YouTube Marketing Skills

Build a YouTube personal brand with live channel data, AI-generated SEO, and organic-only growth strategy — no paid ads, no $99/month subscription.

21 commands · 10 live channel tools · Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI · MIT

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⭐ Star Goal: 500 in 30 days → unlocks v1.1 (CTR rescue + plateau buster + outlier detector)

⭐ Star this repo if you've ever spent a Sunday planning a video that got 43 views. Every star tells me what to ship next — and v1.1 unlocks at 500.

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What This Is

An agent-agnostic skill suite + MCP server that connects your AI agent of choice to your real YouTube channel — reads your private analytics, writes SEO back to YouTube, and publishes companion posts to WordPress. Works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, or any MCP-compatible client. Not locked to any single LLM or vendor.

Three things no other YouTube AI tool does:

1. Reads your private analytics via OAuth — watch time, retention %, traffic sources, demographics. Not just public stats anyone can scrape.
2. Writes back to YouTube — pushes updated titles, descriptions, and tags directly from your agent. No opening YouTube Studio.
3. Double-ranks on Google — publishes a companion WordPress post with VideoObject schema so the same topic ranks on both Google and YouTube simultaneously.

/youtube-ideate  →  /youtube-script  →  /youtube-seo  →  push to YouTube
                                                        ↓
                                         /youtube-wp-post  →  published to WordPress

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Who This Is For

Built for developers, consultants, and product makers who use YouTube to build authority — not entertainment creators chasing trending content.

• You make tutorials, walkthroughs, or educational content in your niche
• You want organic-only growth — no paid ads, no bought subscribers, no gaming the system
• You have a product, service, open-source project, or community to grow through video
• You want evergreen content — videos that get discovered for years, not just 48 hours after upload

One subscriber from your niche is worth more than 10,000 random views. This tool understands that.

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Quick Start

Full guide: INSTALL.md.

Requirements: Node.js 18+, Google Cloud project with YouTube Data API v3 + YouTube Analytics API enabled, OAuth 2.0 Desktop credentials.

# 1. Clone + install
git clone https://github.com/adityaarsharma/youtube-marketing-skills.git
cd youtube-marketing-skills && npm install

# 2. Drop your Google OAuth credentials.json into the directory

# 3. Authenticate — opens browser once, saves tokens locally
node auth.js

# 4. Install the skill files into your agent
cp -r skills/youtube-marketing ~/.claude/skills/

Add the MCP server to your agent's config (~/.claude/settings.json, ~/.cursor/mcp.json, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/full/path/to/youtube-marketing-skills/server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Open your agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, Gemini CLI — any MCP+Skills client) and type /youtube-strategy. You now have all 21 commands + live channel data + SEO write-back.

A no-install hosted option is coming soon for users who don't want to set up Node + Google Cloud.

Add to Claude Code settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["youtube-channel-mcp"]
    }
  },
  "skills": ["/path/to/youtube-marketing-skills/skills/youtube-marketing/SKILL.md"]
}

Configure your channel once — open skills/youtube-marketing/SKILL.md and set:

Channel: [Your channel name and handle]
Products: [Your products with URLs]
Best publish time: [Your optimal time + timezone]
Fixed links: [Product / docs / community URLs to embed in every description]

Every command now knows your business. Start with:

/youtube-ideate

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21 Commands

Strategy & Planning

Command	What It Does
/youtube-strategy	Channel positioning, content pillars, 30/60/90-day growth milestones
/youtube-ideate	10 ranked video ideas with live keyword volume + SERP gap analysis
/youtube-calendar	Monthly content plan with Shorts supplement + upload cadence
/youtube-competitor	Keyword gaps, format gaps, live SERP map of your niche

Production

Command	What It Does
/youtube-script	Retention-engineered tutorial script, pattern interrupts every 60–90s
/youtube-hook	5 hook variants with drop-off risk ratings
/youtube-thumbnail	3 A/B thumbnail briefs with full design specs and CTR predictions
/youtube-shorts	Vertical-format Short: script, metadata, visual markers

