Better error on blocked IP - tokenMinter is not a function error on POST /youtubei/v1/player

[woo-youngpaca]

Hi, I'm trying to use Invidious Companion but I'm getting the following error when making a request to /youtubei/v1/player
My config file seems to be recognized, but this error happens whenever I call the player endpoint.
Any idea what might be causing this error?

<-- POST /youtubei/v1/player
TypeError: tokenMinter is not a function
at youtubePlayerReq (file:///tmp/deno-compile-invidious_companion/src/lib/helpers/youtubePlayerReq.ts:49:34)
at youtubePlayerParsing (file:///tmp/deno-compile-invidious_companion/src/lib/helpers/youtubePlayerHandling.ts:46:45)
at eventLoopTick (ext:core/01_core.js:179:7)
at async file:///tmp/deno-compile-invidious_companion/src/routes/youtube_api_routes/player.ts:13:13
at async dispatch (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.4/src/compose.ts:51:17)
at async bearerAuth (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.4/src/middleware/bearer-auth/index.ts:157:5)
at async dispatch (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.4/src/compose.ts:51:17)
at async logger (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.4/src/middleware/logger/index.ts:91:5)
at async dispatch (https://jsr.io/@hono/hono/4.7.4/src/compose.ts:51:17)
at async file:///tmp/deno-compile-invidious_companion/src/main.ts:121:5
--> POST /youtubei/v1/player 500 6ms

[Fijxu]

How are you running invidious companion? Does this error happens just after starting companion or after some time? I've never seen this error and I cannot reproduce it either. Please provide as much detail as possible ;)

[woo-youngpaca]

[Environment]

• Hosting: Vultr VPS
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04
• Crystal: 1.14.1
• Deno: 2.4.3
• Invidious: v2.20250517.0
• invidious-companion: master branche

[Config]

• domain: youtube.mydomain.xyz
• ip: localhost
• port: 3000
• dbname: invidious
• dbpass: my_password
• https only: true

I followed the Linux Manual Installation method as described in the official documentation.
Running behind nginx reverse proxy with a custom domain. Internally, communication happens via localhost.
The error occurs when I access a video playback page. It happens immediately at that moment.

[woo-youngpaca]

I conducted a test by installing Invidious and Invidious-Companion on both my local computer and a Vultr VPS using exactly the same setup process.

Everything worked perfectly on my local machine, but an error occurred only on the Vultr VPS.

The most likely cause is that YouTube has blocked the IP range used by Vultr, which results in a failure to obtain the PO token, leading to the error.

[Fijxu]

Cool, thanks for testing, I'll let your know that is not possible to use Invidious and Invidious companion to watch videos in a Vultr VPS since YouTube blocked those providers.

Read iv-org/invidious#4734 (comment)

Still, I would like to add a better message when this error happens so I think we will keep this open.