1. Opening Problem Statement
Meet Lukas, a content creator juggling multiple YouTube channels. Each week, he uploads fresh videos but spends countless hours manually crafting engaging titles, writing detailed descriptions, and adding relevant tags to boost SEO. This tedious process not only drains his time but also leads to missed optimization opportunities, impacting channel growth and audience reach.
Manual metadata updates can result in mistakes, inconsistent branding, and lost potential viewers. Lukas needs a way to automatically generate SEO-optimized YouTube metadata—titles, descriptions, and tags—directly from his video content transcripts. This would free him from tedious edits and help his videos get discovered by the right audience.
This is exactly the challenge our unique n8n YouTube Automation workflow solves.
2. What This Automation Does
This specialized n8n workflow connects to your YouTube channel and leverages AI to enhance your video metadata automatically. When run, it:
- Fetches your latest uploaded videos from YouTube using OAuth-based YouTube node.
- Extracts the video transcript via an external API (Apify YouTube Transcript Scraper).
- Refines the transcript with a custom formatting code step preparing it for AI processing.
- Uses GPT-4-based OpenAI nodes to generate detailed, engaging video descriptions written in first-person perspective without passive voice, plus SEO-friendly YouTube tags.
- Updates the video’s metadata on YouTube with the AI-generated title (optional), description, and tags automatically.
- Schedules unpublished videos to be published privately at the next Friday 17:00 UTC, effectively managing video release planning.
By automating these key tasks, Lukas can save hours weekly otherwise lost editing metadata, improve search rankings, and ensure consistent video presentation without manual errors.
3. Prerequisites ⚙️
- n8n account for workflow automation.
- YouTube API credentials (OAuth2) with access to your YouTube channel to fetch and update videos.
- OpenAI API key (GPT-4.1-nano model) for generating descriptions, titles, and tags.
- Google Gemini API credentials (optional, used here for supplemental AI tag generation).
- Apify API token for the YouTube transcript scraper service to fetch video transcripts.
- Basic understanding of JavaScript for the code nodes, helpful but not mandatory.
4. Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Trigger the Workflow Manually
In n8n, start your workflow by clicking “When clicking ‘Test workflow’” manual trigger node. This starts the automation manually enabling you to test before scheduling.
You should see the workflow activate and proceed to fetch videos.
Common mistake: Forgetting to activate credentials for YouTube and OpenAI nodes.
Step 2: Fetch Latest Videos from YouTube
Using the YouTube node named “Fetch Latest Videos”, it pulls the most recent video (limit set to 1, ordered by date). It uses YouTube OAuth2 credentials.
Check the node’s credentials and ensure it connects to your intended channel.
Outcome: The latest video details like videoId, title, and snippet are fetched.
Step 3: Loop Over Fetched Videos
Pass the videos to the SplitInBatches node called “Loop Over Items” which processes each video individually, readying for further data fetching and AI processing.
It handles batching for scalability if more videos are configured.
Step 4: Get Full Video Details
Use the YouTube node “gettitle” to fetch comprehensive data on the current video by providing the video ID from the loop.
This node fetches properties needed later for description and tag updates.
Step 5: Set Video Publish Date & Privacy
The node “Set Publish Date” is configured to update the video’s publish date and privacy status, scheduling unpublished videos privately to publish on Fridays at 17:00 UTC via the code step and YouTube update node chain.
This staging step ensures videos go live at determined times.
Step 6: Extract Video Transcript via API
The HTTP Request node “Get Transcript” calls the Apify YouTube Transcript Scraper API. It sends the video URL and your API token in the query. The response contains the transcript text segments.
Example request setup:
Method: POST
URL: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/pintostudio~youtube-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items
Body JSON: { “videoUrl”: “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={{ $json.id }}” }
Query parameter: token=YOURAPITOKEN
Step 7: Format Transcript Text
The Code node “Adjust Transcript Format” combines all transcript segments into a single plain text string to prepare it for AI consumption.
