From 2c680e23e4b1895e89ef01deb605ff622f20fd34 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ed_ <edwardgz@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2026 19:08:43 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] feat(twitter_threads): gallery-dl media download + inline
 media embeds in Markdown

download_media now shells out to gallery-dl (handles X.com auth/403/video->mp4) instead of urllib, returns the downloaded files, + media_files_for_post glob helper + --cookies CLI. render_markdown embeds images with ![](...) and videos with an HTML <video controls> tag (were plain links). extract_corpus uses the package download_media (one download path). Tests rewritten for the gallery-dl API. Corpus: 4 threads, 33 media (32 img embeds + 1 video), 0 missing.
---
 .../extract_corpus.py                         |  13 +--
 scripts/twitter_threads/download_media.py     |  74 ++++--------
 scripts/twitter_threads/render_markdown.py    |  10 +-
 tests/test_twitter_threads_media.py           | 108 +++++++-----------
 tests/test_twitter_threads_pipeline.py        |  14 ++-
 tests/test_twitter_threads_render.py          |   6 +-
 6 files changed, 92 insertions(+), 133 deletions(-)

diff --git a/conductor/tracks/twitter_threads_extraction_20260705/extract_corpus.py b/conductor/tracks/twitter_threads_extraction_20260705/extract_corpus.py
index 8bbea57e..5dd70be5 100644
--- a/conductor/tracks/twitter_threads_extraction_20260705/extract_corpus.py
+++ b/conductor/tracks/twitter_threads_extraction_20260705/extract_corpus.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
 import shutil
-import subprocess
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -26,6 +25,7 @@ sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).resolve().parents[3]))
 
 from scripts.twitter_threads.error_types import ThreadData
 from scripts.twitter_threads.fetch_thread import fetch_thread_from_url, thread_to_dict
+from scripts.twitter_threads.download_media import download_media, media_files_for_post
 from scripts.twitter_threads.render_markdown import render_markdown
 
 TRACK = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
@@ -62,12 +62,6 @@ def ensure_cookies() -> None:
  COOKIES_NS.write_text("\n".join(out) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
 
 
-def gdl_download(url: str, media_dir: Path) -> None:
- media_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
- subprocess.run(
-  ["gallery-dl", "--cookies", str(COOKIES_NS), "-o", "text-tweets=true", "-o", "conversations=true", "-D", str(media_dir), url],
-  capture_output=True, text=True,
- )
 
 
 def groups(items: dict[str, dict]) -> list[list[str]]:
@@ -116,9 +110,10 @@ def main() -> int:
   td = ThreadData(root_post_id=primary, posts=tuple(union), source_url=items[primary]["url"])
   base = CORPUS / primary
   media_dir = base / "media"
+  media_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
   for m in members:
-   gdl_download(items[m]["url"], media_dir)
-  media_names = {p.post_id: sorted(f.name for f in media_dir.glob(f"{p.post_id}_*")) for p in td.posts}
+   download_media(items[m]["td"], media_dir, COOKIES_NS)
+  media_names = {p.post_id: media_files_for_post(media_dir, p.post_id) for p in td.posts}
   media_names = {k: v for k, v in media_names.items() if v}
   n_media = sum(len(v) for v in media_names.values())
   data = thread_to_dict(td)
diff --git a/scripts/twitter_threads/download_media.py b/scripts/twitter_threads/download_media.py
index 0754e849..da8ad40f 100644
--- a/scripts/twitter_threads/download_media.py
+++ b/scripts/twitter_threads/download_media.py
@@ -1,70 +1,44 @@
-"""Download media URLs from ThreadData via stdlib urllib into a local directory."""
+"""Download a Twitter/X thread's media via gallery-dl (handles auth, 403, and video/GIF -> mp4)."""
 from __future__ import annotations
 import argparse
 import json
+import subprocess
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
-from urllib.request import urlopen
-from urllib.error import URLError
-from urllib.parse import urlparse, parse_qs
 try:
- from scripts.twitter_threads.error_types import ErrorInfo, make_error, Result, PostData, ThreadData, thread_from_dict
+ from scripts.twitter_threads.error_types import ErrorInfo, make_error, Result, ThreadData, thread_from_dict
 except ImportError:
- from error_types import ErrorInfo, make_error, Result, PostData, ThreadData, thread_from_dict
+ from error_types import ErrorInfo, make_error, Result, ThreadData, thread_from_dict
 
-def _classify(url: str) -> tuple[str, str]:
- parsed = urlparse(url)
- path = parsed.path
- if "video.twimg.com" in parsed.netloc or path.endswith(".mp4"):
-  if "tweet_video" in path:
-   return ("gif", "mp4")
-  return ("vid", "mp4")
- qs = parse_qs(parsed.query)
- fmt = qs.get("format", [""])[0]
- if fmt:
-  return ("img", fmt)
- if "." in path:
-  return ("img", path.rsplit(".", 1)[-1])
- return ("img", "jpg")
 