SEO & Upload

Command	What It Does
/youtube-seo	3 title variants, full description, 20 ordered tags — grounded in live keyword data
/youtube-metadata	Copy-paste upload package with pre-publish checklist
/youtube-wp-post	Companion blog post → WordPress publish + VideoObject schema
/youtube-plugin-demo	Script + SEO template for software demo and tutorial videos

Analytics & Optimization

Command	What It Does
/youtube-audit	4-dimension channel health audit with A–F grades
/youtube-analyze	CTR, retention, traffic sources, sub conversion — diagnosis + priority actions
/youtube-batch-seo	Bulk SEO update across your lowest-performing videos, auto-pushed to YouTube
/youtube-comment-intel	Mine comments for feature requests, pain points, reply templates

Growth & Expansion

Command	What It Does
/youtube-repurpose	7-platform expansion: Shorts, blog, LinkedIn, X, email, podcast, Community post
/youtube-shorts-from-long	Extract 3–5 Shorts from any existing long-form video
/youtube-funnel	Video → landing page → product purchase funnel map
/youtube-collab	Collaboration opportunity finder — channels to partner with in your niche
/youtube-monetize	Revenue strategy across 7 streams

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Live Channel Tools

What makes this different from every other YouTube AI skill: it connects to your real channel.

Direct read/write via OAuth2. Runs entirely on your machine — your data never leaves your computer.

Tool	What It Does
get_video_details	Full metadata — title, description, tags, privacy status, stats
search_my_videos	Search your own channel by keyword
update_video_seo	Push title, description, tags directly to YouTube
get_channel_overview	Subscribers, total views, video count
get_all_videos	All videos with stats, sorted by date or views
get_analytics_over_time	Day-by-day views, watch time, subscribers for any date range
get_top_videos_analytics	Top videos by views — with retention %, subs gained
get_audience_demographics	Countries, device types, age groups, gender
get_traffic_sources	Search, Suggested, Browse, External — with percentages
analyze_and_suggest_topics	Channel data → AI-powered gap analysis and topic suggestions

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The Organic Growth Playbook

No ads. No paid promotion. No viral luck. This is how personal brands compound on YouTube.

1. Find Evergreen Gaps

Evergreen content = keywords with consistent monthly search volume, not trending spikes that collapse in a week.

/youtube-ideate pulls live keyword data and surfaces gaps: real searches with volume that your competitors aren't targeting yet.

What to look for: Keywords where the top-ranking videos are 12+ months old, have weak titles, or come from channels outside your niche. That's unclaimed territory.

2. One Video, Three Discovery Paths

Every video you make should be built to win across three separate discovery systems:

• YouTube Search — title + description + tags targeting one specific query
• Google Search — companion WordPress post with VideoObject schema (same topic, two rankings)
• Suggested — thumbnail + hook optimized for your existing subscriber cohort

/youtube-seo + /youtube-wp-post handles all three in one workflow.

3. The Compounding Loop

Month 1:  Publish optimized tutorial → earns YouTube Search traffic
Month 2:  Companion post ranks on Google → new audience discovers the video
Month 3:  Video earns Suggested placement from a similar viewer cohort
Month 6:  Run /youtube-batch-seo → refresh titles with updated keyword data
Year 1:   This video drives 30–40% of your channel's total subscriber growth

/youtube-batch-seo automates the quarterly refresh. It finds your underperforming videos and pushes improved SEO — without you touching YouTube Studio.

4. Build a Gap Map, Not Just a Content Calendar

Most creators plan content by topic. Personal brands should plan by competitive gap.

/youtube-competitor  →  find what your niche isn't covering yet
/youtube-ideate      →  rank those gaps by keyword volume and competition score
/youtube-calendar    →  sequence by production effort and seasonal timing

This is the difference between a content calendar and a growth strategy.

