Basic Usage Single File Upload Simplest form - interactive folder selection:
./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/song.mp3
What happens:
Interactive folder browser opens
Use arrow keys to select destination
File downloads with progress bar
Uploads to selected folder
Direct Upload to Folder Skip interactive mode:
./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Music" https://example.com/song.mp3
What happens:
Searches for “Music” folder (creates if doesn’t exist)
Downloads file
Uploads directly to Music folder
Multiple Files Command-Line Arguments ./gdrive_ingest.sh url1.mp3 url2.mp3 url3.mp3
Process:
Folder selection once at start
All files download and upload sequentially
Progress shown for each file
Comma-Separated URLs ./gdrive_ingest.sh "url1.mp3,url2.mp3,url3.mp3"
Use quotes when passing comma-separated URLs.
From JSON File Create downloads.json:
[ "https://example.com/file1.mp3" , "https://example.com/file2.zip" , "https://example.com/file3.mp4" , "https://t.me/channel/123" ]
Then run:
./gdrive_ingest.sh --json downloads.json
Benefits:
Organize URLs in a file
Easy to edit and reuse
Mix different file types
Include Telegram links
Music Files Single Song ./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/song.mp3
Result: Music/ └── Artist Name/ └── Album Title (2025)/ ├── song.mp3 └── cover.jpg
Features:
Extracts artist, album, title, year from ID3 tags
Creates folder structure automatically
Extracts embedded cover art
Cleans metadata (removes website spam)
Album (Multiple Songs) ./gdrive_ingest.sh \ https://example.com/track01.mp3 \ https://example.com/track02.mp3 \ https://example.com/track03.mp3
Result: Music/ └── Artist Name/ └── Album Title (2025)/ ├── 01 - First Track.mp3 ├── 02 - Second Track.mp3 ├── 03 - Third Track.mp3 └── cover.jpg (extracted once)
Smart features:
Cover art extracted from first track only
Prompts before uploading to existing album
Groups all tracks in same album folder
./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/single.mp3
If album tag is missing:
Music/ └── Artist Name/ └── single.mp3 (no album folder)
Telegram Downloads Public Channel ./gdrive_ingest.sh https://t.me/musicchannel/456
Requirements:
Telethon installed (pip install telethon)
Telegram API credentials in .env
First-time: phone number + verification code
Private Channel ./gdrive_ingest.sh https://t.me/c/1234567890/789
Requirements:
Same as public channel
You must be a member of the private channel
Multiple Telegram Files ./gdrive_ingest.sh \ https://t.me/channel/123 \ https://t.me/channel/124 \ https://t.me/channel/125
Mixed URLs (Telegram + Regular) ./gdrive_ingest.sh \ https://t.me/channel/123 \ https://example.com/song.mp3 \ https://t.me/channel/456
All URLs processed in order with same destination folder.
ZIP Files Extract and Upload ./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/archive.zip
Interactive prompt: 📦 ZIP detected Extract and upload files? (y/n): y
If you choose ‘y’: Folders/ └── archive/ ├── file1.txt ├── file2.jpg └── file3.pdf
If you choose ‘n’: Others/ └── archive.zip (uploaded as-is)
Album ZIP ZIP containing music files:
./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/album.zip
Prompt to extract: Extract and upload files? (y/n): y Extracting... ✓ Extracted
Result: Music/ └── Artist Name/ └── Album Title (2025)/ ├── 01 - Track.mp3 ├── 02 - Track.mp3 └── cover.jpg
Music files are organized by metadata, not the ZIP structure.
