Guide · Social alerts
How to get YouTube notifications on Discord for new videos, Shorts and streams
Announce every new YouTube video, Short or live stream in a Discord channel automatically — with an opt-in role ping, your own text and a filter for what gets posted.
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On this page
To get YouTube notifications on Discord, you need a bot that watches the YouTube channel and posts in your server whenever a new video goes up. Discord can’t do this on its own: linking YouTube to your Discord account only shows the channel on your profile. With a notifications bot you paste the channel link, pick a Discord channel and a ping, and every new upload is announced with its title, thumbnail and a Watch button.
This guide explains the options, then sets everything up with BotGG’s free Social alerts — including how to choose between videos, Shorts and live streams, how fast alerts arrive and what to do when one doesn’t show up.
Can Discord post YouTube videos by itself?
No. There are three ways YouTube and Discord meet, and only one of them announces uploads:
- Connections (User Settings → Connections) — link your YouTube account so it appears on your Discord profile. Nothing is ever posted to a server.
- Channel memberships — creators with YouTube channel memberships can link them to a Discord server so paying members get a role. It’s a perk system, not an alert system.
- A bot or an automation — something checks the YouTube channel and posts a message in Discord when a new video appears. That is what people mean by “YouTube notifications on Discord”.
| Webhook automation you build | Notifications bot (BotGG Social alerts) | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Connect a feed or API to a Discord webhook yourself | Paste a channel URL, @handle or channel ID |
| Videos, Shorts and live streams told apart | Only if you build it | Yes, each with its own switch |
| Role ping | Typed by hand into the message | Picked from a list: role, @here, @everyone or none |
| Duplicate protection | Up to you | The same video is never posted twice in one channel |
| Works for channels you don’t own | Yes | Yes, any public YouTube channel |
A webhook automation can work if you enjoy maintaining it. A bot does the same job from a form, and keeps doing it when a channel changes its handle.
What BotGG announces for YouTube
Social alerts reads YouTube through the official YouTube Data API — no scraping. For every subscription you choose which kinds of uploads to post:
| Kind | When it’s posted | What the alert looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Videos | A regular upload becomes public | Video title, thumbnail, channel avatar, Watch video button |
| Shorts | A short becomes public | Same, with a /shorts/ link and a Watch short button |
| Live streams & premieres | A scheduled stream or premiere actually starts | Live on YouTube footer, viewer count when YouTube reports it, Watch stream button |
A few details worth knowing:
- Scheduled streams and premieres wait. When a stream is scheduled, BotGG holds it back and keeps checking. The alert goes out when it actually goes live — not days earlier when you set it up. If a premiere has already finished by the time BotGG looks again, it’s announced as a regular video instead.
- How Shorts are recognized. YouTube’s API has no “this is a Short” flag, so BotGG counts a video as a Short when it’s 60 seconds or shorter, or up to 3 minutes with
#shortsin its title, description or tags. A 2-minute Short without the tag is announced as a regular video. - Only public uploads. Private and unlisted videos are never announced. A scheduled video is announced when it becomes public.
- No backlog spam. When you add a channel, everything already on it is marked as seen, so only new uploads are posted. Videos older than three days are never announced (for example, an old video made public again), and if a channel uploads a big batch at once, the newest three from each check are posted.
YouTube live alerts are posted once, when the stream starts. The “was live” recap that edits the post when a stream ends is a Twitch and Kick feature — see how to get Twitch live notifications if you stream there too.
What you need
- A server where you have Manage Server, with BotGG added (https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=1553367772451446804&scope=bot%20applications.commands&permissions=282970448981207).
- The YouTube channel: its URL (
youtube.com/@handle), the@handlealone or the channel ID that starts withUC. Old/user/and/c/links usually work too. - A channel for the alerts where BotGG has View Channel, Send Messages and Embed Links.
- The web console at https://console.botgg.app. Social alerts are free: 3 subscriptions per server on the free plan, 100 with Pro.
One subscription = one YouTube channel posting into one Discord channel. Videos, Shorts and live streams of that YouTube channel are all covered by the same subscription.
Step 1: Create an uploads channel
Give video alerts their own channel, such as #new-videos or #youtube. Members can mute it without missing chat, the history doubles as a video archive, and you keep control over who posts there.
Make it read-only for @everyone (deny Send Messages) and let BotGG post. If you turn it into an announcement channel, other servers can follow it and BotGG publishes every alert to them as well.
Step 2: Add the YouTube channel
Open https://console.botgg.app, choose your server and enable Social alerts (it’s off by default). In the Setup tab you can set a default channel and ping role for new alerts, so you don’t pick them every time.
Then go to Subscriptions → New alert and pick YouTube:
- YouTube channel — paste the channel URL, an @handle or the channel ID. The console looks it up and shows the channel’s name and avatar before you save, so you know it’s the right one.
- Channel — the Discord channel to post in (prefilled from your defaults).
- Ping — No ping, Role, @here or @everyone.
BotGG follows the channel by its permanent ID, not the handle, so a creator changing their @handle or channel name doesn’t break the subscription — the name in the alerts updates on its own.
