YouTube Uploader

Upload videos with full metadata and custom thumbnails to YouTube via OAuth2.

Setup (one-time)

The user needs a Google Cloud project with the YouTube Data API v3 enabled and an OAuth2 client ID (type "Desktop app"). Download the client_secret.json file.

Authenticate

python3 {baseDir}/scripts/youtube-upload.py auth --client-secret /path/to/client_secret.json

This opens a browser for Google OAuth consent, then saves credentials to ~/.openclaw/youtube/channels.json. Multiple channels can be authenticated by repeating the command with different Google accounts.

List authenticated channels

python3 {baseDir}/scripts/youtube-upload.py channels

Upload a video

python3 {baseDir}/scripts/youtube-upload.py upload \
  --file /path/to/video.mp4 \
  --title "Video Title" \
  --description "Video description" \
  --tags "tag1,tag2,tag3" \
  --category 22 \
  --privacy private \
  --channel-id UCxxxxxxxx

Required: --file, --title Optional: --description, --tags (comma-separated), --category (default 22 = People & Blogs), --privacy (private/unlisted/public, default private), --publish-at (ISO 8601 for scheduled publish, requires privacy=private), --made-for-kids, --channel-id (uses first channel if omitted)

Returns JSON with videoId and url.

Upload a custom thumbnail

python3 {baseDir}/scripts/youtube-upload.py thumbnail \
  --video-id VIDEO_ID \
  --file /path/to/thumbnail.jpg \
  --channel-id UCxxxxxxxx

Supports JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF. Max 2MB per YouTube API. The channel must be verified for custom thumbnails.

Refresh token manually

python3 {baseDir}/scripts/youtube-upload.py refresh --channel-id UCxxxxxxxx

Workflow tips

• Always upload as --privacy private first, verify, then update privacy if needed.
• Upload thumbnail immediately after video upload using the returned videoId.
• If auth expires, re-run the auth subcommand.
• When the user doesn't specify a category, default to 22. See references/categories.md for the full list.

References

• See references/categories.md for YouTube video category IDs.