Automate YouTube Shorts with Gemini CLI
YouTube is the only platform where the first line of what you write silently becomes the title of the video.
$ gemini mcp add --transport http antwork https://api.antwork.io/mcpGemini CLI adds Antwork over HTTP with one command, then authorizes with its own slash command. Two lines and you are posting from the terminal.
Connect it
- 01Authorize with /mcp authRun /mcp auth antwork inside the Gemini CLI. It opens an OAuth consent screen in your browser; there is no key to paste into a config file.
- 02Connect the social accountAsk it to connect your account and it returns a connect link per platform. Authorize once and Antwork refreshes that token for you.
- 03Draft, then publish as a second stepDrafting and publishing are separate tool calls. The agent writes first and only publishes when you say so, which matters more in a terminal where there is no card to review.
What you can say once YouTube Shorts is connected
“Write the description for this YouTube Shorts video, and make the first line work as the title.”
“Schedule this Short for Sunday morning and use my usual voice.”
“Rewrite the first line of my last YouTube Shorts post so it reads better as a title.”
“How many views did my last five Shorts get?”
What is different about YouTube Shorts
Only hereThe first hundred characters are the title
YouTube takes the opening 100 characters of the body as the video title. It is the only platform Antwork posts to that derives a second field out of your text, so the agent writes that first line to stand on its own.
Three minutes, and that is a hard stop
Shorts ends at three minutes, the shortest runtime ceiling of anything here. Past that it is not a Short, and Antwork will not pretend otherwise.
Vertical or nothing
9:16 is the only ratio accepted. A landscape or square cut is refused outright, which is the usual reason a video that posted to TikTok will not come here unchanged.
The file size is effectively unlimited
Up to 256 GB per video, roughly a thousand times what Instagram allows. Whatever came out of your editor goes up without a re-encode.
Questions
- Do I need an API key to connect Gemini CLI?
- No. Antwork connects over OAuth — you approve a consent screen in the browser and you are done. There is no key to generate or paste into a URL, which is how most social MCP servers handle it.
- Do I need a paid account?
- No. Your first two connected accounts are free forever, with unlimited posts and workspaces, and there is no plan gate on MCP access.
- Will Gemini CLI post without showing me first?
- Not unless you ask it to. Drafting and publishing are two separate steps: the agent writes, renders the post card, and only publishes when you confirm.
- Does the writing sound like AI?
- Antwork hands the agent that account's recent posts, along with how each performed, and the agent writes to match them. On YouTube Shorts that includes writing to the length the format rewards, up to 5,000 characters.
Never leave Gemini CLI to post again.
One command, one consent screen, and YouTube Shorts is something you can just ask for.