youtube-comments

name	youtube-comments
description	Fetch top-level comment threads for a YouTube video (API key) and post replies (OAuth2). Pass --account-ref to pick the credential set for the target channel. Used by directives that run community engagement — fetch → filter → approve → reply.
metadata	{"clawdbot":{"emoji":"💬","requires":["node"],"credentials":"~/.credentials/youtube-<account-ref>.env — YOUTUBE_API_KEY (read) and YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID/_SECRET/_REFRESH_TOKEN (post)"}}

YouTube Comments

General-purpose YouTube comment fetcher + reply poster. Every directive that does community engagement on YouTube calls this skill.

Install

cd ~/clawd/skills/youtube-comments
pnpm install
pnpm run build

Credentials

Same ~/.credentials/youtube-<account-ref>.env file as youtube-publish, but requires YOUTUBE_API_KEY additionally for read access:

YOUTUBE_API_KEY=...            # required for --video-id (read)
YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID=...          # required for --post-reply
YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET=...
YOUTUBE_REFRESH_TOKEN=...      # scope: youtube.force-ssl

Usage

Fetch comments

youtube-comments \
  --account-ref my-podcast \
  --video-id dQw4w9WgXcQ \
  --max 50 \
  --since "2026-04-10T00:00:00Z" \
  --output comments.json

Writes an array of {id, author, text, timestamp, likeCount} to the output file. Without --output, the comments are included inline in the stdout JSON.

Post a reply

youtube-comments \
  --account-ref my-podcast \
  --post-reply \
  --comment-id UgkxXXXXXX \
  --text "Thank you for sharing!"

Emits {ok: true, op: "post-reply", reply_id, parent_id, text} on success.

Flags

Flag	Default	Notes
--account-ref <ref>	(falls back to process.env)	Loads ~/.credentials/youtube-<ref>.env
--video-id <id>	—	Required for fetch mode
--max <n>	100	Total cap (paginates up to this many)
--since <ISO>	—	Excludes comments older than the ISO timestamp
--output <path>	—	Write comments JSON to this file (otherwise inline in stdout)
--post-reply	—	Switch to post-reply mode
--comment-id <id>	—	Required with --post-reply
--text <string>	—	Required with --post-reply

Error classification

error	Meaning
auth	401/403 — bad API key or expired OAuth token
quota	YouTube daily quota exhausted
rate_limit	429 — back off and retry
upstream	5xx
policy	400/422 — rejected by content rules
config	Bad args or missing creds

Callers

• My Podcast — universal-engagement (replaces the per-project engage:fetch and engage:post scripts)
• My Show — cartoon-engagement-manager (when that directive wires through)

See also

• comment-safety-filter — the downstream skill every reply flow pipes through
• youtube-publish — shares the credential file; same --account-ref convention
• Vault Overview: 08 - System/Agent Skills/youtube-comments - Skill Overview.md