yt-api

Manage your YouTube account from the command line. A complete CLI for the YouTube Data API v3, perfect for automation, scripting, and power users.

Features

Complete API coverage - Full support for YouTube Data API v3 (videos, playlists, channels, comments, and more)
Multiple output formats - JSON, YAML, CSV, or human-readable tables
Flexible authentication - OAuth 2.0 for personal use or service accounts for automation
Powerful uploads - Upload videos from files, URLs, or stdin with progress tracking
Automation-ready - Structured output and error handling perfect for scripts and tools

Installation

Pre-built binaries (recommended)

macOS:

# Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
curl -L -o yt-api https://github.com/nerveband/youtube-api-cli/releases/latest/download/yt-api-darwin-arm64
chmod +x yt-api
sudo mv yt-api /usr/local/bin/

# Intel
curl -L -o yt-api https://github.com/nerveband/youtube-api-cli/releases/latest/download/yt-api-darwin-amd64
chmod +x yt-api
sudo mv yt-api /usr/local/bin/

Linux:

# AMD64
curl -L -o yt-api https://github.com/nerveband/youtube-api-cli/releases/latest/download/yt-api-linux-amd64
chmod +x yt-api
sudo mv yt-api /usr/local/bin/

# ARM64
curl -L -o yt-api https://github.com/nerveband/youtube-api-cli/releases/latest/download/yt-api-linux-arm64
chmod +x yt-api
sudo mv yt-api /usr/local/bin/

Windows: Download yt-api-windows-amd64.exe and add to your PATH.

From source

# Using go install
go install github.com/nerveband/youtube-api-cli/cmd/yt-api@latest

# Or build locally
git clone https://github.com/nerveband/youtube-api-cli.git
cd youtube-api-cli
go build -o yt-api ./cmd/yt-api

Quick Start

1. Set Up Google Cloud Credentials

Go to Google Cloud Console
Create a new project (or select existing)
Enable the YouTube Data API v3
Create OAuth 2.0 credentials (Desktop application type)
Download the client configuration

2. Configure yt-api

# Create config directory
mkdir -p ~/.yt-api

# Create config file with your OAuth credentials
cat > ~/.yt-api/config.yaml << EOF
default_auth: oauth
default_output: json
oauth:
  client_id: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
  client_secret: "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET"
EOF

3. Authenticate

# OAuth login (opens browser)
yt-api auth login

# Check auth status
yt-api auth status

4. Start Using

# List your videos
yt-api list videos --mine

# Search for videos
yt-api search --query "golang tutorial" --max-results 10

# Upload a video
yt-api upload video ./video.mp4 --title "My Video" --description "Description here"

Usage

Command Structure

yt-api <action> <resource> [flags]

Actions: list, insert, update, delete, upload, download, search, auth, rate, set, unset, moderate, report

Resources: videos, channels, playlists, playlist-items, comments, comment-threads, captions, subscriptions, and more.

Global Flags

Flag	Short	Description
`--output`	`-o`	Output format: json (default), yaml, csv, table
`--quiet`	`-q`	Suppress stderr messages
`--config`		Path to config file
`--auth-type`		Auth method: oauth (default), service-account

Examples

List Operations

# List videos from a channel
yt-api list videos --channel-id UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw

# List your subscriptions
yt-api list subscriptions --mine

# List playlist items
yt-api list playlist-items --playlist-id PLxxxxxxx

# List with pagination
yt-api list videos --channel-id UCxxx --max-results 50 --page-token "TOKEN"

# Fetch all pages
yt-api list videos --channel-id UCxxx --all-pages

Search

# Basic search
yt-api search --query "cooking recipes"

# Search with filters
yt-api search --query "music" --type video --duration medium --order viewCount

Upload Operations

# Upload video from file
yt-api upload video ./my-video.mp4 \
  --title "My Awesome Video" \
  --description "Check out this video!" \
  --tags "tag1,tag2,tag3" \
  --privacy public

# Upload from stdin
cat video.mp4 | yt-api upload video - --title "Piped Video"

# Upload from URL
yt-api upload video https://example.com/video.mp4 --title "From URL"

# Upload thumbnail
yt-api upload thumbnail ./thumb.jpg --video-id VIDEO_ID

# Upload caption
yt-api upload caption ./captions.srt --video-id VIDEO_ID --language en

Playlist Management

# Create playlist
yt-api insert playlist --title "My Playlist" --privacy private

# Add video to playlist
yt-api insert playlist-item --playlist-id PLxxx --video-id VIDxxx

# Update playlist
yt-api update playlist --id PLxxx --title "New Title"

# Delete playlist
yt-api delete playlist --id PLxxx

Channel Operations

# Get channel info
yt-api list channels --id UCxxx --part snippet,statistics

# Update channel (requires ownership)
yt-api update channel --id UCxxx --description "New description"

Output Formats

# JSON (default) - best for LLMs and scripts
yt-api list videos --mine
{"items": [...], "pageInfo": {"totalResults": 42}}

# Table - human readable
yt-api list videos --mine -o table
ID           TITLE                 VIEWS    PUBLISHED
abc123       My First Video        1000     2024-01-15
def456       Another Video         500      2024-01-20

# YAML
yt-api list videos --mine -o yaml

# CSV
yt-api list videos --mine -o csv > videos.csv

Authentication Methods

OAuth 2.0 (Default)

Best for interactive use and accessing your own YouTube account.

yt-api auth login
# Opens browser for Google login
# Tokens stored in ~/.yt-api/tokens.json

Service Account

Best for server-side automation with dedicated YouTube channels.

