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Start a workflow automatically when a YouTube channel or playlist publishes a matching video.
The New YouTube Video trigger is for always-on workflows that should watch a YouTube source and send new videos into the rest of your workflow. Use it when a channel or playlist should start the workflow for you. If you want to run one video by hand, use Manual Trigger instead.
If videos from YouTube look soft or pixelated, see Why is my video low resolution?. For the best source quality, use your original video file through Manual Trigger or New Dropbox Video.

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Schema

  • Input: A YouTube channel URL or playlist URL
  • Output: The new YouTube video that starts the workflow

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Add the node

Open Workflows from the left sidebar and click New to open the workflow builder. In the Trigger stage, choose New YouTube Video. Overlap adds the trigger node to the canvas, selects it, and moves the left panel forward to Editing so you can continue building the workflow. Click the New YouTube Video node on the canvas whenever you need to reopen its settings on the right side.
New YouTube Video node settings panel

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Configure the source

In the right-side settings panel, fill in YouTube Channel or Playlist URL. The field accepts:
  • a channel URL, such as https://youtube.com/@channelname
  • a playlist URL, such as https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxx...
Until a source is added, the node shows Not configured and prompts you to add a channel or playlist URL.

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Advanced settings

Expand Advanced Settings to control which videos are allowed to start the workflow.
New YouTube Video advanced settings
The current settings are:
  • Minimum Input Video Length: defaults to 3 minutes. Videos shorter than this will not trigger the workflow.
  • Maximum Input Video Length: defaults to 120 minutes. Videos longer than this will not trigger the workflow.
Use these filters when the source publishes a mix of Shorts, livestreams, or other videos that should not all enter the same workflow.

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Build the rest of the workflow

After the trigger is configured, continue in Editing with nodes such as Find Clips, Style Video, or Reframe. Finish with an export node, then click Publish when the workflow is ready to listen for matching YouTube videos.

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Livestreams that just ended

When a stream ends, the trigger fires right away, but YouTube can take anywhere from half an hour to a few hours to publish the recording. If the recording is not available yet, the run waits and checks again automatically (about every 20 minutes, for up to 3 hours) and then continues on its own. The run shows as waiting in the meantime. If the recording still is not available after that, the run ends with a message asking you to run the workflow again once the video is up on YouTube.

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When you run out of processing hours

If a new video would take your workspace over its processing hours, the trigger holds the video instead of failing the run. The workflow stays active and shows a Throttled status on the Workflows page, with the number of videos waiting. Held videos run automatically, without any action from you, as soon as enough hours are available — when your hours reset or after you upgrade your plan. Shorter videos that still fit in your remaining hours keep running as normal. A held video is retried for about four days after it was published. Videos older than that are skipped, so a long wait does not spend your new hours on old uploads. To process one of those, run the workflow manually with its URL.