Code snippet:
const items = $input.all();
const transcriptStrings = items.flatMap(item => {
const dataArray = item.json.data;
if (!dataArray || !Array.isArray(dataArray)) {
return [];
}
return dataArray.map(segment => segment.text || '');
});
const transcript = transcriptStrings.join(' ');
return [{ json: { transcript } }];This simplifies the nested transcript data into a single string.
Step 8: Generate Video Description with GPT-4
Use OpenAI node “Create Description” with GPT-4.1-nano model configured to write a confident, first-person style description summary in German, injecting relevant hashtags and emojis.
The AI prompt instructs it to avoid passive constructions and speaks directly from the owner’s perspective.
Example prompt content:
“Du bist ein professioneller Texteschreiber…
Schreibe eine ausführlichere Zusammenfassung…”
Step 9: Generate YouTube Tags
The LangChain Agent node “YT Tags” uses the transcript text to produce relevant broad YouTube tags, enhancing SEO impact in German.
The system message guides the AI to generate comma-separated tags, avoiding overly specific compound tags.
Step 10: Update Video Metadata on YouTube
Finally, the YouTube node “Update Video’s Metadata” updates the chosen video’s tags and description on YouTube using the AI-generated data.
The title update is optional and disabled here, but can be enabled by activating the “YT Title” OpenAI node.
Outcome: Fully optimized metadata uploaded automatically.
5. Customizations ✏️
- Enable AI Title Generation: In the “YT Title” node, remove the disabled flag and customize the prompt to generate SEO-optimized titles automatically from transcripts.
- Adjust Transcript Source: Swap or add alternative transcript providers by modifying the HTTP Request node URL and API token.
- Schedule Video Publishing: Modify the JavaScript in the “Return Private Videos” code node to schedule videos on other days/times by changing the getNextFridayUTC function logic.
- Expand Tag Generation: Enhance the “YT Tags” node prompt to include multi-lingual tags or industry-specific keywords as needed.
6. Troubleshooting 🔧
Problem: “API call to YouTube fails with permission error.”
Cause: Missing or expired OAuth credentials.
Solution: Refresh the YouTube OAuth2 credentials in n8n by re-authenticating and updating token scopes.
Problem: “Transcript API returns empty or malformed data.”
Cause: Video is private/unlisted or transcript not available.
Solution: Make sure the video is unlisted or public and your Apify API token is valid. Check API limits.
Problem: “OpenAI nodes do not return expected text output.”
Cause: Incorrect prompt formatting or API quota exceeded.
Solution: Review prompt content for placeholders and fix them, and ensure the OpenAI API key is active and has quota.
7. Pre-Production Checklist ✅
- Verify YouTube OAuth2 credentials have full access to read and update videos.
- Test API connectivity with Apify YouTube Transcript Scraper.
- Validate OpenAI API key and model availability (GPT-4.1-nano).
- Run workflow with a test video to confirm transcript, description, tag generation.
- Ensure “Remove Duplicates” node is configured correctly to avoid reprocessing.
- Backup your workflow before scheduling to production.
8. Deployment Guide
Enable workflow activation in n8n and connect the manual trigger to a schedule trigger for automation. For example, run daily or weekly during off-peak hours.
Monitor your workflow executions via n8n logs to catch failures early. Adjust API quotas and update credentials periodically.
Optionally, deploy n8n self-hosted using platforms like Hostinger if you need full control and scalability.
9. FAQs
Q: Can I use another transcript API instead of Apify?
A: Yes, replace the HTTP Request node with your preferred provider keeping the input and output formats consistent.
Q: Does this consume many OpenAI credits?
A: This workflow minimizes token usage by using GPT-4.1-nano and generating concise summaries/tags, balancing quality and cost.
Q: Is my YouTube data secure?
A: Yes, all your API keys and credentials stay within n8n; no third-party stores your data externally.
10. Conclusion
By building this n8n YouTube metadata automation, Lukas accomplished a smart way to streamline his YouTube workflow. Automatically fetching new videos, generating rich, SEO-friendly descriptions and tags with AI, and updating them saves substantial time—potentially hours per video upload.
This automation improves video discoverability and frees creators from manual, repetitive tasks. Next, consider expanding this workflow with automated thumbnail creation or social media sharing integration.
Happy automating!