcr.io/imputnet/cobalt:latest
3. Set port 8000, and environment variables:
   API_URL=https://your-app-name.koyeb.app/
API_PORT=8000
CORS_WILDCARD=1
4. Deploy → copy your .koyeb.app URL → paste it above (primary or backup) → 💾 Save → done.

Option D — Hugging Face Space (free CPU, generous RAM): create a new Space → Docker → Blank, add a Dockerfile containing:

FROM ghcr.io/imputnet/cobalt:latest
ENV API_PORT=7860

Set app_port: 7860 in the README header and add the variable API_URL=https://your-username-your-space.hf.space/ in Settings → Variables. Your Space URL is the server address.

Option E — any other VPS with Docker (quick version):

docker run -d --restart=always -e API_URL=https://your-domain.example/ -e CORS_WILDCARD=1 -p 9000:9000 ghcr.io/imputnet/cobalt:latest

Only download public content you have the right to save — your own videos, Creative-Commons material, or content the platform allows. Cobalt is free & open-source (imputnet/cobalt); your links go straight from your browser to YOUR server — nothing touches ours.