YouTube Uploader

Automatically uploads OBS recordings to YouTube when recording finishes. The app watches a folder for new video files, waits until a file stops changing, then uploads it to your channel as a private video titled with the date and time. It can run as a command-line process, with a small Windows tray GUI, or in a Windows container.

Stack

• Python 3.7+
• watchdog for file system events
• Google API client libraries (YouTube Data API v3, OAuth 2.0 desktop flow)
• PySide6 for the optional GUI (Windows)
• Docker (Windows containers) via Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml

Running

1. Google Cloud setup

1. In the Google Cloud Console, create a project and enable YouTube Data API v3.
2. Create an OAuth client ID of type Desktop app and note the client ID and secret.
3. On the OAuth consent screen, add the scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.upload and add yourself as a test user.

2. Install and configure

pip install -r requirements.txt
export YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID='your-client-id'
export YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET='your-client-secret'
export YOUTUBE_PROJECT_ID='your-project-id'   # optional

On Windows PowerShell use $env:YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID="..." instead of export.

3. Start

python main.py          # command line
python main.py --gui    # windowed / tray mode

On first run a browser window opens for Google sign-in. The resulting token is saved to token.json, which is gitignored and reused afterwards. If authentication goes wrong, delete token.json and sign in again.

Docker (Windows containers)

See DOCKER.md. In short:

.\validate-docker-setup.ps1   # optional prerequisite check
docker-compose up --build

Edit the bind-mounted recordings folder in docker-compose.yml to match your machine.

How it works

1. watchdog notices a new file in the watched directory (the WATCH_DIR environment variable, otherwise F:\Recordings as coded in main.py).
2. The handler polls the file on an interval (60 seconds by default). If the file was modified since the last check it waits another interval; otherwise it treats the recording as finished.
3. The file is uploaded as a private video titled with the current date and time, and the status is logged. Change visibility later in YouTube Studio.

Only one file is tracked at a time. The GUI also remembers the last chosen directory in config.json (also gitignored).

Configuration

• YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID, YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET (required)
• YOUTUBE_PROJECT_ID (optional)
• WATCH_DIR - directory to watch
• DATA_DIR - where config.json and token.json are stored (defaults to the current directory)

Project layout

• main.py - entry point; wires the watcher and uploader together
• fileHandler.py - detects finished recordings and triggers uploads
• uploader.py - OAuth and YouTube upload logic
• gui.py - PySide6 window and system tray icon
• config.py - persists the chosen directory
• watcher.py - file watching helper