youtube-cli

CLI tool for managing YouTube Shorts.

Setup

Google Cloud Setup

1. Create a project at Google Cloud Console
2. Enable YouTube Data API v3
3. Create OAuth 2.0 credentials (Web application type)
4. Add http://localhost:3000 as authorized redirect URI

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• yt-dlp (for clone command): brew install yt-dlp
• ffmpeg (for validation): brew install ffmpeg

Installation

make install

Or manually:

npm install
npm run build
npm link

Secrets Configuration

Option A: Doppler (Recommended)

# Connect to Doppler project
make doppler-connect

# Run commands (secrets auto-injected)
make auth
make list ARGS="--max 20"

Option B: Local .env File

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your credentials

Option C: Local client_secrets.json

Download OAuth credentials from Google Cloud Console as client_secrets.json.

Commands

youtube auth

Authenticate with YouTube (required before other commands).

youtube list [options]

List your channel's videos.

| Option | Description | | -------------------- | ------------------------------------ | | --max, -n <num> | Max videos to show (default: 10) | | --privacy <status> | Filter: public, private, unlisted | | --format <type> | Output: table, json (default: table) |

youtube list
youtube list --max 20 --format json
youtube list --privacy public

youtube upload <file> [options]

Upload a video as a YouTube Short.

| Option | Description | | -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | --title, -t <title> | Video title (required) | | --description, -d <desc> | Video description | | --tags <t1,t2,...> | Comma-separated tags | | --privacy <status> | public, private, unlisted (default: private) | | --skip-validation | Skip Shorts requirements check | | --force | Upload even if validation fails |

youtube upload video.mp4 --title "My Short"
youtube upload video.mp4 -t "Gaming Clip" -d "Epic moment" --tags gaming,clips --privacy public

youtube update <video-id> [options]

Update metadata on an existing video.

| Option | Description | | -------------------------- | --------------------- | | --title, -t <title> | New title | | --description, -d <desc> | New description | | --tags <t1,t2,...> | Replace tags | | --privacy <status> | Change privacy status |

youtube update abc123 --title "New Title"
youtube update abc123 --privacy unlisted
youtube update abc123 -t "Title" -d "Description" --tags tag1,tag2

youtube clone <video-id> [options]

Download a video and re-upload with new metadata.

| Option | Description | | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | | --title, -t <title> | Title for clone (required) | | --description, -d <desc> | Description (defaults to original) | | --tags <t1,t2,...> | Tags (defaults to original) | | --privacy <status> | Privacy (default: private) | | --keep-file | Keep downloaded video file |

youtube clone abc123 --title "Cloned Video"
youtube clone abc123 -t "New Version" --privacy public --keep-file

youtube validate <file>

Check if a video meets YouTube Shorts requirements (duration, aspect ratio).

youtube validate video.mp4