oytc — open YouTube CLI

Read public YouTube data and your channel analytics. Read-only and scriptable.

oytc is a command-line client for the official YouTube Data API v3 and YouTube Analytics API. It covers search, channels, videos, playlists, comments, live chat, and owner-authorized analytics — with stable JSON/JSONL/TSV output and retries.

Install (macOS & Linux)

tmp="$(mktemp)" && {
  curl --proto '=https' --proto-redir '=https' -fsSL \
    https://davis7dotsh.github.io/open-yt-cli/install.sh -o "$tmp" && sh "$tmp"
  status=$?
  rm -f "$tmp"
  (exit "$status")
}

The installer detects your platform, verifies the release's SHA-256 checksum before installing, and defaults to ~/.local/bin — no root required.

Windows (PowerShell):

$tmp = Join-Path ([IO.Path]::GetTempPath()) ("oytc-install-" + [Guid]::NewGuid() + ".ps1")
try {
    irm https://davis7dotsh.github.io/open-yt-cli/install.ps1 -OutFile $tmp -ErrorAction Stop
    & $tmp
} finally {
    Remove-Item -LiteralPath $tmp -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

Alternatively, grab a zip from the releases page.

Quick setup

# 1. Create a free YouTube Data API v3 key (see the setup guide below)
# 2. Save it securely (prompts without echo; never lands in shell history)
oytc login

# 3. Verify
oytc status --check

# 4. Go
oytc search "Go conference" --type video --limit 5
oytc channel get @GoogleDevelopers
oytc video stats dQw4w9WgXcQ --format json

# Optional owner analytics (see the OAuth setup guide)
oytc login --oauth
oytc analytics overview --by day

Commands

• GitHub
• Command reference
• API key setup guide
• OAuth analytics setup
• Releases