Videos
One file up to 4 hours and 5 GB, with a title, description and custom thumbnail.
type: "VIDEO"YouTube API
The YouTube API for videos & Shorts
Upload long-form videos and Shorts, set thumbnails, privacy and disclosures, and schedule when it goes live, all in one request.
What you can publish
Every YouTube format, one endpoint
The same request that posts everywhere else, with the fields YouTube needs and nothing it doesn't.
Shorts
Vertical or square video under 3 minutes. YouTube detects the Short from the file.
type: "SHORT"Privacy & disclosures
Public, unlisted or private, plus made-for-kids, synthetic-media and paid-placement flags.
privacyCustom thumbnails
Attach your own thumbnail instead of the frame YouTube picks.
thumbnailBeyond publishing
More than a way to post to YouTube
Everything around the post — when it goes out, how it performs, where else it lands — through the same API.
Scheduling
Schedule YouTube posts to the minute
Give a post a time and Bulkit publishes it then. Queue a week — or a quarter — of YouTube content in one go, and let retries and rate limits take care of themselves.
- Any time zone
- Retries built in
- Rate limits handled
Analytics
YouTube analytics, in one schema
Lifetime channel and video metrics, with demographics when enabled. Same response shape as every other network, so there's nothing to reconcile.
- Views
- Likes
- Comments
- Subscribers
- Favorites
- Video count
Cross-posting
YouTube and 11 more networks in one call
Add targets to the same request and one payload fans out everywhere, with each network getting the fields it needs. Upload media once and reuse it on every channel.
- One API key
- One schema
- No per-network fees
AI agents
Let your AI agent post to YouTube
Bulkit's MCP server gives Claude, Cursor or any MCP-compatible agent real tools to publish and schedule to YouTube — the same actions your code calls.
- Claude & Cursor
- Scoped API keys
- Every call logged
YouTube at a glance
The YouTube API's sharp edges, filed down
| Spec | YouTube |
|---|---|
| Formats | Video, Short |
| Video | 1 file, up to 4 hours and 5 GB |
| Shorts | Under 3 min, 9:16 or 1:1 |
| Title | Up to 100 characters |
| Description | Up to 5,000 characters |
| Privacy | PUBLIC, UNLISTED or PRIVATE |
| Analytics | Channel views and subscribers; video views, likes, comments |
Made-for-kids, never forgotten
YouTube requires a COPPA declaration on every upload. madeForKids is a first-class field, not a setting you discover after a rejection.
Shorts without guesswork
There's no upload-as-Short switch in YouTube's API. Send a vertical clip under 3 minutes as a SHORT and YouTube classifies it.
Disclosures built in
Flag altered or synthetic content and paid product placement with containsSyntheticMedia and hasPaidProductPlacement.
Title and description, split
text is the video title (100 characters, and YouTube can reject an empty one); description carries up to 5,000 more.
FAQ
YouTube API: common questions
How do I upload a YouTube Short with the API?
Send a vertical or square video under 3 minutes with type SHORT. YouTube has no separate Shorts upload, so it classifies the video from its dimensions and length.
Can I schedule YouTube videos?
Yes. Give the post a postDate and Bulkit uploads and publishes it at that time with the privacy setting you choose.
Is the made-for-kids flag required?
YouTube requires every upload to declare whether it's made for kids (a COPPA requirement). Set madeForKids on each video.
What YouTube analytics can I pull?
Lifetime channel views, comments, video count and subscribers, and per-video views, likes, dislikes, comments and favourites. Demographics are available when enabled on the channel.
How much does it cost?
$4.99/month with 500 actions included, then $0.01 per action. YouTube is included with every other network.
Your first YouTube post is one request away
$4.99/mo with 500 actions included, then $0.01 each. YouTube and every other network on the same key.