Last updated: 10/21/2026. This page describes the private tools that run my YouTube channel, youtube.com/@trevornace. YouTube asks every application that uses its API to describe itself publicly, so here it is, in plain words. Nothing on this page is something you can sign up for: the tools are used by one person, me, on accounts I own.
What the tools are
A set of scripts on my own computer, registered with Google as one API client in my name. They use YouTube API Services (the YouTube Data API, the YouTube Analytics API and the YouTube Reporting API) to do the work of running a tutorial channel that publishes several videos a week.
- Publishing my videos. Upload a finished tutorial, set its title, description, chapters, thumbnail and playlist, and schedule when it goes public. Every upload is of my own video to my own channel, and I review each one before it is published.
- Reading my own channel’s numbers. Views, watch time, traffic sources, audience retention and revenue for my own videos, so I can see which tutorials help people and which do not.
- Finding topics people search for. Public statistics about tutorial videos on other channels (view counts, publish dates, lengths, titles), so I can tell which iPhone questions are being asked and make videos that answer them.
How they work
- Each run starts with me signing in to Google in my browser and approving the exact permissions it asks for. The tools never store a login or a token; the access they are given expires on its own within about 90 minutes.
- They never delete anything on YouTube. That is enforced in the code.
- They read nothing private about anyone else: no comments, subscriptions, watch history or personal data, only statistics that are already public on YouTube.
- They do not download other creators’ videos or thumbnails, and they do not automate the YouTube website itself.
What happens to the data
Everything stays on my computer. My own channel’s data is kept as long as I need it. Public statistics about other channels’ videos are refreshed at least every 30 days and kept as a history for up to 36 months; their titles, descriptions and channel names are deleted or refreshed within 30 days. Numbers I compute from that history (such as a topic’s expected views) are my own estimates, generated independently by me and not sourced from YouTube. Nothing is shared, sold, or used for advertising. The full details are in the privacy policy and the terms of service.
YouTube’s terms
Because the tools use YouTube API Services, they are bound by the YouTube Terms of Service, and the data they handle is also covered by the Google Privacy Policy. Anyone who has ever granted a Google permission to one of these tools can revoke it at any time from the Google security settings page.
Questions
Email trevor@trevornace.com. Any request to delete data held by these tools is honoured within 7 days.