YouTube Sync connects your YouTube channel to a Framer CMS collection and keeps it up to date. Point it at a channel, hit Sync, and your videos appear as structured CMS items, ready to design with.

What it does:

Fetches all public videos from a YouTube channel
Maps video metadata (title, description, thumbnail, publish date, URL) to CMS fields
Supports channels of any size
Two sync modes: Full Sync (adds, updates, and removes stale items) or Add Only (never removes)
Preserves any manual edits you make in the CMS across re-syncs

CMS fields created automatically:

Title, Description, Published Date, Thumbnail, Video URL, Video ID
Hidden (boolean, user-editable: the plugin never overwrites it)

Setup takes five minutes:

Create a free YouTube Data API key in Google Cloud Console
Enter your API key and Channel ID in the plugin
Hit Sync

How to setup

Part 1: Get a YouTube Data API v3 Key

Head to Google Cloud and set up a project to house your API credentials.

Go to the Google Cloud Console
Sign in with your Google account
Click the project dropdown at the top of the page and select New Project
Give it a name (e.g. "YouTube Sync") and click Create

Find and activate the YouTube API from the library.

In the left sidebar, go to APIs & Services → Library
Search for YouTube Data API v3
Click on it and then click Enable

Generate a key that the plugin will use to authenticate requests.

Go to APIs & Services → Credentials
Click + Create Credentials and choose API key
Your API key will be generated. Copy it

Restricting your key prevents unauthorized use if it's ever exposed.

Click Edit API key (pencil icon) next to your new key
Under API restrictions, select Restrict key
Choose YouTube Data API v3 from the dropdown
Click Save

Your API key is now ready. Keep it private. Treat it like a password.

Part 2: Find Your YouTube Channel ID

Your Channel ID is a unique identifier that starts with UC followed by 22 characters (e.g. UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx).

The most reliable way to find your Channel ID is through your YouTube settings.

Go to YouTube
In the top right, select your profile picture → click Settings
From the left menu, select Advanced settings.
Your Channel ID is listed there. Copy it.

Alternatively you can also find it directly from your channel page.

Go to your YouTube channel page
Look at the URL in your browser:
- If it looks like youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxxxxx — the part after /channel/ is your Channel ID
- If it looks like youtube.com/@yourhandle — click More to expand the channel's description above the subscribe button. Scroll down to find the Share channel link and click it. Click Copy Channel ID.

First sync

Paste both values into the YouTube Sync plugin during setup. The plugin will validate your credentials before locking them in, so you'll know right away if something isn't right.

Once submitted, you'll be able to run your first sync on the next screen.

Support

If you run into issues, double-check that:

The YouTube Data API v3 is enabled in your project
You copied the full API key with no extra spaces
The Channel ID starts with UC

For setup help and troubleshooting, visit email us at support@framerlabs.com

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