social-updater/README.md

social-updater

Reads a YouTube channel's RSS feed every hour and automatically shares new videos to Facebook and LinkedIn.

Getting started

cp .env.example .env
# fill in the tokens (see below)
docker compose up -d

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Obtaining API credentials

YOUTUBE_CHANNEL_ID

No registration needed — this is a public RSS feed.

1. Open the channel page on YouTube.
2. Read it from the URL: youtube.com/channel/UC... — the part starting with UC is the channel ID.
3. If the channel has a custom URL (@handle format), open the channel's About page, click Share, then Copy channel ID.

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Facebook — FACEBOOK_ACCESS_TOKEN and FACEBOOK_PAGE_ID

Requirements: a Facebook App and a Page you have admin access to.

1. Create a Facebook App

1. Go to Meta for Developers.
2. Click My Apps → Create App → Business.
3. Enter the app name and create it.
4. In the app dashboard, add the Facebook Login and Pages API products.

2. Get a Page Access Token

1. Open the Graph API Explorer.
2. Select your app from the dropdown.
3. Click Generate Access Token and log in with your Facebook account.
4. Request at least these permissions:
   • pages_show_list
   • pages_read_engagement
   • pages_manage_posts
5. The generated token is a User token — exchange it for a Page token:

   GET /{page-id}?fields=access_token
   

   The access_token in the response is your Page Access Token.

3. Long-lived token (recommended)

Short-lived tokens expire in ~1 hour. Get a long-lived token like this:

GET https://graph.facebook.com/v19.0/oauth/access_token
  ?grant_type=fb_exchange_token
  &client_id={app-id}
  &client_secret={app-secret}
  &fb_exchange_token={short-lived-token}

Then fetch the Page token again using the step above — a Page token generated from a long-lived User token never expires.

4. FACEBOOK_PAGE_ID

Found in the Page URL (facebook.com/mypage) or under the Page's About section → Page ID.

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LinkedIn — LINKEDIN_ACCESS_TOKEN and LINKEDIN_AUTHOR_URN

Requirements: a LinkedIn App associated with a LinkedIn Page or personal account.

1. Create a LinkedIn App

1. Go to the LinkedIn Developer Portal.
2. Click Create app.
3. Enter the app name and associate it with your LinkedIn Page.
4. After the app is verified, go to the Products tab and request access to Share on LinkedIn and Sign In with LinkedIn using OpenID Connect.

2. Get an OAuth2 Access Token

Your Client ID and Client Secret are on the app's Auth tab.

Required scopes: w_member_social (personal post) or w_organization_social (company page).

The easiest way to generate a token is via the LinkedIn OAuth 2.0 Tools page:

1. Select your app.
2. Check the required scopes.
3. Click Request access token.
4. The token is valid for 60 days — you will need to refresh it after expiry.

3. LINKEDIN_AUTHOR_URN

Personal account:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/userinfo
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

The sub field in the response is the person ID. The URN format is urn:li:person:{sub}.

Company / Page:

GET https://api.linkedin.com/v2/organizationalEntityAcls?q=roleAssignee
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

The organizationalTarget field in the response contains the organization URN (urn:li:organization:XXXXX).