-def media_names_for_post(post: PostData) -> list[str]:
- counters: dict[str, int] = {}
- names: list[str] = []
- for url in post.media_urls:
-  kind, ext = _classify(url)
-  counters[kind] = counters.get(kind, 0) + 1
-  names.append(f"{post.post_id}_{kind}{counters[kind]}.{ext}")
- return names
 
-def download_media(thread: ThreadData, output_dir: Path) -> Result[list[Path]]:
+def download_media(thread: ThreadData, output_dir: Path, cookies_path: Path | None = None) -> Result[list[Path]]:
  try:
   output_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
  except OSError as e:
   return Result.err(make_error("WriteError", "download_media", str(e)))
- paths: list[Path] = []
- for post in thread.posts:
-  names = media_names_for_post(post)
-  for url, name in zip(post.media_urls, names):
-   target = output_dir / name
-   if target.exists() and target.stat().st_size > 0:
-    paths.append(target)
-    continue
-   try:
-    with urlopen(url) as resp:
-     data = resp.read()
-   except URLError as e:
-    return Result.err(make_error("HttpError", "download_media", str(e)))
-   try:
-    target.write_bytes(data)
-   except OSError as e:
-    return Result.err(make_error("WriteError", "download_media", str(e)))
-   paths.append(target)
- return Result.ok(paths)
+ args = ["gallery-dl", "-o", "text-tweets=true", "-o", "conversations=true", "-D", str(output_dir)]
+ if cookies_path is not None:
+  args += ["--cookies", str(cookies_path)]
+ args.append(thread.source_url)
+ try:
+  completed = subprocess.run(args, capture_output=True, text=True)
+ except OSError as e:
+  return Result.err(make_error("GalleryDlError", "download_media", str(e)))
+ if completed.returncode != 0:
+  return Result.err(make_error("GalleryDlError", "download_media", completed.stderr[:500]))
+ post_ids = {p.post_id for p in thread.posts}
+ files = [f for f in output_dir.rglob("*") if f.is_file() and f.name.split("_")[0] in post_ids]
+ return Result.ok(sorted(files, key=lambda f: f.name))
+
+def media_files_for_post(output_dir: Path, post_id: str) -> list[str]:
+ return sorted(f.name for f in output_dir.glob(f"{post_id}_*") if f.is_file())
 
 def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
- parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Download media for a Twitter/X thread_data.json.")
+ parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Download media for a Twitter/X thread_data.json via gallery-dl.")
  parser.add_argument("--input", type=Path, required=True, help="thread_data.json path")
  parser.add_argument("--output", type=Path, required=True, help="media output directory")
+ parser.add_argument("--cookies", type=Path, default=None, help="cookies.txt for gallery-dl auth")
  args = parser.parse_args(argv)
  try:
   raw = args.input.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
@@ -77,7 +51,7 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
   sys.stderr.write(f"error: JsonParseError: {e}\n")
   return 1
  thread = thread_from_dict(data)
- result = download_media(thread, args.output)
+ result = download_media(thread, args.output, args.cookies)
  if not result.is_ok:
   sys.stderr.write(f"error: {result.error.kind}: {result.error.detail}\n")
   return 1
diff --git a/scripts/twitter_threads/render_markdown.py b/scripts/twitter_threads/render_markdown.py
index 98ab734d..057bc3cd 100644
--- a/scripts/twitter_threads/render_markdown.py
+++ b/scripts/twitter_threads/render_markdown.py
@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@ def _render_yaml(thread: ThreadData, title: str) -> list[str]:
   "---",
  ]
 
+def _media_line(index: int, name: str) -> str:
+ ext = name.rsplit(".", 1)[-1].lower() if "." in name else ""
+ if ext in ("mp4", "mov", "webm", "m4v"):
+  return f'<video controls src="./media/{name}"></video>'
+ if ext in ("jpg", "jpeg", "png", "gif", "webp", "bmp"):
+  return f"![Media {index}](./media/{name})"
+ return f"[Media {index}](./media/{name})"
+
 def _render_post(post: PostData, n: int, id_to_index: dict[str, int], media_names: dict[str, list[str]]) -> list[str]:
  lines: list[str] = []
  header = f"## Post {n} ({post.timestamp})"
@@ -58,7 +66,7 @@ def _render_post(post: PostData, n: int, id_to_index: dict[str, int], media_name
  names = media_names.get(post.post_id, [])
  if names:
   for k, name in enumerate(names, start=1):
-   lines.append(f"[Media {k}](./media/{name})")
+   lines.append(_media_line(k, name))
   lines.append("")
  return lines
 
diff --git a/tests/test_twitter_threads_media.py b/tests/test_twitter_threads_media.py
index e5f4401a..ad753bac 100644
--- a/tests/test_twitter_threads_media.py
+++ b/tests/test_twitter_threads_media.py
@@ -1,82 +1,62 @@
-"""Tests for scripts.twitter_threads.download_media: naming and HTTP download contract."""
-from __future__ import annotations
 
