sync-all-channels

name	sync-all-channels
description	Extract videos from all enabled YouTube channels in channels.yaml. Use for batch updating video lists before downloading transcripts overnight, when the user mentions "sync channels", "update video lists", "refresh channels", or before running download-all-transcripts.

Sync All Channels

Why? Manually running extract-videos on each channel is tedious and error-prone. This skill automates batch extraction with rate limiting to respect YouTube's API.

Quick Start

# Run the unified CLI command
ytscriber sync-all

[!TIP] Run this before ytscriber download-all to ensure video lists are current.

---

Workflow

1. Review Channel Configuration

Check ~/Documents/YTScriber/channels.yaml and verify:

• All desired channels have enabled: true
• Video counts are appropriate (20-100 typical)
• URLs point to channel video pages

channels:
  - folder: OpenAI
    url: https://www.youtube.com/@OpenAI/videos
    count: 50
    enabled: true

collections:
  - library-of-minds
  - random

[!CAUTION] Setting count above 200 significantly increases sync time and may trigger rate limiting.

2. Execute the Sync

ytscriber sync-all

The command will:

1. Parse channels.yaml
2. Skip channels with enabled: false
3. Extract videos for each enabled channel
4. Wait between channels (rate limiting)
5. Report completion and next steps

3. Verify Results

After completion, check:

• Each channel folder exists
• Each folder contains videos.csv with entries
• No persistent errors in output

# Quick verification
ls -la ~/Documents/YTScriber/*/videos.csv | head -10

---

Configuration

Adding a New Channel

1. Add entry to channels.yaml:

   - folder: new-channel-name
     url: https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos
     count: 50
     enabled: true
   

2. Run sync - folder is created automatically

Or use the extract command with --register-channel:

ytscriber extract https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos \
  --count 50 \
  --folder new-channel-name \
  --register-channel

[!WARNING] Folder names should use lowercase with hyphens (e.g., my-channel). Avoid spaces or special characters.

Disabling a Channel

Set enabled: false - the channel will be skipped during sync but data is preserved.

Recommended Video Counts

Channel Type	Recommended Count
Infrequent posters (1-2/month)	20
Regular posters (weekly)	50
High-volume (daily)	100
Conference channels	100-200

---

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Solution
Config file not found	Running from wrong directory or channels.yaml missing	Ensure ~/Documents/YTScriber/channels.yaml exists
Failed to sync [channel]	Network issue or invalid URL	Check URL is accessible in browser, retry
Sync takes forever	Too many channels or high counts	Reduce counts or disable some channels
Empty videos.csv	Channel has no public videos or URL is wrong	Verify URL ends in /videos
Rate limit errors	Too many requests	Wait 1 hour and retry; reduce counts

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Common Mistakes

1. Wrong URL format - Use https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos not /channel/ or /c/ URLs
2. Forgetting to enable - New channels default to enabled: false in templates
3. Excessive counts - Starting with count: 500 causes long waits; start with 50

---

Next Steps

After syncing channels:

# Download transcripts for all synced videos
ytscriber download-all

---

Quality Checklist

Before running sync:

• channels.yaml exists and is valid YAML
• At least one channel has enabled: true

After sync completes:

• No persistent errors in output (warnings OK)
• Each enabled channel has videos.csv
• CSV files contain video entries

---

Rate Limiting Details

• Sequential processing - one channel at a time
• Graceful failure - if one channel fails, others continue

[!TIP] For overnight batch operations, run sync first, then download-all. This sequence ensures video lists are current before downloading.