For a similar usecase I settled on writing a bash script along the lines of PARAM=`xclip -o -selection clipboard` notify-send downloading $PARAM youtube-

For a similar usecase I settled on writing a bash script along the lines of PARAM=`xclip -o -selection clipboard` notify-send downloading $PARAM youtube-dl $PARAM And setting a keyboard shortcut to invoke it, so downloading is just CTRL+L (select URL) CTRL+C (copy selection) CTRL+ALT+D (trigger download script)