+"""Tests for scripts.twitter_threads.download_media gallery-dl subprocess contract."""
+from __future__ import annotations
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-from urllib.error import URLError
-
 import pytest
-
 from scripts.twitter_threads.error_types import PostMetrics, PostData, ThreadData
-from scripts.twitter_threads.download_media import media_names_for_post, download_media
+from scripts.twitter_threads.download_media import download_media, media_files_for_post
 
 
-class _FakeResp:
- def __init__(self, data: bytes) -> None:
-  self._data = data
- def read(self) -> bytes:
-  return self._data
- def __enter__(self) -> "_FakeResp":
-  return self
- def __exit__(self, *a: object) -> bool:
-  return False
-
-
-def _post(post_id: str, media_urls: tuple[str, ...]) -> PostData:
+def _post(post_id: str) -> PostData:
  metrics = PostMetrics(reply_count=0, repost_count=0, like_count=0, view_count=None)
- return PostData(post_id=post_id, author="Tim", handle="NOTimothyLottes", text="t", timestamp="2024-02-01T00:00:00Z", media_urls=media_urls, reply_to_id=None, quote_of_id=None, metrics=metrics)
+ return PostData(post_id=post_id, author="Tim", handle="NOTimothyLottes", text="t", timestamp="2024-02-01T00:00:00Z", media_urls=(), reply_to_id=None, quote_of_id=None, metrics=metrics)
 
 
-def test_media_names_for_post() -> None:
- post = _post("123", ("https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A?format=jpg&name=large", "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B?format=png&name=large"))
- assert media_names_for_post(post) == ["123_img1.jpg", "123_img2.png"]
+def _thread(post_id: str) -> ThreadData:
+ return ThreadData(root_post_id=post_id, posts=(_post(post_id),), source_url=f"https://x.com/x/status/{post_id}")
 
 
-def test_media_names_video() -> None:
- post = _post("123", ("https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1/pu/vid/1280x720/1234567890.mp4",))
- assert media_names_for_post(post) == ["123_vid1.mp4"]
+def test_download_collects_matching_files(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+ mediadir = tmp_path / "m"
+ mediadir.mkdir()
+ (mediadir / "123_1.jpg").write_bytes(b"x")
+ (mediadir / "123_2.png").write_bytes(b"x")
+ (mediadir / "999_1.jpg").write_bytes(b"x")
+ with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.subprocess.run", MagicMock(return_value=MagicMock(returncode=0))):
+  r = download_media(_thread("123"), mediadir)
+ assert r.is_ok
+ names = [p.name for p in r.data]
+ assert "123_1.jpg" in names
+ assert "123_2.png" in names
+ assert "999_1.jpg" not in names
 
 
-def test_download_naming(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
- post = _post("123", ("https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A?format=jpg&name=large", "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B?format=png&name=large"))
- thread = ThreadData(root_post_id="123", posts=(post,), source_url="https://x.com/x/x/123")
- with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.urlopen", return_value=_FakeResp(b"bytes")):
-  result = download_media(thread, tmp_path)
- assert result.is_ok
- assert (tmp_path / "123_img1.jpg").exists()
- assert (tmp_path / "123_img2.png").exists()
- assert result.data is not None
- names = [p.name for p in result.data]
- assert "123_img1.jpg" in names
- assert "123_img2.png" in names
+def test_download_invokes_gallery_dl_with_url_and_cookies(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+ mediadir = tmp_path / "m"
+ ck = tmp_path / "cookies.txt"
+ ck.write_text("x", encoding="utf-8")
+ with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.subprocess.run", MagicMock(return_value=MagicMock(returncode=0))) as mock:
+  download_media(_thread("55"), mediadir, ck)
+ assert mock.called
+ args = mock.call_args.args[0]
+ assert "gallery-dl" in args[0] or args[0] == "gallery-dl"
+ assert "https://x.com/x/status/55" in args
+ assert "--cookies" in args
+ assert str(ck) in args
 
 
-def test_download_video_naming(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
- post = _post("123", ("https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1/pu/vid/1280x720/1234567890.mp4",))
- thread = ThreadData(root_post_id="123", posts=(post,), source_url="https://x.com/x/x/123")
- with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.urlopen", return_value=_FakeResp(b"vid")):
-  result = download_media(thread, tmp_path)
- assert (tmp_path / "123_vid1.mp4").exists()
+def test_download_gallery_dl_error(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+ with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.subprocess.run", MagicMock(return_value=MagicMock(returncode=1, stderr="boom"))):
+  r = download_media(_thread("123"), tmp_path / "m")
+ assert r.is_ok is False
+ assert r.error.kind == "GalleryDlError"
 
