YouTube upload is not a separate step in VidNo. It is built into the main pipeline. When you run vidno process recording.mp4, the final stage uploads your video to YouTube with all metadata set automatically. No manual upload. No opening YouTube Studio. No copy-pasting descriptions.

What Gets Handled Automatically

VidNo's YouTube integration handles everything as part of the core pipeline:

  • Upload: The video file is uploaded directly via the YouTube Data API
  • Title and description: Generated from the AI script, editable before publish
  • Chapter markers: Timestamps from the script are formatted as YouTube chapters in the description
  • Tags: Extracted from the recording's git context and script content
  • Thumbnail: AI-generated code-focused thumbnail, uploaded and set automatically
  • Scheduling: Publish immediately or schedule for a specific date/time
  • Playlist assignment: Automatically add to an existing playlist based on category

Initial Setup

Connect your YouTube channel through OAuth:

vidno youtube connect

# This opens your browser for Google OAuth
# Grant VidNo permission to upload videos
# Token is stored locally at ~/.vidno/youtube-token.json

You only need to do this once. The token refreshes automatically.

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Upload Workflow

Default Behavior: Process and Upload

# Process and upload -- this is the default behavior
vidno process recording.mp4

# Schedule for next Tuesday 9 AM EST instead of publishing immediately
vidno process recording.mp4 --schedule "2026-04-07 09:00 EST"

# Process without uploading (local render only)
vidno process recording.mp4 --no-upload

Upload a Previously Rendered Video

# Upload with auto-generated metadata
vidno youtube upload session_full.mp4

# Upload with custom metadata
vidno youtube upload session_full.mp4 \
  --title "Building a REST API with Express" \
  --description "Step-by-step guide to..." \
  --tags "express,nodejs,api,tutorial" \
  --playlist "Express Tutorials"

Review Before Upload

# Generate metadata without uploading
vidno youtube preview session.vidno

# Output:
# Title: Building a Paginated API with Express
# Description: [generated description with chapters]
# Tags: express, nodejs, pagination, api, rest
# Thumbnail: session_thumb.png
#
# Upload? [y/N/edit]

The preview step lets you verify everything looks right before publishing. You can edit any field in-place.

Batch Upload

For multiple videos:

# Upload all videos in a directory
vidno youtube upload-batch ~/recordings/output/

# Upload with scheduling (one per day, starting tomorrow)
vidno youtube upload-batch ~/recordings/output/ \
  --schedule-start "2026-04-01 09:00 EST" \
  --schedule-interval "1d"

The batch scheduler is particularly useful for banking content. Record and process 5 videos on Saturday, schedule them for Mon-Fri at 9 AM, and your channel publishes consistently without daily effort.

Playlist Management

# Create a new playlist
vidno youtube playlist create "Express.js Tutorials" \
  --description "Complete Express.js tutorial series"

# Map a category to a playlist
vidno config set playlist-map.backend "Express.js Tutorials"
vidno config set playlist-map.frontend "React Tutorials"

# Now uploads are automatically assigned to playlists
# based on content category

API Quotas

YouTube's Data API has a daily quota of 10,000 units. Each video upload costs 1,600 units. That means you can upload approximately 6 videos per day before hitting the quota.

For most creators, this is not a constraint. For teams producing more than 6 videos daily, you need to apply for a quota increase through the Google Cloud Console.

No Separate Upload Step

In earlier versions of VidNo, upload was a Pro-only feature that required a separate command. That is no longer the case. Upload is now part of the core pipeline for all users. When you connect your YouTube channel once with vidno youtube connect, every subsequent vidno process command handles the full journey: analysis, scripting, voice synthesis, rendering, thumbnail generation, and upload. One command, zero manual steps.

For the full content workflow from recording to published video, see getting started with VidNo.