# Via flag
yt-api --auth-type service-account --credentials ./key.json list videos

# Via environment
export YT_API_AUTH_TYPE=service-account
export YT_API_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/key.json
yt-api list videos

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
`YT_API_AUTH_TYPE`	Auth method: `oauth` or `service-account`
`YT_API_OUTPUT`	Default output format
`YT_API_CLIENT_ID`	OAuth client ID
`YT_API_CLIENT_SECRET`	OAuth client secret
`YT_API_CREDENTIALS`	Path to service account JSON

Configuration

Config File Location

Configuration is stored in ~/.yt-api/config.yaml. Run yt-api info to see all file paths.

Config File Format

default_auth: oauth
default_output: json
oauth:
  client_id: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
  client_secret: "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET"
service_account:
  credentials_file: "/path/to/service-account.json"

File Locations

File	Path	Purpose
Config	`~/.yt-api/config.yaml`	Main configuration
OAuth Token	`~/.yt-api/tokens.json`	OAuth tokens (0600 permissions)
Update Cache	`~/.yt-api/cache/update_check.json`	Version check cache

Security Notes

OAuth tokens are stored in plain text with restricted permissions (0600)
Never commit ~/.yt-api/ to version control
Service account keys should have minimal required permissions

Permissions

YouTube API Scopes

yt-api requests the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube scope for full YouTube access.

Operation Requirements

Operation	Auth Required	Notes
`list videos --id`	No	Public videos
`list videos --mine`	Yes	Your videos
`search`	No	Public search
`insert/update/delete`	Yes	Must own resource
`upload`	Yes	Uploads to your channel

Testing Permissions

yt-api info --test-permissions

Error Handling

Errors output structured JSON to stdout (for parsing) and human-readable details to stderr:

stdout:

{"error": {"code": "quotaExceeded", "message": "...", "status": 403}}

stderr:

Error: YouTube API quota exceeded.
  Used: 10,000 / 10,000 units today
  This request costs: 1,600 units (video upload)
  Resets: 2024-01-24 00:00:00 PST
  Increase quota: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/api/youtube.googleapis.com/quotas

Exit Codes:

0 - Success
1 - General error
2 - Authentication error
3 - API error (quota, permissions)
4 - Input error (bad flags, missing params)

For LLMs and Automated Agents

This CLI is designed for easy integration with LLMs and automation tools:

JSON output by default - No parsing human-readable text
Structured errors - Errors are JSON objects with codes and details
Quiet mode - --quiet suppresses all non-essential output
Dry run - --dry-run validates without executing
Stdin support - Pipe data directly from other tools
Predictable pagination - Use --page-token or --all-pages

Quick Diagnostic Commands

yt-api info                     # Full system state
yt-api info --test-connectivity # Verify API access
yt-api info --test-permissions  # Check credential capabilities
yt-api auth status              # Authentication details
yt-api version                  # Version info

Keeping Updated

yt-api upgrade --check          # Check for updates
yt-api upgrade                  # Install latest version

When to upgrade:

Before starting new automation tasks
After encountering unexpected errors
When documentation mentions unavailable features
When you see "Update available" notification

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Auth errors	`yt-api auth login`
Quota errors	Wait until midnight PT
Permission errors	`yt-api info --test-permissions`
Unknown errors	`yt-api upgrade` then retry

Best Practices

Use --quiet when parsing JSON output
Use --dry-run before write operations
Run yt-api info first when debugging
Check exit codes (0=success, 1-4=various errors)

Example LLM workflow

# Get video list as JSON
videos=$(yt-api list videos --mine -q)

# Parse and process with jq or other tools
echo "$videos" | jq '.items[].id'

API Coverage

Resource	list	insert	update	delete	Other
Videos	✓	✓ (upload)	✓	✓	rate, reportAbuse
Channels	✓	-	✓	-	-
Playlists	✓	✓	✓	✓	-
PlaylistItems	✓	✓	✓	✓	-
PlaylistImages	✓	✓	✓	✓	-
Comments	✓	✓	✓	✓	setModerationStatus
CommentThreads	✓	✓	-	-	-
Captions	✓	✓ (upload)	✓	✓	download
Subscriptions	✓	✓	-	✓	-
ChannelSections	✓	✓	✓	✓	-
Thumbnails	-	✓ (set)	-	-	-
Watermarks	-	-	-	-	set, unset
Search	✓	-	-	-	-
i18nLanguages	✓	-	-	-	-
i18nRegions	✓	-	-	-	-
VideoCategories	✓	-	-	-	-
Members	✓	-	-	-	-
MembershipsLevels	✓	-	-	-	-

Project Structure

youtube-api-cli/
├── cmd/
│   └── yt-api/          # Main CLI entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── apierror/        # Error handling and formatting
│   ├── auth/            # OAuth and service account authentication
│   ├── client/          # YouTube API client wrapper
│   ├── commands/        # Command implementations (list, insert, update, etc.)
│   ├── config/          # Configuration management
│   ├── output/          # Output formatters (JSON, YAML, CSV, table)
│   ├── update/          # Auto-update checking with caching
│   └── upload/          # File upload with progress tracking
├── docs/
│   ├── SETUP_GUIDE.md           # Detailed setup and testing guide
│   ├── WRITE_OPERATIONS_GUIDE.md # Insert/update/delete operations guide
│   └── plans/                    # Design documents
└── Makefile             # Build and test commands

Key Components

Commands - Each YouTube API resource (videos, playlists, etc.) has its own command package
Authentication - Supports both OAuth 2.0 (interactive) and service accounts (automation)
Output Formatting - Pluggable formatters for different output formats
Error Handling - Structured errors with helpful messages and quota information
Upload System - Resumable uploads with progress tracking for videos and captions

Documentation

Setup & Testing Guide - Complete setup instructions and testing examples
Write Operations Guide - Detailed guide for insert/update/delete operations
Design Document - Architecture and design decisions

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please read the design document first.

License

MIT

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