 
-def test_download_idempotent(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
- post = _post("123", ("https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A?format=jpg&name=large",))
- thread = ThreadData(root_post_id="123", posts=(post,), source_url="https://x.com/x/x/123")
- name = media_names_for_post(post)[0]
- (tmp_path / name).write_bytes(b"already")
- mock_urlopen = MagicMock()
- with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.urlopen", mock_urlopen):
-  result = download_media(thread, tmp_path)
- assert result.is_ok
- mock_urlopen.assert_not_called()
- assert (tmp_path / name).read_bytes() == b"already"
-
-
-def test_download_http_error(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
- post = _post("123", ("https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A?format=jpg&name=large",))
- thread = ThreadData(root_post_id="123", posts=(post,), source_url="https://x.com/x/x/123")
- with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.urlopen", side_effect=URLError("boom")):
-  result = download_media(thread, tmp_path)
- assert result.is_ok is False
- assert result.error is not None
- assert result.error.kind == "HttpError"
\ No newline at end of file
+def test_media_files_for_post(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+ d = tmp_path / "m"
+ d.mkdir()
+ (d / "123_1.jpg").write_bytes(b"x")
+ (d / "123_2.png").write_bytes(b"x")
+ (d / "999_1.jpg").write_bytes(b"x")
+ assert media_files_for_post(d, "123") == ["123_1.jpg", "123_2.png"]
diff --git a/tests/test_twitter_threads_pipeline.py b/tests/test_twitter_threads_pipeline.py
index 49f5ec2b..7decb949 100644
--- a/tests/test_twitter_threads_pipeline.py
+++ b/tests/test_twitter_threads_pipeline.py
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
 from pathlib import Path
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
 
 import pytest
 
 from scripts.twitter_threads.error_types import PostMetrics, PostData, ThreadData, thread_from_dict
 from scripts.twitter_threads.fetch_thread import fetch_thread_from_html, thread_to_dict
-from scripts.twitter_threads.download_media import media_names_for_post, download_media, main as download_main
+from scripts.twitter_threads.download_media import download_media, main as download_main
 from scripts.twitter_threads.render_markdown import render_markdown, main as render_main
 
 
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ def test_pipeline_html_to_markdown(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
  assert res.is_ok
  td = res.data
  assert td is not None
- media_names = {p.post_id: media_names_for_post(p) for p in td.posts if p.media_urls}
+ media_names = {"10": ["10_img1.jpg"]}
  out = tmp_path / "thread.md"
  rr = render_markdown(td, media_names, out)
  assert rr.is_ok
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def test_pipeline_html_to_markdown(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
  assert "## Post 1" in text
  assert "## Post 2" in text
  assert "reply to Post 1" in text
- assert "[Media 1](./media/10_img1.jpg)" in text
+ assert "![Media 1](./media/10_img1.jpg)" in text
 
 
 def test_download_cli(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
@@ -76,10 +76,12 @@ def test_download_cli(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
  thread_data_json = tmp_path / "thread_data.json"
  thread_data_json.write_text(json.dumps(thread_to_dict(t)), encoding="utf-8")
  mediadir = tmp_path / "media"
- with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.urlopen", return_value=_FakeResp(b"x")):
+ mediadir.mkdir()
+ (mediadir / "5_1.jpg").write_bytes(b"x")
+ with patch("scripts.twitter_threads.download_media.subprocess.run", MagicMock(return_value=MagicMock(returncode=0))):
   code = download_main(["--input", str(thread_data_json), "--output", str(mediadir)])
  assert code == 0
- assert (mediadir / "5_img1.jpg").exists()
+ assert (mediadir / "5_1.jpg").exists()
 
 
 def test_render_cli(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
diff --git a/tests/test_twitter_threads_render.py b/tests/test_twitter_threads_render.py
index 2a9302af..11dc5c3a 100644
--- a/tests/test_twitter_threads_render.py
+++ b/tests/test_twitter_threads_render.py
@@ -77,9 +77,9 @@ def test_render_media_links(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
  result = render_markdown(thread, media_names, out)
  assert result.is_ok
  text = out.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
- assert "[Media 1](./media/123_img1.jpg)" in text
- assert "[Media 2](./media/123_img2.jpg)" in text
- assert "[Media 3](./media/123_vid1.mp4)" in text
+ assert "![Media 1](./media/123_img1.jpg)" in text
+ assert "![Media 2](./media/123_img2.jpg)" in text
+ assert '<video controls src="./media/123_vid1.mp4"></video>' in text
 
 
 def test_render_view_count_null(tmp_path: Path) -> None: