Yt Upload

Upload to YouTube and manage existing videos using the YouTube Data API v3. Use this instead of Blotato for any long-form YouTube work — Blotato cannot expose the tags field, cannot edit existing videos, and cannot post comments.

Setup Check

The skill reuses your existing Google OAuth client at ~/credentials.json (same one Drive and Gmail use). The first run will need to authorize the YouTube scopes — that's a one-time browser flow.

python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py auth

A browser opens, you approve both scopes (youtube.upload + youtube.force-ssl), token saves to ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/token.json.

If you see "missing OAuth client" error: ~/credentials.json was deleted. Tell the user to re-export from Google Cloud Console.

Subcommands

All actions go through one CLI: python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py <subcommand> [args]. Outputs JSON on stdout for downstream parsing.

upload — schedule or publish a long-form video

python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py upload \
  --video "/Users/tylerreed/Downloads/claude design in 23 minutes.mp4" \
  --title "Claude Design + Claude Code: Prompt to Live URL in 23 Minutes" \
  --description-file ~/content/youtube/claude-design/description.md \
  --tags-file ~/content/youtube/claude-design/tags.txt \
  --thumbnail ~/content/youtube/claude-design/thumbnail-final.jpg \
  --category 28 \
  --privacy private \
  --publish-at 2026-04-26T13:00:00-04:00

• --privacy private --publish-at <ISO 8601> schedules. YouTube auto-flips to public at that time.
• --privacy public (without --publish-at) publishes immediately.
• --privacy unlisted for share-link-only.
• --no-notify to skip subscriber notifications. Default is to notify.
• --made-for-kids if applicable. Default is no.
• Categories: 22 = People & Blogs, 27 = Education, 28 = Science & Technology (default for tech tutorials).
• Tags: pass via --tags "tag1,tag2,..." OR --tags-file path (comma-separated or one per line). YouTube caps the field at 500 chars total — script auto-truncates from the end and warns.

The description file should be plain text. If you have a description.md with a markdown H1 and --- frontmatter, strip those before passing — or pass the body section only.

update — edit metadata on an already-uploaded video

python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py update VIDEO_ID --title "New title"
python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py update VIDEO_ID --description-file new.md
python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py update VIDEO_ID --tags-file tags.txt
python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py update VIDEO_ID --privacy public
python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py update VIDEO_ID --publish-at 2026-05-01T13:00:00-04:00

Only specified fields are updated; everything else is preserved (the script reads current snippet/status first).

thumbnail — replace thumbnail on a published video

python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py thumbnail VIDEO_ID --image ~/content/youtube/claude-design/thumbnail-backup-A.jpg

Image must be JPG or PNG, under 2 MB. If your source thumbnail is bigger:

sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 80 input.png --out output.jpg

comment — post a top-level comment or reply

# Top-level comment on a video
python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py comment VIDEO_ID --text "🎯 link to my Skool community in the description!"

# Reply to a specific comment
python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py comment --reply-to COMMENT_ID --text "thanks!"

list — list my recent uploads

python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py list --max 10

Returns JSON array with video_id, title, published_at, url for each. Useful when you want to find a video ID without opening the browser.

get — fetch full metadata for a single video

python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py get VIDEO_ID

Returns title, description, tags, category, privacy_status, publish_at, duration, stats (views/likes/comments), URL.

Common workflows

Schedule a longform video (replaces Blotato YouTube uploads)

1. Pull the title from ~/content/youtube/<slug>/titles.md (recommended title).
2. Strip the H1 and frontmatter from ~/content/youtube/<slug>/description.md and write to a temp file.
3. Pull tags from the Tags: line at the bottom of description.md and write to a temp file.
4. Compress thumbnail if > 2 MB:

   sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 80 input.png --out output.jpg
   

5. Upload with --publish-at set to your chosen time in his timezone (Eastern).
6. Save the video_id to ~/content/youtube/<slug>/youtube_video_id.txt so future updates can find it.

Swap a thumbnail because CTR is weak

1. Find the video_id (yt.py list --max 10 if needed).
2. Compress backup thumbnail to JPG < 2 MB.
3. Run yt.py thumbnail VIDEO_ID --image NEW.jpg.
4. Append a note to ~/content/youtube/<slug>/fallbacks.md under "Thumbnail change log" with date + reason.

Edit a title or description after publish

1. Edit ~/content/youtube/<slug>/description.md or titles.md first (single source of truth).
2. Run yt.py update VIDEO_ID --title "..." or --description-file path.
3. If swapping the title to an A/B backup, also note it in fallbacks.md.

Post a comment

python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py comment VIDEO_ID --text "$(cat comment.txt)"

Rules

• Always confirm before scheduling/uploading, even if approved earlier in the session (matches feedback_confirm_before_scheduling.md).
• Description bodies must not contain em dashes — replace with hyphens before sending (matches feedback_no_em_dashes.md).
• Strip the H1 and --- frontmatter from description.md before passing as --description-file.
• Thumbnail max 2 MB — compress with sips before uploading.
• Tags max 500 chars total — script auto-truncates but warn the user if any get dropped.
• Default category is 28 (Science & Technology) for tech tutorials. Use 27 (Education) for course-style content.
• Save the video_id after upload so future edits can find it. Recommend ~/content/youtube/<slug>/youtube_video_id.txt.
• Eastern Time is your default timezone for --publish-at unless he says otherwise.

Quotas

YouTube Data API v3 has a daily quota of 10,000 units (default project quota). Cost per call:

• videos.insert (upload): 1600 units — burns ~6 uploads/day max
• videos.update: 50 units
• thumbnails.set: 50 units
• commentThreads.insert: 50 units
• videos.list / playlistItems.list: 1 unit
• search.list: 100 units

If quota errors hit, tell the user to wait 24 hours or request a quota bump in Google Cloud Console.

Troubleshooting

invalid_grant: Token has been expired or revoked Run python3 ~/.claude/skills/yt-upload/yt.py auth --reauth to redo the browser flow.

forbidden: The user is not enabled for using the YouTube Partner Program Some scopes (like setting custom thumbnails) require the YouTube channel to have verified the phone number on the channel. the channel owner set this up — should not hit this in practice.

videoNotFound The video_id is wrong, or it was deleted, or the channel that owns it isn't the authorized channel. Run yt.py list to verify which channel is authorized.

uploadLimitExceeded You hit the daily upload limit (15 uploads/day for unverified channels, 100/day for verified). your channel is verified — should not hit.