Step 3: Choose videos, Shorts or live streams
Under the account field there are three switches: Videos, Shorts and Live streams & premieres. All three are on by default; at least one must stay on.
Common setups:
- A creator’s own server — everything on. Members want every upload.
- A gaming or news community following other channels — Videos only, so Shorts don’t flood the channel.
- Different pings for uploads and streams — create two subscriptions for the same YouTube channel: one with Videos and Shorts posting to
#new-videoswith no ping or a quiet role, one with only live streams posting to#live-nowwith your stream-ping role.
Step 4: Write the message and choose the look
Leave the text empty and BotGG posts a default in your server’s language — “Nova posted a new video:” with the link, or “posted a new short” for Shorts. To write your own, use variables (click a chip in the editor to insert one):
| Variable | Becomes for YouTube |
|---|---|
{streamer} | The YouTube channel’s name |
{title} | The video or stream title |
{url} | The link to the video, Short or stream |
{viewers} | Current viewers — live streams only, when YouTube reports them |
{platform} | “YouTube” |
For example: New video from {streamer}: {title} — {url}. Keep in mind that one message is used for every kind of upload, so write text that fits a video, a Short and a stream alike.
Then pick the embed style: Full (big thumbnail plus the channel avatar), Compact (small thumbnail) or Text only. The embed color defaults to YouTube red and can be changed, and the Watch link button can be switched off. The live preview next to the form switches between a video, a Short and a live alert, in the bot’s language, so you see exactly what members will get.
Step 5: Test it
Save the subscription, then run /alerts test in Discord (needs Manage Server) and pick the subscription. BotGG posts a sample alert in the target channel with the channel’s real name and avatar, marked as a test and without pinging anyone. It’s the quickest way to catch a channel BotGG can’t post in or a message that reads oddly.
After that, /alerts list shows every subscription with its status and last check, and the Activity tab in the console lists recent alerts with links to the Discord messages.
How fast are YouTube alerts?
BotGG checks each YouTube channel at most every five minutes. YouTube gives every app a fixed daily API quota, so when the bot follows a lot of channels, checks are spaced further apart to stay inside it — never more than an hour. In practice, an alert lands a few minutes after the video goes public, not to the second.
That trade-off is deliberate: official API only, no scraping. It also means alerts keep working when YouTube changes its website.
Best practices for upload pings
Let members opt in to pings
Pinging @everyone for every video gets your server muted fast. Create a Video pings role, choose it as the subscription’s ping, and let members take it themselves from a Role menu in Toggle mode — for example “🎬 New videos” and “🔴 Live streams” side by side. The reaction roles guide walks through it.
Keep the alert short
The embed already shows the title and thumbnail. Your text only needs a hook — who uploaded and why it’s worth a click. Repeating {title} in the text and the embed doubles the noise.
One channel for all creators
Following several YouTubers? Put them all in one #new-videos channel and add separate ping roles only when your community really splits by creator. Two subscriptions for the same channel never post the same video twice into one Discord channel.
Your setup checklist
- A read-only
#new-videoschannel where BotGG can post and embed links - Social alerts enabled, default channel and role set in Setup
- One subscription per YouTube channel — or two, if uploads and streams need different pings
- Videos / Shorts / Live switches set to what your members want
- An opt-in ping role handed out through a role menu
/alerts testrun once
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The console can’t find the channel | A typo in the handle, or a very old custom URL | Paste the full youtube.com/@handle link or the UC… channel ID |
| “Can’t be followed as RSS” error | You chose RSS and pasted a YouTube link | Pick the YouTube platform instead |
| A new video wasn’t posted | It’s unlisted or private, older than three days, or its kind is switched off | Check the switches; only public uploads are announced |
| A Short was posted as a video | It’s longer than 60 seconds without #shorts | Add #shorts to the title or description |
| The alert came minutes later | Normal: YouTube is checked every few minutes to respect the API quota | Nothing to fix |
| Status shows an error | BotGG can’t post in the channel, or it was deleted | Give BotGG View Channel, Send Messages and Embed Links, or pick another channel |
| YouTube is marked as needing setup | The platform isn’t configured on the bot | The Setup tab explains what’s missing |
FAQ
How do I get notified on Discord when a YouTuber uploads?
Add a notifications bot. With BotGG: enable Social alerts in the console, click New alert, pick YouTube, paste the channel link, choose a Discord channel and a ping. New videos are posted automatically from then on.
Can I post only YouTube Shorts, or only live streams?
Yes. Each YouTube subscription has separate switches for videos, Shorts and live streams & premieres, so you can post any combination.
Can I follow YouTube channels I don’t own?
Yes. Any public YouTube channel works — the bot only needs the channel link, not access to the account.
Does it work with YouTube premieres?
Yes. A premiere is announced when it starts, like a live stream, rather than when it’s scheduled. If it has already ended by the next check, it’s posted as a regular video.
Are YouTube notifications free?
Yes. Social alerts are part of the free plan with 3 subscriptions per server; Pro raises that to 100. The same feature covers Twitch and Kick live streams and RSS feeds.