YouTube Playlist Manager

A Haskell command-line tool to manage YouTube playlists using the YouTube Data API v3.

Features

• List all your YouTube playlists
• List all videos in any playlist (handles 800+ videos with pagination)
• Create new playlists (public, unlisted, or private)
• Add videos to playlists by video ID
• Remove videos by video ID
• Move videos between playlists
• Delete entire playlists
• Batch operations for adding, removing, or moving multiple videos from a file

Prerequisites

• GHC and Cabal
• OAuth2 credentials from Google Cloud Console

Setup

1. Get OAuth2 Credentials

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or use existing)
3. Enable the YouTube Data API v3:
   • APIs & Services > Library > Search "YouTube Data API v3" > Enable
4. Create OAuth2 credentials:
   • APIs & Services > Credentials > Create Credentials > OAuth client ID
   • Application type: "Desktop app"
   • Download the JSON and save as client_secrets.json in this directory

2. Build

cabal build

Usage

First-time Authentication

cabal run ytplaylist -- auth
# or after building:
./ytplaylist auth

This will open your browser for Google authentication and save the token to ytplaylist_token.json in the current directory.

List Your Playlists

./ytplaylist list-playlists

Shows all your playlists with their IDs and video counts.

List Videos in a Playlist

./ytplaylist list <playlist-id>

Shows all videos (Item ID, Video ID, Title). Works with playlists of any size using pagination.

Create a New Playlist

./ytplaylist create-playlist <title> <description> <privacy>

Privacy can be: public, unlisted, or private.

Example:

./ytplaylist create-playlist "My Music" "Favorite songs" "private"

Add a Video to a Playlist

./ytplaylist add <playlist-id> <video-id>

Video ID is the part after v= in YouTube URLs:

• URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
• Video ID: dQw4w9WgXcQ

Add Multiple Videos (Batch)

./ytplaylist add-batch <playlist-id> <file>

The file should contain one video ID per line.

Remove a Video from a Playlist

./ytplaylist remove <playlist-id> <video-id>

Remove Multiple Videos (Batch)

./ytplaylist remove-batch <playlist-id> <file>

The file should contain one video ID per line.

Move a Video Between Playlists

./ytplaylist move <source-playlist-id> <target-playlist-id> <video-id>

Move Multiple Videos (Batch)

./ytplaylist move-batch <source-playlist-id> <target-playlist-id> <file>

The file should contain one video ID per line.

Delete a Playlist

./ytplaylist delete-playlist <playlist-id>

Command Reference

Command	Description
auth	Authenticate with YouTube
list-playlists	List all your playlists
list <playlist-id>	List videos in a playlist
create-playlist <title> <description> <privacy>	Create a new playlist
add <playlist-id> <video-id>	Add a single video to playlist
add-batch <playlist-id> <file>	Add multiple videos from file
remove <playlist-id> <video-id>	Remove a single video from playlist
remove-batch <playlist-id> <file>	Remove multiple videos from file
move <source> <target> <video-id>	Move a single video between playlists
move-batch <source> <target> <file>	Move multiple videos from file
delete-playlist <playlist-id>	Delete a playlist

Examples

# Authenticate
./ytplaylist auth

# See your playlists
./ytplaylist list-playlists
# Output: My Playlist | ID: PLxxxxxxxxxxx | Videos: 42

# List videos
./ytplaylist list PLxxxxxxxxxxx

# Create a new playlist
./ytplaylist create-playlist "My Music" "Favorite songs" "private"

# Add a video
./ytplaylist add PLxxxxxxxxxxx dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Add multiple videos from file
./ytplaylist add-batch PLxxxxxxxxxxx videos.txt

# Remove a video
./ytplaylist remove PLxxxxxxxxxxx dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Move a video between playlists
./ytplaylist move PLxxxxxxxxxxx PLyyyyyyyyyyy dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Delete a playlist
./ytplaylist delete-playlist PLxxxxxxxxxxx

File Structure

.
├── client_secrets.json       # Your OAuth2 credentials (DO NOT COMMIT)
├── ytplaylist_token.json     # Authentication token (DO NOT COMMIT)
├── .gitignore               # Ignores credentials and build artifacts
├── youtube-playlist-manager.cabal
├── Main.hs                  # Source code
├── src/                     # Library modules
│   ├── HTTP.hs
│   ├── OAuth.hs
│   ├── Types.hs
│   └── YouTube.hs
├── test/Test.hs             # Test suite
└── README.md

Security Notes

• client_secrets.json and ytplaylist_token.json contain sensitive credentials
• These are listed in .gitignore and should NEVER be committed
• Each project directory has its own separate authentication token

Testing

# Run all tests (requires authentication)
cabal test

# The integration test creates and deletes a real playlist

Troubleshooting

"Authentication token not found: ytplaylist_token.json" Run ./ytplaylist auth first

"Failed to parse client_secrets.json" Make sure you downloaded the Desktop app credentials from Google Cloud Console

Browser doesn't open Copy the URL from the console and paste it manually

"Quota exceeded" YouTube API has daily quotas (default 10,000 units/day). Creating playlists and adding videos each cost ~50 units.

API Quotas

The YouTube Data API has quota limits (default 10,000 units/day):

• Create playlist: ~50 units
• Add video: ~50 units
• Delete item: ~50 units
• List operations: ~1-5 units

License

MIT