Post a video to YouTube
post_to_youtubePublish a finished video to a connected YouTube channel from a render or upload URL; set privacy, schedule, title, category, and thumbnail.
Instructions
Publish a finished video to the brand’s connected YouTube channel. Pass a Hermoso render URL (or an upload_file url for a local/external file). PUBLISHES PUBLICLY BY DEFAULT: a plain "post this to YouTube" puts it ON the channel (confirm the title with the user, as for any publish) and notifies subscribers as YouTube does. Pass the privacy the user states instead: "unlisted" (link-only) or "private" (eyes-only). A video meant to run as a YouTube/Google AD should go up "unlisted" — private videos CANNOT be used as ads. SCHEDULE it with publishAt, FILE it under the right categoryId (the default 22 "People & Blogs" is wrong for most ads), SUBSCRIBER NOTIFICATIONS FOLLOW PRIVACY — a public publish announces the video to the channel’s subscribers (YouTube’s own default), while unlisted/private uploads stay quiet; pass notifySubscribers explicitly to override either way. THUMBNAIL: pass thumbnailUrl, or a frame of the video is set for free; a thumbnail YouTube refuses never fails the upload, and thumbnailNote says why. YOUTUBE MUSIC: YouTube’s API takes no music track. Only when the user wants a track from YouTube’s own Audio Library: BEFORE uploading, tell them plainly it will go up UNLISTED (not on their channel, nobody sees it) so they can add the track in YouTube Studio on desktop (Content > the video > Editor > Audio), and that THEY must then switch it to Public there themselves; get their yes, then pass privacy:"unlisted". Never choose unlisted for music on your own. Needs a connected YouTube channel (Settings > Connectors > YouTube).
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| hook | No | WHAT ANGLE this post is built on, recorded only at publish time. post_performance ranks hooks on it (a winner needs 5 posts sharing ONE hook), so pass a list_hooks id (e.g. "direct_callout", "before_after") or reuse your own wording EXACTLY across a campaign. Omit it and this post never votes on which hook works. | |
| tags | No | up to 30 tags | |
| brand | No | WHICH PROFILE this post belongs to — id or exact name from list_brands (a shared workspace: its profile id). Beats the connection's pin for THIS CALL ONLY; a name that matches no profile, or two, is REFUSED and nothing is posted. | |
| title | No | REQUIRED in practice — the headline every search result and the Shorts feed shows (≤100 chars); an upload with no title is refused | |
| ideaId | No | short id of the content-plan idea this post came from | |
| recipe | No | the post's FORMAT id, e.g. "slideshow" or "imessage_chat" — post_performance groups by it, so reuse one id per format | |
| account | No | WHICH connected account of this channel to post as — its @handle or id from list_connector_accounts. Needed only when the profile has more than one youtube account connected (several and none named is refused by name, never guessed); omit when there is one. | |
| privacy | No | default public (live + searchable on the channel); unlisted = link-only (the ad-ready setting, or to add YouTube music in Studio first — only when the user asks); private = eyes-only (cannot run as an ad) | |
| subject | No | WHAT THIS POST IS ABOUT — product, feature, offer or theme (e.g. "winter coat", "free trial"). post_performance's second grouping axis: reuse the exact wording, as with hook. | |
| videoUrl | Yes | the video to post — a Hermoso render URL or an upload_file url | |
| coverAtMs | No | THE VIDEO COVER (the custom thumbnail), as ONE frame: milliseconds from the start (7000 = the frame at 7s). That frame is cut from the upload and set with thumbnails.set. thumbnailUrl wins; this beats platformCover. | |
| publishAt | No | SCHEDULE the publish — ISO 8601, e.g. "2026-09-01T15:00:00Z", and it must be in the future. YouTube only allows this on a PRIVATE video and makes it PUBLIC at that moment, so pass privacy:"private" (or leave privacy unset) — asking for a scheduled "unlisted" or "public" post is refused rather than half-honoured. | |
| categoryId | No | YouTube category id, NUMERIC — default "22" (People & Blogs), which is wrong for most ads. 1 Film & Animation · 2 Autos & Vehicles · 10 Music · 15 Pets & Animals · 17 Sports · 19 Travel & Events · 20 Gaming · 22 People & Blogs · 23 Comedy · 24 Entertainment · 25 News & Politics · 26 Howto & Style · 27 Education · 28 Science & Technology · 29 Nonprofits & Activism. The assignable set is region-specific, so the value is forwarded as given and YouTube has the last word. | |
| aiGenerated | No | YouTube’s “altered or synthetic content” declaration (containsSyntheticMedia). OMIT IT and Hermoso decides from provenance: a Hermoso render is declared, a video the user uploaded through upload_file or from an external URL is NOT — real footage must not carry the label. true/false overrides. | |
| description | No | REQUIRED in practice — what the video shows, a line about the brand, a link and a few #hashtags (≤5000 chars); YouTube search, suggested videos and the Shorts feed rank on it, so an upload with no description (and no caption) is refused | |
| thumbnailUrl | No | the custom thumbnail: a Hermoso-hosted image (make_thumbnail, or upload_file for the user’s own). Omit it and a representative frame of the video is set, free; "auto" keeps YouTube’s pick. Custom thumbnails need a verified channel. | |
| platformCover | No | VIDEO COVER. Omit it (the default) and Hermoso sets the video’s best frame — the same frame as its Library thumbnail — as the cover (YouTube custom thumbnail; the same as thumbnailUrl:"auto" when true). true = send no cover and let the platform pick (usually the first frame). A cover you pass yourself always wins. | |
| notifySubscribers | No | THE DEFAULT FOLLOWS PRIVACY. privacy:"public" NOTIFIES the channel's subscribers — that is YouTube's own default and normally what someone publishing publicly wants. privacy:"unlisted" and "private" do NOT: the video is not on the channel, so announcing it is nonsense, and a blast to somebody's whole subscriber list cannot be undone. A scheduled publish (publishAt) is PRIVATE at upload, so it does not notify either — pass true to announce one. An explicit value ALWAYS wins in both directions: true announces an unlisted/private upload, false publishes publicly and quietly. The reply reports which way it went and why. |