ClipCastYouTube Connect & Upload
OAuth sign-in and upload to YouTube.
Connect your YouTube account to enable uploads and scheduling. The app uses Google OAuth (Desktop app flow): you sign in once in the browser; tokens are stored only in the main process (never in the renderer) in user data. Uploads and scheduled publishing use the YouTube Data API v3 (videos.insert with optional status.publishAt).
Step 1 — Check connection status
In the top toolbar, the YouTube chip shows Connected (green) or Not connected (default). Status is determined by the presence of valid tokens in user data (youtube_tokens.json).
Screenshot 01 — Top toolbar: YouTube status chip (Connected / Not connected)
Step 2 — Connect or reconnect YouTube
Click the YouTube chip, then choose Reconnect. The app starts a local OAuth callback server, opens your system browser to Google’s consent page, and after you sign in and authorize, exchanges the code for tokens and saves them. Use the same Reconnect action if the connection has expired or was revoked. The chip menu also offers Test connection to verify that credentials are loaded (it does not expose tokens). OAuth credentials must be configured first: set GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET (or YT_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID / YT_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET), or place a google_oauth_client.json file (with clientId and clientSecret) in the app’s user data folder.
Screenshot 02 — YouTube chip menu: Reconnect
Step 3 — Upload to YouTube
Select one or more rows, click Publish, choose YouTube only, then Publish to YouTube. For each selected row the app uses the YouTube export metadata (title, description, tags from meta.byPlatform.youtube), the row’s visibility (private / unlisted / public), and optional schedule time from the row’s YouTube job. If a publish time is set (UTC timestamp), the video is uploaded with status.privacyStatus = 'private' and status.publishAt set to that time (ISO‑8601); otherwise the video is uploaded with the chosen visibility and no schedule (publish immediately). Rows already marked as posted for YouTube are skipped. You can also schedule a single video via the Schedule flow (set date/time and platform YouTube), which performs the same upload/schedule logic for that row.
Screenshot 03 — Publish → YouTube only → Publish to YouTube
How scheduling works in code
The backend only sets publishAt when a future publish time is provided; when set, it forces privacyStatus to private and sends publishAt as an ISO‑8601 string to the API. Token refresh is done before upload; refreshed tokens are persisted in user data.
Common issues
- OAuth / invalid_client — Ensure: 1) OAuth client type is Desktop app (or Other), not Web application; 2) Client ID and Secret are copied correctly (env or
google_oauth_client.json); 3) YouTube Data API v3 is enabled in Google Cloud Console; 4) OAuth consent screen is configured and you are a test user if the app is in testing. - Reconnect — If the connection drops or tokens are invalid, use Reconnect from the YouTube chip menu to go through the browser flow again. Test connection only checks that client credentials load; it does not re-authorize the account.
- Credentials location — User data (where
youtube_tokens.jsonand optionalgoogle_oauth_client.jsonlive) is the app’s Electron user data directory; the exact path is platform-dependent. Use Open user data from the YouTube/Advanced area if available in your build to open that folder.