Introduction
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, and Hidden (a boolean you can edit: the plugin never overwrites it).
Setup in three steps
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 set up
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 (for example "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, 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 is generated. Copy it
Restricting your key prevents unauthorized use if it's ever exposed.
Click Edit API key (the 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 and 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 (for example UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx).
The most reliable way to find it is through your YouTube settings.
Go to YouTube
In the top right, select your profile picture, then click Settings
From the left menu, select Advanced settings
Your Channel ID is listed there. Copy it
You can also find it from your 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 the Share channel link, click it, then click Copy Channel ID.
First sync
Paste both values into the YouTube Sync plugin during setup. The plugin validates your credentials before locking them in, so you'll know right away if something isn't right.
Once submitted, you can run your first sync on the next screen.
Support
If you run into issues, 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, email us at support@framerlabs.com.
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