Nitya Gita: daily verse videos

Every morning at 06:00 IST a Cloudflare Worker cron (cloudflare/) starts a GitHub Actions job that builds the Nitya Gita app's "verse of the day" as a vertical video in several languages, attaches the videos to a release, and posts them to YouTube Shorts (and Instagram Reels once configured).

The video matches the in-app status video: same verse of the day, card layout, recitation and meaning audio, and ffmpeg filter graph. Verse data, audio and backgrounds are downloaded from the app's storage at run time. No app data is stored in this repo.

Layout

Path	What
generator/make_video.py	Builds one video plus its localized title, caption and hashtags (meta.json)
generator/config.json	Languages, labels, hashtags, post templates
publish/youtube_upload.py	Uploads a Short (YouTube Data API, resumable upload)
publish/instagram_post.py	Publishes a Reel (Instagram API with Instagram Login)
publish/accounts.py	Picks each language's account (its own or the shared one)
tools/instagram_account_helper.py	Guided setup of a per-language Instagram account (opens pages, copies text, saves the token)
tools/make_intro_posts.py	Renders the three pinned intro posts per language (text in generator/intro_posts.json)
tools/get_youtube_token.py	One-time helper to get the YouTube refresh token
posted/YYYY-MM.jsonl	Log of what was posted, written by the workflow
docs/instagram-accounts.md	Checklist and profile text for the per-language Instagram accounts
cloudflare/	Cron Worker that starts the workflow at 06:00 IST (GitHub's own schedule, at 07:23 and 08:53 IST, is only a backup)

Settings (repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions)

Name	Type	Notes
GITA_WORKER_URL	variable	App storage Worker URL
GITA_WORKER_TOKEN	secret	Read token the app uses
VIDEO_LANGS	variable	Optional, e.g. ml hi ta te (default from config)
YT_CLIENT_ID, YT_CLIENT_SECRET, YT_REFRESH_TOKEN	secrets	YouTube upload. Step skipped until set
YT_PRIVACY	variable	public (default), unlisted or private
IG_USER_ID, IG_ACCESS_TOKEN	secrets	Instagram. Step skipped until set
IG_REFRESH_PAT	secret	Fine-grained GitHub token (this repo, Secrets read/write) for weekly token refresh

Separate accounts per language

Any language can have its own YouTube channel, Instagram account, Facebook Page or Threads account. Add the same secrets with the language code appended, e.g. YT_REFRESH_TOKEN_TA, IG_USER_ID_TA + IG_ACCESS_TOKEN_TA, FB_PAGE_ID_TA + FB_PAGE_TOKEN_TA, THREADS_USER_ID_TA + THREADS_TOKEN_TA. The helpers below save them for you when given --lang ta. YouTube channels reuse the shared OAuth client, so only the refresh token is per language.

Languages without their own account keep posting to the shared one. To stop that for a platform, list the languages that may still use the shared account in generator/config.json, e.g. "shared_account_languages": {"instagram": ["en", "hi"]}. A platform that isn't listed lets every language use it.

Suggested setup for a new YouTube channel: in YouTube, create a channel (Brand Account) under the same Google account, then YT_CLIENT_ID=... YT_CLIENT_SECRET=... python3 tools/get_youtube_token.py --lang ta and pick the new channel. Each new Instagram account needs Add account in the Meta app (step 3 below), then python3 tools/save_instagram_secrets.py --lang ta. Facebook and Threads: python3 tools/save_meta_secrets.py facebook --lang ta.

YouTube (one time)

Uses the app's Google Cloud project srimad-bhagawad-gita, where YouTube Data API v3 is already enabled.

1. Google Auth Platform → Branding: set the app name and support email (skip if already set).
2. Audience: User type External, then Publish app so it's In production. Otherwise refresh tokens expire after 7 days.
3. Clients → Create client → Desktop app, named e.g. "Shorts uploader".
4. In Terminal: python3 tools/get_youtube_token.py. Paste the client ID and secret when asked, then sign in with the Google account that owns the channel and pick the channel. Google shows "hasn't verified this app": choose Advanced → Go to …, since it's your own app. The script saves all three secrets to this repo without printing them.

Instagram (one time, after creating the account)

1. In the Instagram app: Settings → Account type and tools → Switch to professional account → Creator.
2. At developers.facebook.com/apps, Create app → use case "Manage messaging & content on Instagram" → create.
3. In the app: Instagram → API setup with Instagram login → Generate access tokens → Add account, then log in to the Instagram account and Generate token. Copy it.
4. Optional, for auto-refresh: create a fine-grained GitHub token for only this repo with Secrets: Read and write.
5. In Terminal: python3 tools/save_instagram_secrets.py. Paste the Instagram token (and the GitHub token if you made one). It checks the token, finds the account ID and saves IG_USER_ID, IG_ACCESS_TOKEN (and IG_REFRESH_PAT) without printing them.

The Refresh Instagram token workflow renews every Instagram and Threads token (shared and per language) every Monday when IG_REFRESH_PAT is set.

Cloudflare trigger (one time)

1. Give a fine-grained GitHub token (this repo only) Actions: Read and write. You can add it to the nityagita-ig-refresh token.
2. cd cloudflare && npx wrangler secret put GITHUB_TOKEN, then paste the token.

Running by hand

Actions → Daily verse video → Run workflow. Optional inputs are date, languages and publish on/off.

Locally (needs ffmpeg, Chrome and Dart):

export GITA_WORKER_URL=... GITA_WORKER_TOKEN=...
python3 generator/make_video.py --date 2026-10-21 --lang ml --out work/ml

Safety in a public repo

• Secrets are only available to scheduled and manual runs, never to pull requests from forks.
• Downloads go to the runner's temp folder and are never uploaded as artifacts.
• Logs print only the verse reference and post links.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md. Please report security problems privately, as described in SECURITY.md.

License

The code in this repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0-only). If you run a modified version, including as a hosted service, you must make your source available under the same license.

Not covered by the license:

• The Nitya Gita name, logo and app icon (assets/app_icon.png).
• The app's content that the generator downloads at run time: verse text, translations and meanings, recitation and meaning audio, artwork and background videos. Some of it is under its own third-party terms.

Using the code doesn't grant any right to use these. Bring your own content and branding.

Copyright (C) 2026 ganeshsp1