Setup guide
Connect YouTube
Google Cloud rather than a social developer portal. Publishing the consent screen needs verification — but Testing mode allows 100 users and needs none.
Check these first
Each of these blocks everything after it, and none of them is checked until the very last step — so it is worth thirty seconds now.
- A Google account that owns or manages the YouTube channel.
Steps
Create a Google Cloud project
console.cloud.google.com → project dropdown → New Project.
Enable the APIs
APIs & Services → Library. Enable "YouTube Data API v3" and "YouTube Analytics API". Both are needed: one lists videos, the other returns the metrics.
Configure the consent screen
APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen. Choose External. Fill in the app name, support email and developer email. LEAVE IT IN "TESTING" — do not publish. Testing mode allows up to 100 test users with no Google verification at all.
Add yourself as a test user
On the same screen → Test users → Add users → your Google address. This is what lets it work without verification.
Create the credentials
Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth client ID → Web application. Add the redirect URI SIGNAL shows under "Authorized redirect URIs". Copy the Client ID and Client Secret.
Developer console: console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials
Permissions to request
Read-only. None of these let anything post on your behalf — if a console offers you publishing permissions, you can leave them off.
- https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.readonly
- https://www.googleapis.com/auth/yt-analytics.readonly
If something goes wrong
These are the real failures, with the errors the platform actually shows. Most of them point somewhere other than the actual cause.
- Google shows a big "unverified app" warning.
- Expected in Testing mode. Click Advanced → "Go to (app name) (unsafe)". It is your own app; the warning is for strangers.
- "access_blocked: has not completed the Google verification process".
- Your Google account is not on the Test users list. Add it and retry.
- It works for a week and then stops.
- Refresh tokens for apps in Testing mode expire after 7 days. This is a Google policy, not a bug. For long-term use you must publish the consent screen and complete verification.
Console layouts change. These steps were checked in July 2026 — if a screen does not match, the developer console’s own documentation is the authority.