YouTube Shorts Agent

YouTube Shorts Agent

Agent-first YouTube Shorts uploader for the YouTube Data API. Dry-run safe, OAuth readiness checks, MCP-ready for Codex / Claude / Cursor / Hermes.

⭐ If this agent-first tool helps your workflow, please star the repo. Stars make this tooling easier for other builders to discover and help Delx keep shipping open infrastructure.

🧱 Part of the Delx agent stack — 15 open-source MCP servers across body, reach and coordination.

Agent-first YouTube Shorts uploader for the YouTube Data API. It is designed for Codex, Claude, Cursor, Hermes, OpenClaw and any MCP client that needs a predictable upload workflow with dry-run safety, OAuth readiness checks and structured output.

Use it when an agent needs to prepare, validate or upload Shorts through the official API without touching YouTube Studio UI.

What Agents Get

• youtube_agent_manifest for install/runtime guidance
• youtube_connection_status before upload attempts
• youtube_privacy_audit for local token and media boundaries
• youtube_oauth_authorize_url with local PKCE session storage
• youtube_upload_short with containsSyntheticMedia support
• youtube_list_recent_videos for lightweight post-upload checks

Install

npm install -g youtube-shorts-agent

Or run directly:

npm exec --yes --package=youtube-shorts-agent -- youtube-shorts-agent doctor

CLI

youtube-shorts-agent manifest --client codex

youtube-shorts-agent doctor youtube-shorts-agent privacy-audit youtube-shorts-agent auth-url --redirect-uri http://localhost:8787/callback youtube-shorts-agent upload-short --video ./short.mp4 --title "Launch title" --caption-file copy.txt youtube-shorts-agent list-recent --max-results 10

Dry-run is enabled by default. Set YOUTUBE_DRY_RUN=false only when doctor reports a complete OAuth setup and you intend to call the live API.

Optional cover draft

Prepare a local square cover draft with the cover recipe. Preview offline, request a free quote, then let the operator approve that exact purchase with --pay. The separate image kit verifies the WebP and safely resumes the same payment authorization.

First Upload (dry-run walkthrough)

This is the full first-run path. Every step here is dry-run safe — no credentials are required and nothing is sent to YouTube. The output below is captured verbatim from a real run.

1. Check readiness. With no OAuth configured, doctor confirms you are in dry-run mode:

youtube-shorts-agent doctor

{

"ok": true, "dry_run": true, "configured": { "client_credentials": "missing", "access_token": "missing", "refresh_token": "missing" }, "missing_count": 3, "ready_for_live_upload": false, "next_steps": [ "Current mode is dry-run. Validate metadata and agent flow before live uploads." ] }

2. Prepare a Short and its caption.

printf 'Launching the agent-first Shorts uploader.\n#shorts #ai #agents' > copy.txt

short.mp4 is your vertical 9:16 clip

3. Run the upload in dry-run. No network call is made; the tool returns the exact job and result it would publish, so an agent can validate metadata before going live:

youtube-shorts-agent upload-short \

--video ./short.mp4 \ --title "Agent-first Shorts upload" \ --caption-file copy.txt \ --tags ai,agents \ --duration 24

{

"ok": true, "dry_run": true, "job": { "id": "youtube_1780082215631", "platform": "youtube", "status": "queued", "createdAt": "2026-05-29T19:16:55.631Z", "caption": "Launching the agent-first Shorts uploader.\n#shorts #ai #agents", "targetUrl": "", "mediaPaths": ["./short.mp4"], "metadata": { "title": "Agent-first Shorts upload", "youtube_title": "Agent-first Shorts upload", "youtube_tags": ["ai", "agents"], "youtube_contains_synthetic_media": true, "video_duration_sec": 24, "video_aspect_ratio": "9:16" } }, "result": { "provider": "youtube_official", "platformPostId": "dryrun_1780082215631", "releaseUrl": "https://www.youtube.com", "raw": { "dryRun": true, "jobId": "youtube_1780082215631" } } }

platformPostId is prefixed with dryrun_ and releaseUrl is the YouTube root — both signal that nothing was uploaded. The id, createdAt and dryrun_* values vary per run.

4. Confirm the channel listing path (returns an empty list in dry-run):

youtube-shorts-agent list-recent --max-results 5

{ "items": [] }

Going live. Configure OAuth (youtube-shorts-agent auth-url --redirect-uri http://localhost:8787/callback, then exchange the callback code for tokens), set YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID / YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET / YOUTUBE_ACCESS_TOKEN / YOUTUBE_REFRESH_TOKEN in .env, re-run doctor until ready_for_live_upload is true, then set YOUTUBE_DRY_RUN=false and re-run the same upload-short command.

MCP

youtube-shorts-mcp

HTTP (v2 stateless)

Default is stdio. Optional Streamable HTTP — no session id, JSON responses, loopback only:

npx -y -p youtube-shorts-agent youtube-shorts-mcp --http

GET http://127.0.0.1:3032/health

POST http://127.0.0.1:3032/mcp (sessionless)

Env: YOUTUBE_MCP_HOST, YOUTUBE_MCP_PORT, YOUTUBE_MCP_TRANSPORT=http.

Hermes-style config:

mcp_servers:

youtube_shorts: command: npx args: ["-y", "youtube-shorts-agent"] sampling: enabled: false

Recommended first calls:

1. youtube_connection_status
2. youtube_privacy_audit
3. youtube_upload_short

Agent Surfaces

Copy-Paste Agent Prompt

Use youtube-shorts-agent. First call youtube_connection_status and youtube_privacy_audit.

If uploading AI-generated media, keep containsSyntheticMedia=true. Never print token values.

Configuration

Copy .env.example to .env. Keep .env and .agent-data/ out of Git.

The upload tool sets containsSyntheticMedia=true by default for AI-generated or AI-edited videos. Override only when that is not true for the asset.

Safety Model

• OAuth tokens are never returned by CLI or MCP tools.
• PKCE verifier is stored locally in .agent-data/.
• Live upload requires YOUTUBE_DRY_RUN=false.
• The package uses the official YouTube Data API and does not automate Studio UI.

Development

npm install

npm test npm run check

📧 Contact & Support

• 📨 support@delx.ai — general questions, integration help, partnerships
• 🐛 Bug reports / feature requests — GitHub Issues
• 🐦 Updates — @delx369 on X
• 🌐 Site — wellness.delx.ai