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Channel Templates

Pick the template that fits your channel type — configure it once in SKILL.md:

Template	Built For
personal-brand.md	Consulting, coaching, courses, authority building
product-company.md	Plugin / SaaS / software companies
tutorial-channel.md	Pure tutorial — ad revenue + affiliates
saas-channel.md	Free trial → paid conversion funnel
wordpress-specialist.md	WordPress ecosystem, affiliate revenue
agency-channel.md	Client acquisition through authority content

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Integrations

Live Data Layer

Integration	What It Enables	Used By
DataForSEO MCP	Live keyword volume + YouTube SERP data + search trends	/youtube-ideate, /youtube-seo, /youtube-competitor
WordPress MCP	Companion post publishing with VideoObject schema	/youtube-wp-post

Video Production Stack

Chain these together to produce finished videos from inside your agent — no manual editing, no leaving your terminal.

Integration	What It Enables	Used By
Remotion MCP	Programmatic video creation — animated intros, code reveals, lower-thirds, outros (React → MP4)	/youtube-tutorial-build, /youtube-channel-trailer (roadmap)
FFmpeg MCP	Video assembly, vertical 9:16 reframe, caption burn-in, clip extraction, format conversion	/youtube-shorts-build, /youtube-clip-from-long (roadmap)
ElevenLabs MCP	AI voiceover for Shorts and tutorials — 10k credits/month free, voice cloning supported	/youtube-shorts-build, /youtube-tutorial-build (roadmap)
Whisper MCP	Auto-captions — word-level SRT/VTT for burned-in animated captions. 85% of Shorts watched on mute — captions are non-negotiable	/youtube-shorts-build, /youtube-clip-from-long (roadmap)
Pexels MCP	Free vertical B-roll stock footage matched to your script keywords	/youtube-shorts-build (roadmap)
Freesound MCP	Viral SFX (whoosh, bell, ding, transitions) + royalty-free music	/youtube-shorts-build (roadmap)
Nano Banana 2 MCP	Thumbnail image generation from briefs (Gemini Flash Image, ~$0.03/image)	/youtube-thumbnail-image (roadmap)

Roadmap details: marketing/integration-roadmap.md — 5 new orchestrator skills that chain these MCPs into one-command video production workflows.

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Works With

Agent	How
Claude Code	Skill files + live channel tools
Claude Desktop	Live channel tools via MCP
Cursor	Live channel tools via MCP
Windsurf	Live channel tools via MCP
OpenAI Codex	Skill files
Gemini CLI	Skill files
Any MCP client	Remote HTTP/SSE

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Research Foundation

Every recommendation in every command is grounded in published data — not opinions.

Source	Finding Used
Retention Rabbit (150M+ minutes analyzed)	Hook length 28–42s is optimal for tutorials
Wistia, 2024	Pattern interrupts every 60–90s → −40% drop-off
Focus Digital, Dec 2025	CTR benchmarks: Poor <3%, Average 3–5%, Good 5–8%, Excellent >8%
vidIQ (5M channel dataset)	2–3 uploads/week → 4x subscriber growth rate
vidIQ (5M channel dataset)	Face in thumbnail → +38% CTR
BrightEdge, 2025	Blog post with YouTube embed → +53% Google ranking lift
Yoast SEO Study, 2024	VideoObject schema on WordPress → +31% Google CTR
ConversionXL, 2024	Software demo videos convert at 2.8–6%
YouTube Official, Sept 2025	Shorts freshness decay: 28–30 day cliff
HubSpot, 2024	Content repurposed to 3+ formats → 3.5x total reach
Demand Curve, 2025	Top 20% of videos drive 80% of channel subscriber growth
Semrush, 2025	WordPress tutorial queries spike Jan–Mar and Sep–Nov

Full citations: references/whitepapers.md

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What's Inside

skills/youtube-marketing/
  SKILL.md          ← entry point — configure your channel once here
  sub-skills/       ← 21 command files
  references/       ← 9 knowledge guides (algorithm, analytics, SEO, Shorts, retention)
  templates/        ← 6 channel type configs
references/
  whitepapers.md    ← full citation database (14 published studies)

