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Getting started

Start here if you are new to YT Analyzer. This guide covers setup, how to read dashboard significance (not just raw numbers), and how to use Studio + pre-publish workflows to improve a video before it goes live.

You still need both a YouTube and a Gemini API key. The steps below walk you through it.

Understand what you need

YT Studio Analyzer is bring-your-own-key. You plug in two free API keys; the app stores them only in this browser and uses them to talk to Google on your behalf. Nothing is sent to a server we control.

  • YouTube Data API v3 key — reads channel and video data. Free for up to 10,000 units / day.
  • Gemini API key — powers the AI analysis, thumbnail review, and Creator Studio. Free tier is plenty for casual use.

Get your YouTube Data API v3 key

  1. Open the Google Cloud Console and sign in with any Google account.
  2. Create a new project (top-left project dropdown → New Project). Any name is fine.
  3. In the search bar type YouTube Data API v3, open it, and click Enable.
  4. Navigate to APIs & Services → Credentials, click Create credentials → API key, and copy the generated key.
  5. (Optional but recommended) click Edit API key and restrict it to YouTube Data API v3 so it can't be reused elsewhere.

Tip: the quota dashboard lives under APIs & Services → Quotas if you ever want to see how much you've spent.

Get your Gemini API key

  1. Open Google AI Studio → API keys and sign in.
  2. Click Create API key. If prompted, pick the same Google Cloud project from step 2 (or a brand-new one).
  3. Copy the key. Keep the tab open — you'll paste it in a moment.

The Gemini free tier covers content analysis, thumbnail review, title / hook generation, and topic clustering for most creators without a paid plan.

Save both keys in YT Studio

  1. Open Your API Keys.
  2. Click the row for each provider, paste your key, and press Save. The app makes a lightweight live call to validate the key before storing it — an invalid key is rejected with a clear message.
  3. Once both rows show Configured, the channel-lookup page unlocks on the home screen.

Keys are saved in localStorage plus a cookie scoped to this site so the server can read them for YouTube and Gemini requests. You can edit or delete a key any time from the same page.

Look up a channel

Head to Channel lookup and paste any of the following:

  • A full channel URL, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/@LearnwithManoj
  • A handle, e.g. @LearnwithManoj
  • A raw channel id, e.g. UCxxxxxxxx

The app resolves the input to a canonical channel id, caches the result for an hour (per-key, in-memory only), and redirects you to the dashboard at /dashboard/<channelId>.

Read the dashboard with context

The dashboard now includes an interpretation layer so you get clear actions, not just charts. You'll see these core blocks:

Channel header

Avatar, name, compact subscriber count, total views.

Key Insights + Channel Health

Top narrative insights with confidence labels, a composite channel-health score, and recommended next actions.

Idea Opportunity Engine

A focused “what to make next” widget that synthesizes current channel signals into a top opportunity angle, why-now evidence, best format, and best publish window (in your browser-local timezone), with one-click generation of 3 data-grounded ideas.

Stats Cards (With Interpretation)

Avg views · engagement rate · uploads/week · best day, each with a one-line interpretation and a ? help hint.

Performance chart

View counts across the latest 50 videos, oldest → newest.

Video grid + heatmap

Click any thumbnail to open the Video Analyzer modal. Heatmap now explains why a slot is recommended and can create calendar drafts for your next two uploads.

Also New On The Dashboard

  • Title trends now includes decision-grade signals: lift vs median, novelty guard (reuse risk), and separate phrase winners for Shorts vs Long-form.
  • Performance chart tooltips now show both video index and exact video title.
  • Dashboard snapshots are cached locally (IndexedDB), so Recent channels can show summary stats for channels you've already viewed.
  • Growth tracking appends local snapshots over time (deduped and consolidated), then unlocks the growth chart + delta card once enough history exists.

Explore Creator Studio (optional)

When you want more than analytics, open the Creator Studio for AI tools:

Video Ideate

Enter niche keywords and generate last-30-days, data-grounded idea cards with evidence-backed “why now” reasoning and confidence. Export the generated bundle with Download As PDF for future reference.

