Tech Unfiltered Publishing Automation
An internal tool that publishes finished episodes of the Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike podcast to its own YouTube channel automatically.
1. What This Application Is
Tech Unfiltered Publishing Automation is a private, back-office tool built and operated by The Quantum Disciple to publish episodes of the podcast Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike to that show's own YouTube channel.
Producing an episode currently ends with a long sequence of manual steps in the YouTube Studio interface: uploading the rendered video file, retyping the title and description, pasting in chapter timestamps and tags, attaching the episode artwork, adding the video to the series playlist, and setting the scheduled release time. Doing this by hand for every episode is slow and easy to get wrong — a mistyped timestamp or a missed playlist assignment is a published mistake.
This application performs that same sequence programmatically against the YouTube Data API v3, so an episode goes from finished render to correctly scheduled release without manual data entry.
This application is not a consumer product and is not offered to the public. There is no sign-up, no user accounts, and no way for a visitor to this page to use it. The only Google Account that ever authorizes it is the account that owns the Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike YouTube channel — that is, the operator authorizing access to their own channel to automate their own publishing work.
2. How It Works
Each time an episode is ready, the operator runs the tool and it carries out the following steps:
- Authenticate The tool obtains an OAuth 2.0 access token for the channel owner's own Google Account. The operator approves the Google consent screen; no other account is ever involved.
- Upload the episode video The rendered video file for the finished episode is uploaded to the Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike channel as a private video.
- Apply episode metadata The episode title, full description (including chapter timestamps, show notes, and links), tags, category, and language are written to the newly created video.
- Attach episode artwork The episode's custom thumbnail image is uploaded and set on the video.
- Add to the series playlist The video is inserted into the Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike playlist so it appears in the correct series order, including in the player embedded on this website.
- Schedule the release The video's privacy status and scheduled publish time are set so the episode goes live at the intended release time. YouTube handles the actual publication at that moment.
- Verify and report The tool reads back the resulting video and playlist entry to confirm every field was applied correctly, then logs the outcome for the operator.
3. Features
- Automated episode upload — resumable upload of large episode video files, with retry on network interruption.
- Metadata templating — episode titles, descriptions, chapter markers, and tags are generated from the episode's production record, so formatting stays consistent across the series.
- Thumbnail management — the correct episode artwork is attached automatically at upload time.
- Playlist ordering — each episode is placed into the series playlist in the right position.
- Scheduled release — episodes are queued to publish at a set date and time rather than released manually.
- Post-publish verification — the tool confirms the uploaded episode matches the intended metadata and reports any mismatch.
4. Why This Application Requests YouTube Access
The application cannot upload a video to a YouTube channel, set that video's metadata, attach its thumbnail, add it to a playlist, or schedule its release without authorization from the channel's owner. Those actions are exactly what the tool exists to perform, and each one is only available through an authenticated YouTube Data API call.
We request the narrowest set of scopes that allows the publishing sequence above to complete. Each scope maps to a specific step:
| Requested scope | What it permits | Why this application needs it |
|---|---|---|
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.upload |
Upload video files to the authorizing account's YouTube channel. | Required for Step 2. This is the only scope that permits uploading the finished episode video file. Without it the application cannot publish an episode at all. |
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube |
Manage the authorizing account's YouTube account, including video metadata, thumbnails, playlists, and privacy or scheduling status. | Required for Steps 3–7. After upload, the episode still needs its title, description, tags, and thumbnail applied; it must be inserted into the series playlist; and its scheduled publish time must be set. The upload scope alone does not permit these follow-up operations, and no narrower scope covers playlist insertion together with scheduling. |
Access is limited to the authorizing account's own channel. The application does not and cannot read or modify any other person's YouTube channel, videos, playlists, or account.
5. What This Application Does Not Do
To be explicit about the boundaries of the access requested:
- It does not offer sign-in to the public, and no third party can authorize it.
- It does not read, collect, or store data belonging to any user other than the channel owner who authorizes it.
- It does not access Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Photos, or any Google service other than the YouTube Data API.
- It does not read or moderate viewer comments, and it does not message subscribers.
- It does not access YouTube Analytics or revenue data.
- It does not display advertising, and it does not use any data obtained from Google APIs for advertising of any kind.
- It does not sell, rent, trade, or transfer Google user data to any third party.
- It does not use Google user data to train machine learning or AI models.
6. How Data Is Handled
The application handles a deliberately small amount of data:
- OAuth tokens. The access and refresh tokens for the channel owner's account are stored on the operator's own machine, restricted to the operator's user account, and used only to call the YouTube Data API. They are never transmitted to any third party.
- Episode content. The video file, thumbnail, and metadata are the operator's own podcast content, uploaded to the operator's own channel.
- Operation logs. The tool records the outcome of each publishing run (video ID, timestamps, success or failure) so problems can be diagnosed. These logs contain no personal information about any viewer or third party.
No end-user data is collected, because the application has no end users other than the operator. Authorization can be revoked at any time from myaccount.google.com/permissions, which immediately invalidates the tool's access.
7. Google API Services Limited Use
The Quantum Disciple's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
This application uses YouTube API Services. By using it, the operator is also bound by the YouTube Terms of Service, and data handling by Google is described in the Google Privacy Policy.
8. About the Podcast
Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike is a technology podcast hosted by Dr. Mike Litman, a computer science professor and technology builder. The show covers artificial intelligence and the technology shaping the future — from local language models and agentic systems to deepfake security, edge infrastructure, and enterprise technology — with an emphasis on how the technology actually works and where it breaks.
You can watch the series on its YouTube playlist, or in the player embedded on our home page.
9. Contact
Questions about this application, its use of the YouTube Data API, or its OAuth scopes:
Email: privacy@quantumdisciple.com
Operator: The Quantum Disciple — quantumdisciple.com
Full details of data handling are in our Privacy Policy; usage terms are in our Terms of Service.