yt-publish

Every other skill in this pack writes and hands you a block to copy. This one touches the channel. It is the only one that does, and it does not move until you have said the word.

python3 publish.py --check                         # which channel is pinned, by name
python3 publish.py --title "..." --desc desc.txt --video short.mp4 --dry-run
python3 publish.py --title "..." --desc desc.txt --video short.mp4
python3 publish.py --title "..." --desc desc.txt --video short.mp4 --privacy public
python3 publish.py --title "..." --video-url https://... --schedule 2026-09-24T22:00:00Z

Before you run anything

1. The title and the description must have been approved in this conversation. /yt-package writes and lints the title, /yt-seo writes the description. If neither has run, run them first. Do not invent a title here.

2. The keys must already exist in ~/.claude/youtube/.env:

   BLOTATO_API_KEY=...
   BLOTATO_ACCOUNT_YOUTUBE=1234

   If they are missing, tell the user those two lines and stop. Never ask them to paste a key into the chat.

3. Run --check first and read the channel name out loud. A Blotato workspace can hold a dozen YouTube channels and the ids are four digits that all look alike. The id is not the confirmation; the name is.

Private by default, and that is not a bug

--privacy is private unless the user asks otherwise. A video that lands on the wrong channel as private is invisible and they delete it in Studio. The same mistake as public is a notification to every subscriber and a video in the feed.

Going live takes an explicit --privacy public, and --notify is off unless they ask for it. If they say "publish it" without saying public, that is a private upload and you say so in the check block. Ask; do not assume.

The check block

Print this, exactly, and then stop:

PUBLISH CHECK
channel:   Your Channel Name        (account 1234, verified YouTube)
title:     How I Fixed My Retention In 30 Days        (34 / 100 characters)
privacy:   PRIVATE                  (nothing goes live until you say public)
notify:    subscribers will NOT be notified
video:     short.mp4                (14.2 MB)
when:      now  |  2026-09-24 08:00 local (22:00 UTC)
description: 840 characters

<the first three lines of the description, exactly as they will go out>

Reply "publish" to send it, or tell me what to change.

Wait for the word publish. "yes", "ok", "looks good" and "send it" are not enough for something that goes out under their name on their channel. Ask once more if it is at all ambiguous.

Running it

Run the command exactly as it appeared in the check block. Nothing changes between what they approved and what goes out.

The script uploads the file, submits, and then polls every 20 seconds until Blotato reaches a terminal state. YouTube transcodes, so this genuinely takes minutes rather than seconds. Do not end your turn while it is still polling. It prints exactly one of:

• PUBLISHED <url> — with a reminder of the privacy setting if it is not public
• SCHEDULED <time>
• FAILED <reason>

If it says FAILED, quote the reason and stop. Do not retry the same command; work out what was wrong first. Every run is appended to ~/.claude/youtube/log.md.

Never

• Never run the script without the word "publish" from the user in this conversation.
• Never publish to any account other than the one pinned in BLOTATO_ACCOUNT_YOUTUBE, even though the workspace has others and even if the user names a different channel. Change the env file instead, deliberately.
• Never pass --privacy public unless the user said public in this conversation.
• Never change the title, the description or the file between the check block and the command. What they approved is what goes out.