Pre-Publish Analyzer

Add unpublished draft metadata, upload a thumbnail file, then run one-click Analyze + Generate Recommendations to analyze metadata + thumbnail, generate a new metadata pack, generate 3 thumbnails, and score each generated variant before publish.

Title Lab

Generate and score alternative titles against your existing catalogue.

Hook, description, chapters

Draft the first 15 seconds, SEO description, and chapter markers for a video you pick from the channel.

Topic clusters

Embed every video in the channel with text-embedding-004 and group them into topical clusters.

Thumbnail generator

Create thumbnail variations from prompts with your configured image model.

Script Doctor

Stream a structured outline — cold open, hook, beats, CTA, outro — tuned to a target runtime and optional audience note.

A/B Title Scorer

Paste two candidate titles and get axis-by-axis scores (clarity, curiosity, SEO, clickability) plus a rationale for the winner.

A/B Thumbnail Comparator

Upload two thumbnails (or paste URLs) and compare face impact, readability, contrast, and curiosity gap side by side.

Competitor Gap Analysis

After running a /compare session, jump to gap analysis to surface shared topics and each channel's missing angles.

Metric glossary

Avg views
Mean view count across the fetched videos (up to 50).
Engagement rate
(likes + comments) / views × 100, summed across all fetched videos.
Uploads / week
(valid publish dates − 1) / span in days × 7. Counts intervals, not videos, so 2 videos a week apart reads as 1.0 / week.
Best day
Weekday (in your browser's timezone) with the highest total views across the fetched videos.
Outperformer / Underperformer
Median + MAD based outlier: videos > 1.5× MAD above/below the median viewing count for the channel.
Heatmap strongest slot
Ranked by reliability score: medianViews × ln(1 + count) with a preference for slots that have at least 2 uploads. Peak views are still shown as context.
Confidence label
Indicates data reliability based on sample depth and recency context. Use it to decide whether to act immediately or validate first.
Title trend lift vs median
How much the winning repeated title pattern outperforms (or underperforms) the channel's median view level. Positive lift means the pattern is directionally stronger than baseline.
Novelty guard (reuse risk)
Saturation signal for overusing the same title phrase. Low / Medium / High helps you decide when to keep the winner vs rotate qualifiers to avoid fatigue.
Format split winners
Separate strongest repeated phrase for Shorts and Long-form so title strategy can match format intent instead of using one blended pattern.

Troubleshooting

"YouTube API key is invalid"

Double-check the key on the API Keys page. If you restricted the key, confirm it allows YouTube Data API v3.

"Quota exceeded — try again tomorrow"

You've used the 10,000-unit daily YouTube quota. Quotas reset at midnight Pacific time. You can raise the quota in Google Cloud if needed.

Channel not found

The handle / URL couldn't be resolved. Verify it opens on YouTube, and try the raw UC… channel id if the handle is very new.

Gemini returns an error

Re-validate the Gemini key on the API Keys page. Free tier has per-minute limits; wait a minute and retry if you've been hammering Studio tools.

Scheduled / private videos are missing

API-key mode can only access public YouTube data. Scheduled/private videos require OAuth owner authorization. Use Pre-Publish Analyzer for draft checks in the current BYOK mode.

Pre-Publish thumbnail upload fails

Upload an image under 2MB in jpeg/png/webp/heic/heif format. If the file is replaced, click Save Draft again so the latest thumbnail bytes are stored.

Privacy & data handling

  • API keys live in localStorage and a same-site cookie; never on a shared server.
  • YouTube + Gemini requests are proxied through Next.js route handlers running in your session.
  • Dashboard snapshots are cached in IndexedDB on your device. Clearing the Recent channels page wipes them.
  • No analytics or tracking beacons are sent unless you set NEXT_PUBLIC_TELEMETRY_ENDPOINT in your own deployment.

Handy shortcuts

  • ⌘ K / Ctrl K — open the command palette; search any page (including this one), any recently viewed channel, or tools like Pre-Publish Analyzer.
  • Esc — close the palette or any open modal.
  • The Toggle theme button floats in the top-right corner on every page.