YouTube API guide

Upload a video or Short to YouTube with a title, tags, privacy, a playlist and a custom thumbnail. Platform key: youtube.

Last checked against the API October 10, 2026 · View as Markdown

Platform key	`youtube`
Text limit	5,000 characters (description); 100 (title)
Media	Required: one video. A post without a video fails with “YouTube posts need a video.”

Things to know

content becomes the description. Without settings.title, the first line of the text is used as the title.
YouTube has no hashtags field: hashtags you set for YouTube are added to the video’s tags instead.
If the thumbnail or playlist step fails, the video stays published and the post shows a warning.

Settings

Optional YouTube options go in platform_content.youtube.settings. Invalid values are rejected when you create or update the post, with a message naming the field.

Field	Type	Description
`title`	string, up to 100 characters	The video title. No `<` or `>`.
`tags`	string[]	Search tags, 500 characters in total. No commas or angle brackets.
`privacyStatus`	`"public"`, `"unlisted"`, `"private"`	Who can watch the video.
`madeForKids`	boolean	YouTube’s audience declaration.
`categoryId`	string	A YouTube category, for example `"22"` People & Blogs (default), `"27"` Education, `"28"` Science & Technology.
`containsSyntheticMedia`	boolean	`true` if the video contains realistic AI-altered or synthetic content.
`playlistId`	string	Add the video to one of your playlists.
`thumbnailUrl`	string	A custom thumbnail: a `url` from `POST /api/v1/media`. Converted to the size YouTube accepts.

platform_content.youtube

"youtube": {
  "content": "A full walkthrough of our new roasting profile…",
  "settings": {
    "title": "How we roast our autumn blend",
    "privacyStatus": "public",
    "madeForKids": false,
    "categoryId": "26"
  }
}

Example

POST /api/v1/posts

{
  "base_content": "Our autumn menu is here.",
  "platforms": ["youtube"],
  "platform_content": {
    "youtube": {
      "content": "Our autumn menu is here. Which drink first?"
    }
  },
  "scheduled_at": "2026-10-16T09:30:00Z"
}

Other platforms: LinkedIn, X (Twitter), TikTok, Pinterest, Bluesky. Writing limits for every network are in our character limit reference, and the YouTube scheduler page covers scheduling from the app.

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