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vs. VidIQ / TubeBuddy

VidIQ / TubeBuddy	YouTube Marketing Skills
Suggests keywords	Pulls live SERP data + pushes the optimized title directly to YouTube
Shows a CTR score	Diagnoses why CTR is low + rewrites the thumbnail brief
Gives a tag list	Generates 20 prioritized tags + validates against YouTube policy
Dashboard only	Publishes a companion blog post to WordPress with VideoObject schema
One-size-fits-all	Learns your products, pricing, audience, and fixed links
No script help	Full retention-engineered script with pattern interrupts every 60–90s
$49–$99/month	Free. Open source. MIT. Runs entirely on your machine.

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Other Install Options

See INSTALL.md for the full guide — skill-only (no Node.js), full live mode, remote mode for teams, and Cursor / Claude Desktop / Codex / Gemini CLI configs.

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FAQ

Is this a free VidIQ alternative?

Yes. 100% free, open source, MIT licensed. No subscription, no paywalled features, no usage limits. Everything VidIQ charges $49–$99/month for — keyword research, SEO scoring, bulk SEO updates, channel audits — runs locally on your machine with this toolkit.

Can my AI agent manage my YouTube channel?

Yes — with Mode 2 (Hosted MCP) or Mode 3 (Local MCP), your agent connects to your channel via OAuth and can read your private analytics (watch time, retention, traffic sources) and write back SEO updates (title, description, tags) directly. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, Gemini CLI, or any MCP-compatible client. You stay in control: the agent proposes changes, you approve before they push.

Do I need to install Node.js?

Yes — Node.js 18+ runs the MCP server that connects to your live YouTube data and pushes SEO updates back. That's how all 21 commands actually work against your real channel.

A hosted, no-install version is coming soon for users who don't want to set up Node + Google Cloud locally.

How is this different from claude-youtube by AgriciDaniel?

claude-youtube is skill-only — you paste analytics in manually. This repo offers both: pure skill mode + a live MCP server that reads private analytics and writes SEO directly to YouTube. You also get a WordPress companion-post pipeline, batch SEO updates, and 21 commands vs 14.

How is this different from VidIQ or TubeBuddy?

VidIQ and TubeBuddy show you scores. This gives you a workflow. They suggest keywords; this pushes the optimized title directly to YouTube. They give you a CTR number; this diagnoses why CTR is low and rewrites your thumbnail brief. They cost $49–$99/month; this is free and runs on your machine.

How do I grow a YouTube channel without paid ads?

Use the Organic Growth Playbook above: find evergreen keyword gaps (/youtube-ideate), publish optimized tutorials with companion WordPress posts (/youtube-wp-post), then run /youtube-batch-seo quarterly to refresh older videos. This stacks YouTube Search + Google Search + Suggested traffic into one compounding system. No paid ads required.

What is a YouTube MCP server?

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server is a local program that gives AI agents like Claude direct access to a service. This repo's MCP server exposes 10 YouTube tools — read analytics, search your channel, update video SEO — so Claude can act on your real channel data. It runs entirely on your machine via OAuth2; nothing is sent to third parties.

Does this work with channels that have a product to sell?

Yes — it was specifically built for channels where one subscriber is worth more than 10,000 ad views. Configure your products and fixed links once in SKILL.md, then every command writes descriptions, CTAs, and funnels around your real product pages. There are channel templates for plugin/SaaS, agency, consultancy, personal brand, and tutorial channels.

Will this work for new channels under 1,000 subscribers?

Yes — the strategy and ideation commands work without any channel data (/youtube-strategy, /youtube-ideate, /youtube-script, /youtube-hook, /youtube-thumbnail). Live analytics commands obviously need an existing channel. The Organic Growth Playbook is designed to take a channel from zero to its first thousand subscribers using SEO-driven discovery.

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License

MIT — Aditya Sharma

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Built for channels where one subscriber is worth more than ten thousand ad views.