YouTube notifications
Announce new YouTube content in Discord instantly
The YouTube notifications module monitors up to 15 YouTube channels and automatically posts a message to a Discord channel as soon as a new video, Short, live stream, or Premiere appears. For each content type you can configure a separate Discord channel and a custom message.
Setup
- Enable YouTube notifications in the dashboard
- Add a channel: paste the YouTube URL (channel URL, handle, or video URL)
- The bot resolves the channel and shows a preview (name, avatar, subscriber count)
- Select the target Discord channel (used as fallback for all content types)
- Enable the desired content types (video, Short, live, Premiere)
- Optional: configure separate channels and message templates per type
- Save
Supported YouTube URL formats
When adding a channel, the bot accepts several URL formats:
youtube.com/channel/UC...youtube.com/@handleyoutube.com/c/channelnameAny video URL from the channel (youtube.com/watch?v=...)
Content types
| Type | When triggered |
|---|---|
video | Regular YouTube video (length > 60 s) |
short | YouTube Short (vertical, max. 60 s) |
live | Live stream starts |
premiere | Premiere (pre-announced video with countdown) |
Message template
The default template is: {channel_name} uploaded a new {type}! — followed by the URL. You can customize it freely.
| Variable | Content |
|---|---|
{channel_name} | Name of the YouTube channel |
{title} | Title of the video |
{url} | Direct link to the video |
{type} | Content type (video / short / live / premiere) |
{duration} | Duration of the video (empty for live streams) |
{published_at} | Publication date |
Example: 🎬 **{channel_name}** published a new video: **{title}**\n{url}Role mentions
Per subscription you can add up to 20 roles to be mentioned in the post. The mentions are automatically prepended to the message template.
Notification mechanism
Primary: WebSub (PubSubHubbub) — Google sends a real-time notification as soon as a new video appears. Latency is typically under 1 minute.
Fallback Polling: if WebSub does not send a notification (happens occasionally), the bot falls back to RSS Polling. Active channels (last video fewer than 7 days ago): every 15 minutes. Inactive channels: every 60 minutes.
Limits
| Einstellung | Limit |
|---|---|
| Max. subscriptions per server | 15 |
| Role mentions per subscription | 20 |
| Template length | max. 2,000 characters |
History tab
The history tab shows all recently sent and failed notifications for each subscription: video title, type, target channel, status (sent/failed/skipped/rate_limited), timestamp, and error message (on failure).
Troubleshooting
- No notification for a new video
- Check the history tab: does it show "failed"? If so, the bot detected the video but the Discord message failed. Check the bot's write permissions in the target channel. No entry at all? WebSub may not have fired — wait for the next Polling interval (15 min for active channels).
- Duplicate notifications
- Make sure you have not subscribed to the same channel twice. Deduplication prevents duplicate posts within a single subscription, not between two subscriptions to the same channel.
Frequently asked questions
- How quickly after upload does the notification arrive?
- With WebSub, typically under 1 minute. In Polling fallback, up to 15 minutes for active channels.
- Can I subscribe the same YouTube channel for different Discord servers?
- Yes. Each server has its own independent subscription.
- What happens to notifications if the bot was briefly offline?
- Videos that appeared during the offline period are checked on the next Polling run. If the video is new and has not been logged yet, the notification is sent retroactively.