in the box
YouTube
Any channel with an API key. Connect your own account and real revenue sits on your desk.
- needs
- A YouTube Data API key. Your own account for revenue.
- refreshes
- Every 10 minutes
- sizes
- 2×2 up to 12×6 cells
For any public channel, a Data API key is enough to show subscribers and views. For your own, connecting the account adds estimated revenue, which is a different kind of number to have sitting on a desk.
One detail worth knowing: the public channels endpoint rounds subscriber counts to three significant figures, so it will tell you 1,230 forever while you gain thirty. The real count comes from the Analytics side of the API, which is what this reads for your own channel. If a subscriber counter has ever seemed stuck to you, that is why.
Setting up Google credentials is the least pleasant part of any of this, so the steps are written down properly rather than left as an exercise — including the traps, like the fact that Google will not redirect OAuth to a private IP address.
what you can set
Every field here is generated from the widget’s manifest, so the settings form exists without anyone having written one.
- Your own channel, or any channel by id
- A Data API key, stored write-only
- Which metric leads: subscribers, views, or revenue
Nothing to install.
YouTube ships with Perch. Clone the repo, run the installer, open the console from your laptop or phone, and drag the tile where you want it — the desk screen follows as you drag. If the tile you want is not one of the eight, a widget is one folder of about forty lines and the agent in your terminal can write it.