Introduction

Udacity is one of the best platforms for open education, particularly in computer science and technology domains. What makes Udacity special is that many of its high-quality courses remain freely accessible, even as the platform has grown to offer premium Nanodegree programs.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of downloading Udacity courses for offline viewing using Udacimak, a powerful Node.js-based command-line tool. Whether you want to download free courses or Nanodegree programs you've purchased, this tutorial has you covered.

Note: This guide has been updated for 2025 with the latest information and best practices for using Udacimak.

Why Download Udacity Courses?

There are several compelling reasons to download Udacity courses:

Offline access: Learn without requiring an internet connection
Permanent access: Keep courses even if Udacity changes its offerings
Better organization: Structure content in a way that works for your learning style
Faster navigation: Eliminate loading times between lessons and videos
Avoid distractions: Focus solely on learning without browser notifications

What is Udacimak?

Udacimak is an open-source command-line tool specifically designed for downloading and rendering Udacity course content. The name "Udacimak" combines "Udacity" and "makefile." It allows you to:

Download course content in JSON format
Render the downloaded JSON files into well-organized HTML pages
Access all course materials offline, including videos, quizzes, and exercises

Prerequisites

Before getting started with Udacimak, you'll need:

A computer running Windows, macOS, or Linux
Basic familiarity with command-line interfaces
A Udacity account with enrolled courses
Node.js and npm installed on your system

Step 1: Install Node.js and npm

Udacimak requires Node.js to run. Here's how to install it on different operating systems:

For Debian-based Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, Raspbian)

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

For macOS (using Homebrew)

brew install node

For Windows

Download the installer from the official Node.js website
Run the installer and follow the installation wizard
Verify the installation by opening Command Prompt and typing:

node --version
npm --version

Both commands should display version numbers if the installation was successful.

Step 2: Install Udacimak

Once Node.js and npm are installed, you can install Udacimak globally using npm:

sudo npm install -g udacimak --unsafe-perm=true --allow-root

For Windows users (without sudo):

npm install -g udacimak

To verify the installation, run:

udacimak --version

If installed correctly, this should display the current version of Udacimak.

Step 3: Authenticate with Udacity

Before downloading any courses, you need to authenticate Udacimak with your Udacity account:

Log in to your Udacity account in a web browser
Open Developer Tools (press F12 or right-click and select "Inspect")
Navigate to the "Application" tab
Under "Storage," expand "Cookies" and select the Udacity domain
Find the cookie named _jwt and copy its value

Now, set the authentication token in Udacimak:

udacimak settoken YOUR_UDACITY_AUTH_TOKEN

Replace YOUR_UDACITY_AUTH_TOKEN with the _jwt cookie value you copied.

Step 4: Download Course Content

Udacimak works in two phases:

First, it downloads course content as JSON files
Then, it renders these JSON files into browsable HTML content

Finding Course IDs

To download a course, you need its Course ID. You can find this in the URL of the course. For example:

For a course at https://classroom.udacity.com/courses/ud1337, the ID is ud1337
For a nanodegree at https://classroom.udacity.com/nanodegrees/nd0044, convert it to nd0044

Downloading a Single Course

To download a specific course:

udacimak download --targetdir ~/UdacityCourses/json ud1337

This will download the course with ID ud1337 to the specified directory.

Downloading Multiple Courses

You can download multiple courses at once by listing their IDs:

udacimak download --targetdir ~/UdacityCourses/json ud1337 ud1338 ud1339

Setting a Default Download Directory

To avoid typing the target directory every time, set a default download directory:

udacimak setdir ~/UdacityCourses/json

After this, you can simply use:

udacimak download ud1337 ud1338

Step 5: Render Downloaded Content

After downloading the JSON files, you need to render them into a browsable format:

udacimak renderdir ~/UdacityCourses/json --targetdir ~/UdacityCourses/rendered

This command will process all the JSON files in the source directory and create organized HTML files in the target directory.

