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
⭐ 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.
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:
- Reads your private analytics via OAuth — watch time, retention %, traffic sources, demographics. Not just public stats anyone can scrape.
- Writes back to YouTube — pushes updated titles, descriptions, and tags directly from your agent. No opening YouTube Studio.
- 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
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.
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
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 |
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 |
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.
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 |
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.
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 |
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
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)
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. |
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.
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.
License
MIT — Aditya Sharma
Built for channels where one subscriber is worth more than ten thousand ad views.
