Skills youtube-publisher

Upload and publish videos to YouTube with title, description, tags, thumbnail and subtitles. Use for: youtube upload, publish video, share on youtube.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/wlzh/skills

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/wlzh/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/youtube-publisher" ~/.claude/skills/wlzh-skills-youtube-publisher && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: youtube-publisher/SKILL.md

source content

YouTube Publisher

First time? If
setup_complete: false
above, run
./SETUP.md
first, then set
setup_complete: true
.

Upload videos to YouTube with full metadata control.

Metadata sanitization

```
>
```
in title/description is automatically rewritten to
```
》
```
```
<
```
in title/description is automatically rewritten to
```
《
```
Use this when YouTube rejects metadata because of special characters

Quick Start

cd ~/.claude/skills/youtube-publisher/scripts

# First time: authenticate
npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts --auth

# Upload video
npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts \
  --video /path/to/video.mp4 \
  --title "My Awesome Video" \
  --description "Check out this amazing content!" \
  --tags "tech,ai,tutorial" \
  --privacy unlisted

# Upload as YouTube Short (vertical video)
npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts \
  --video /path/to/short.mp4 \
  --title "Quick Tip #Shorts" \
  --description "A quick tip for you!" \
  --privacy public \
  --short

Options

Option	Short	Description
`--video`	`-v`	Video file path (required)
`--title`	`-t`	Video title (required)
`--description`	`-d`	Video description
`--tags`		Comma-separated tags
`--privacy`	`-p`	Privacy: public, unlisted, private (default: unlisted)
`--category`	`-c`	Category ID (default: 22 = People & Blogs)
`--thumbnail`		Custom thumbnail image (local path or URL)
`--subtitles`		Subtitle file path (SRT/VTT)
`--subtitle-lang`		Subtitle language code (default: zh)
`--subtitle-name`		Subtitle display name (default: 中文)
`--playlist`		Add to playlist ID
`--short`		Mark as YouTube Short
`--auth`		Run OAuth2 authentication flow
`--dry-run`		Preview without uploading

Category IDs

ID	Category
1	Film & Animation
2	Autos & Vehicles
10	Music
15	Pets & Animals
17	Sports
19	Travel & Events
20	Gaming
22	People & Blogs
23	Comedy
24	Entertainment
25	News & Politics
26	Howto & Style
27	Education
28	Science & Technology

Authentication

First-time setup requires OAuth2 authentication:

Run
```
npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts --auth
```
Browser opens Google login
Grant permissions to upload videos
Token is saved to
```
.youtube-token.json
```

Token refreshes automatically. Re-run

--auth

if expired.

Environment

Create

scripts/.env

YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret

Get credentials from Google Cloud Console:

Create project at console.cloud.google.com
Enable YouTube Data API v3
Create OAuth2 credentials (Desktop app)
Download and extract client_id & client_secret

Examples

Upload Tutorial Video

npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts \
  -v tutorial.mp4 \
  -t "How to Use Claude Code - Complete Guide" \
  -d "Learn everything about Claude Code in this comprehensive tutorial.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:30 Getting Started
05:00 Advanced Features

#ClaudeCode #AI #Tutorial" \
  --tags "claude code,ai,tutorial,anthropic,coding" \
  --category 28 \
  --privacy public

Upload YouTube Short

npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts \
  -v short_video.mp4 \
  -t "Mind-blowing AI trick! #Shorts" \
  -d "This will change how you work! #AI #Tech" \
  --privacy public \
  --short

Upload to Playlist

npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts \
  -v episode5.mp4 \
  -t "Podcast Episode 5" \
  --playlist PLxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  --privacy unlisted

Upload with Thumbnail and Subtitles

npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts \
  -v tutorial.mp4 \
  -t "Tutorial with Subtitles" \
  -d "Learn step by step with subtitles" \
  --thumbnail /path/to/cover.jpg \
  --subtitles /path/to/subtitles.srt \
  --subtitle-lang zh \
  --subtitle-name "中文" \
  --privacy public

Upload with Local Thumbnail

npx ts-node youtube-upload.ts \
  -v video.mp4 \
  -t "My Video Title" \
  --thumbnail "/Users/m/Downloads/shell/work/cover.jpg" \
  --privacy public

Output

On success, returns:

Video ID
Video URL (https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID)
Status

Limitations

Max file size: 256GB (YouTube limit)
Supported formats: MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, FLV, 3GP, MPEG
Supported subtitle formats: SRT, VTT
Daily upload quota: 10,000 units (typically ~6 videos/day)
Title max: 100 characters
Description max: 5,000 characters
Tags max: 500 characters total