Advanced Workflows Batch Download Music Create music.json:
[ "https://example.com/artist1-album1.zip" , "https://example.com/artist2-song.mp3" , "https://t.me/musicchannel/123" , "https://example.com/artist3-album2.zip" ]
Run:
./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Music" --json music.json
Result:
All music organized by artist/album
Cover art extracted automatically
Duplicates skipped
Upload to Nested Folder Upload directly to a specific artist folder:
# First, get the folder ID # Option 1: Use interactive mode once to see folder IDs ./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/test.mp3 # Note the folder ID when you navigate # Option 2: Use folder ID directly ./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "1hU4H0PO_ifwGP47UZHwbc2w89Y7V_YPn" \ https://example.com/song.mp3
Backup Workflow Backup script integration:
#!/bin/bash # Daily backup to Google Drive DATE = $( date +%Y-%m-%d ) BACKUP_URL = "https://backup.example.com/daily- $DATE .zip" ./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Backups" " $BACKUP_URL "
Run daily via cron:
0 3 * * * /path/to/backup.sh
Download Playlist Create playlist.json with all track URLs:
[ "https://example.com/track01.mp3" , "https://example.com/track02.mp3" , "https://example.com/track03.mp3" , "https://example.com/track04.mp3" , "https://example.com/track05.mp3" ]
Upload:
./gdrive_ingest.sh --json playlist.json
Result:
Interactive folder selection (once)
All tracks organized by artist/album
Shared albums get one cover art
Duplicate detection prevents re-uploads
Debug Mode Test Before Upload ./gdrive_ingest.sh --debug https://example.com/song.mp3
Shows: Downloading: song.mp3 → Would download: curl -L -o '/tmp/song.mp3_12345' 'https://...' Metadata: Don Toliver|Tiramisu|Tiramisu|2025 → Checking duplicate for: 'song.mp3' in folder: 1hU4H0PO_... → No duplicate found → Would upload song.mp3 from /tmp/song.mp3_12345 → Would upload cover.jpg
No actual:
Download
Upload
API modifications
Perfect for:
Testing credentials
Verifying folder structure
Understanding file organization
Troubleshooting issues
./gdrive_ingest.sh --debug https://example.com/unknown.mp3
Check output for: Metadata: Artist|Album|Title|Year
If shows Unknown Artist|Unknown Album|Unknown Title|:
File has no metadata
Won’t be organized by artist/album
Will upload to category folder (Music/)
Special Cases Upload to Root Skip all organization, upload to Drive root:
# In interactive mode, don't select any folder # Press 'q' to quit and it will default to root # OR use empty folder name (if script allows) ./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "" https://example.com/file.txt
Files uploaded to root are not organized and may be hard to find later.
Handle Existing Album When uploading to an album that already exists:
⚠ Album folder "Album Name (2025)" already exists Upload to existing folder? [Y/n]:
Options:
Press Y or Enter: Upload to existing album
Press N: Upload to Music root (un-nested)
Use case:
Adding more tracks to an album
Replacing tracks
Uploading deluxe edition tracks
For files without any metadata:
./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/podcast.mp3
Result: Music/ └── podcast.mp3 (no artist/album folder)
Or manually specify folder:
./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Podcasts" https://example.com/podcast.mp3
Error Handling Duplicate Detection ./gdrive_ingest.sh https://example.com/song.mp3
If file already exists:
🔐 MD5: 6d2300f6a025e07ad87991b31023da6a ⛘ Already exists, skipping
Benefits:
Prevents duplicate uploads
Saves bandwidth
Saves storage space
Failed Download ./gdrive_ingest.sh https://invalid-url.com/file.mp3
Output: ⬇ Downloading file.mp3... ✗ Download failed
Script continues to next URL if multiple URLs provided.
Upload Failure If upload fails:
⬆ Uploading 8.52MB... ✗ Upload failed API Error: Quota exceeded
Common causes:
Storage quota exceeded
Invalid credentials
Network issues
File permissions
See Troubleshooting for solutions.
Batch Processing Process multiple files in one run to reuse folder selection
Use JSON Files Organize URLs in JSON for easier management
Direct Folder Use --folder flag to skip interactive mode
Debug First Test with --debug before large uploads
Automation Examples Cron Job for Daily Backups # Add to crontab: crontab -e # Daily at 3 AM 0 3 * * * /path/to/gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Backups" "https://backup.server/daily.zip" # Weekly on Sunday at 2 AM 0 2 * * 0 /path/to/gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Weekly" "https://backup.server/weekly.tar.gz"
Download Script #!/bin/bash # Read URLs from file (one per line) while IFS = read -r url ; do ./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Music" " $url " sleep 2 # Rate limiting done < urls.txt
Telegram Channel Scraper #!/bin/bash # Download all messages from channel (manually create list) CHANNEL = "musicchannel" for i in { 100..200} ; do ./gdrive_ingest.sh --folder "Music" "https://t.me/ $CHANNEL / $i " sleep 3 # Avoid rate limiting done
Respect Telegram’s rate limits. Add sleep between downloads to avoid bans.
Next Steps
File Organization Learn how files are organized
Interactive Features Master keyboard controls
Troubleshooting Fix common issues
Telegram Integration Set up Telegram downloads