How to Bulk Upload YouTube Shorts via API

Step-by-step

1. 1

   Connect your YouTube channel

   In Dashboard → Profiles → Connect → YouTube, approve the Google OAuth flow. The channel connects through CodivUpload's Google Cloud project, so there is no Google Cloud setup on your side. After connecting, you can upload immediately.

2. 2

   Format your video as a Short

   YouTube auto-classifies a video as a Short if it meets three criteria: vertical aspect ratio (9:16), under 60 seconds duration, and the title or description contains #Shorts. CodivUpload appends #Shorts to the title automatically when you set youtube_type=shorts, but you should still ensure the source video is vertical and trimmed under 60 seconds. Horizontal videos with #Shorts in the title are still treated as regular videos by the algorithm.

3. 3

   Upload via POST /v1/posts

   Set post_type=video, profile_name to your profile, platforms=["youtube"], and youtube_type=shorts. Pass the video URL in media_urls. CodivUpload handles the resumable upload protocol behind the scenes — you don't need to chunk the file or handle retries.

   curl -X POST https://api.codivupload.com/v1/posts \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "post_type": "video",
       "profile_name": "my_brand",
       "platforms": ["youtube"],
       "media_urls": ["https://your-cdn.example.com/short.mp4"],
       "title": "Quick tip for creators",
       "description": "How to save 4 hours/week on social — full guide in the comments.",
       "youtube_type": "shorts",
       "youtube_privacy_status": "public",
       "youtube_tags": ["productivity", "creators", "shorts", "automation"],
       "youtube_category_id": "27"
     }'

4. 4

   Add to a playlist programmatically

   If you have an existing Shorts playlist, set youtube_playlist_id to add the upload to it automatically. Each playlistItems.insert call costs 50 quota units. For longer-form videos use the same field; YouTube doesn't distinguish between Shorts playlists and regular playlists at the API level.

5. 5

   Loop through a video list (Python example)

   Wrap the upload in a Python or Node script. Pause 30 seconds between uploads to stay under YouTube's per-minute rate limits — firing too fast can trigger temporary throttling. The script below reads a list of {url, title} dicts and posts each one through CodivUpload.

   import os, time, requests
   
   API = "https://api.codivupload.com/v1/posts"
   KEY = os.environ["CODIVUPLOAD_API_KEY"]
   PROFILE = "my_brand"
   
   videos = [
       {"url": "https://cdn.example.com/v1.mp4", "title": "Tip 1: batch your content"},
       {"url": "https://cdn.example.com/v2.mp4", "title": "Tip 2: use a content bank"},
       # ...
   ]
   
   for v in videos:
       r = requests.post(API, headers={
           "Authorization": f"Bearer {KEY}",
           "Content-Type": "application/json",
       }, json={
           "post_type": "video",
           "profile_name": PROFILE,
           "platforms": ["youtube"],
           "media_urls": [v["url"]],
           "title": v["title"],
           "description": v["title"] + " — full breakdown in our newsletter.",
           "youtube_type": "shorts",
           "youtube_privacy_status": "public",
           "youtube_tags": ["productivity", "creator-tips"],
       })
       r.raise_for_status()
       print(v["title"], "→", r.json()["post_id"])
       time.sleep(30)

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