Advanced Udacimak Features

Downloading and Rendering in One Step

For convenience, you can download and render in a single command:

udacimak render ud1337 --targetdir ~/UdacityCourses/rendered

Tracking Your Downloaded Courses

To list all your downloaded Udacity courses:

udacimak listdir ~/UdacityCourses/json

Downloading YouTube Videos at Different Qualities

You can specify the video quality for YouTube videos:

udacimak download --videoQuality 720 ud1337

Available options include: 144, 240, 360, 480, 720, and 1080.

Downloading Specific Parts of a Course

To download only certain parts of a course:

udacimak download --targetdir ~/UdacityCourses/json --chapter 1,2,3 ud1337

This downloads only chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the course.

Popular Udacity Course IDs

Here's a collection of IDs for popular Udacity Nanodegrees and free courses, categorized by subject area:

Popular Nanodegree Programs

Front-End Web Developer Nanodegree

ud304 ud893 ud882 ud804 ud245 ud015 ud292 ud884 ud860 ud110 ud989 ud549

Full Stack Web Developer Nanodegree

ud206 ud775 ud456 ud303 ud256 ud197 ud088 ud330 ud388 ud299 ud891 ud989 ud110

Senior Web Developer Nanodegree

ud890 ud892 ud898 ud899 ud891 ud894 ud897

Data Analyst Nanodegree

ud827 ud201 ud170 ud032 ud651 ud120 ud507 ud304 ud804 ud257

Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree

ud827 ud359 cs271 ud600 ud730 cs373 ud501

Android Developer Nanodegree

ud851 ud855 ud867 ud862 ud875A

Free Courses by Category

Artificial Intelligence

cs271 cs373 ud104 ud120 ud185 ud187 ud188 ud257 ud262 ud381 ud409 ud501 ud507 ud600 ud617 ud651 ud741 ud758 ud810 ud827 ud919 ud953 ud954

Data Science

ud150 ud170 ud198 ud201 ud359 ud404

Programming and Development

cs212 cs215 cs258 cs259 cs262 cs291 cs313 cs387 ph100 ps001 st095 st101 ud001 ud007 ud032 ud0351 ud0352 ud061 ud088 ud098 ud1000 ud1006 ud1009 ud1012 ud1022 ud1025 ud1026 ud1028 ud1031 ud1034 ud1038 ud109 ud110 ud1110 ud117 ud123 ud1337 ud150 ud162 ud168 ud169 ud171 ud667 ud189 ud197 ud199 ud206 ud210 ud245 ud256 ud268 ud270 ud272 ud279 ud281 ud282 ud283 ud292 ud299 ud303 ud325 ud330 ud333 ud353 ud354 ud356 ud357 ud358 ud388 ud400 ud401 ud405 ud406 ud407 ud421 ud436 ud459 ud549 ud576 ud585 ud595 ud607 ud610 ud611 ud615 ud711 ud774 ud777 ud788 ud803 ud805 ud808 ud811 ud821 ud825 ud834 ud836 ud839 ud843 ud845 ud849 ud851 ud855 ud860 ud862 ud864 ud867 ud875C ud882 ud884 ud888 ud890 ud891 ud892 ud893 ud894 ud897 ud898 ud899 ud9011 ud9012 ud902 ud905 ud923 ud989 ud994

Business

ep245 ud509 ud518 ud719 ud723 ud806 ud976 ud977 ud978 ud979 ud980 ud981

Career

ud1001 ud1011 ud240 ud241 ud242 ud243 ud244 ud250 ud251 ud252 ud513 ud944

Downloading All Free Courses

If you want to download all available free Udacity courses, you can use the following commands:

First, download all the course content:

udacimak download --targetdir ~/UdacityCourses/json cs271 cs373 ud104 ud120 ud185 ud187 ud188 ud257 ud262 ud381 ud409 ud501 ud507 ud600 ud617 ud651 ud741 ud758 ud810 ud827 ud919 ud953 ud954 ud150 ud170 ud198 ud201 ud359 ud404 cs212 cs215 cs258 cs259 cs262 cs291 cs313 cs387 ph100 ps001 st095 st101 ud001 ud007 ud032 ud0351 ud0352 ud061 ud088 ud098 ud1000 ud1006 ud1009 ud1012 ud1022 ud1025 ud1026 ud1028 ud1031 ud1034 ud1038 ud109 ud110 ud1110 ud117 ud123 ud1337 ud150 ud162 ud168 ud169 ud171 ud667 ud189 ud197 ud199 ud206 ud210 ud245 ud256 ud268 ud270 ud272 ud279 ud281 ud282 ud283 ud292 ud299 ud303 ud325 ud330 ud333 ud353 ud354 ud356 ud357 ud358 ud388 ud400 ud401 ud405 ud406 ud407 ud421 ud436 ud459 ud549 ud576 ud585 ud595 ud607 ud610 ud611 ud615 ud711 ud774 ud777 ud788 ud803 ud805 ud808 ud811 ud821 ud825 ud834 ud836 ud839 ud843 ud845 ud849 ud851 ud855 ud860 ud862 ud864 ud867 ud875C ud882 ud884 ud888 ud890 ud891 ud892 ud893 ud894 ud897 ud898 ud899 ud9011 ud9012 ud902 ud905 ud923 ud989 ud994 ud0419 cs222 ud9876 ep245 ud509 ud518 ud719 ud723 ud806 ud976 ud977 ud978 ud979 ud980 ud981 ud1001 ud1011 ud240 ud241 ud242 ud243 ud244 ud250 ud251 ud252 ud513 ud944

Then, render all the downloaded content:

udacimak renderdir ~/UdacityCourses/json --targetdir ~/UdacityCourses/rendered

Warning: Downloading all courses will require significant disk space (potentially several hundred GB) and may take many hours or even days depending on your internet connection.

Creating a Shell Script for Batch Downloads

For more organized batch downloads, you can create a shell script:

Create a file named download-udacity.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/bash

# Set the base directories
JSON_DIR="$HOME/UdacityCourses/json"
RENDER_DIR="$HOME/UdacityCourses/rendered"

# Create directories if they don't exist
mkdir -p "$JSON_DIR"
mkdir -p "$RENDER_DIR"

# Function to download and render a category of courses
download_category() {
    category_name=$1
    shift
    course_ids=$@
    
    echo "Downloading $category_name courses..."
    udacimak download --targetdir "$JSON_DIR" $course_ids
    
    echo "Rendering $category_name courses..."
    udacimak renderdir "$JSON_DIR" --targetdir "$RENDER_DIR"
}

# Download courses by category
download_category "Web Development" ud304 ud893 ud882 ud804 ud245 ud884 ud860 ud110
download_category "Data Science" ud827 ud201 ud170 ud032 ud120 ud507
download_category "Machine Learning" ud827 ud600 ud730 ud501

Make the script executable:

chmod +x download-udacity.sh

Run the script:

./download-udacity.sh

This approach allows you to download courses in organized batches and provides better error handling.

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

If you encounter authentication problems:

Make sure your Udacity account is still active
Refresh your auth token by logging out and back in, then updating it with udacimak settoken
Check if you have access to the course you're trying to download

Download Failures

If downloads fail:

Check your internet connection
Verify that the course ID is correct
Make sure you have enough disk space
Try downloading one course at a time

Rendering Problems

If rendering fails:

Check that the JSON files were downloaded correctly
Make sure you have read/write permissions for the target directory
Try rendering one course at a time

Keeping Udacimak Updated

To ensure you have the latest features and bug fixes, regularly update Udacimak:

npm update -g udacimak

Ethical Considerations

While Udacimak makes it easy to download content from Udacity, please use this tool ethically:

Only download courses you're enrolled in or that are freely available
Don't share downloaded materials publicly or commercially
Consider supporting Udacity by enrolling in paid programs if you find their content valuable
Respect Udacity's Terms of Service and intellectual property rights

Conclusion

Udacimak is a powerful tool that allows you to download and organize Udacity courses for offline learning. By following this guide, you can build your personal library of high-quality educational content and learn at your own pace, even without an internet connection.

For those interested in downloading courses from other platforms, check out my guide on downloading Coursera courses using coursera-dlp.

Happy learning!

Additional Resources