Privacy policy

Shorts Engine. Last updated 5 October 2026.

What Shorts Engine is

Shorts Engine is open-source software that a person installs and runs on their own computer to create YouTube Shorts and upload them to their own YouTube channel. There is no hosted service, no server run by the developer, and no account with the developer. Each installation is used only by the person who installed it, with their own Google account.

What Google user data it accesses

When the owner connects their YouTube channel through Google sign-in, Shorts Engine requests the YouTube Data API scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube. It uses this access only to:

• upload videos, set their thumbnails and change their privacy status on the owner's channel;
• read the list of the owner's own uploads and their public statistics (views, likes, comments) so the tool can prefer the kinds of videos that perform well on that channel.

How the data is stored and shared

• The Google sign-in token and the channel statistics are stored only in files on the owner's own computer (the data folder of the installation). They are never sent to the developer or to any third party.
• Shorts Engine does not sell, share or transfer Google user data to anyone. It does not use it for advertising, and it does not let humans other than the owner read it.
• The owner can delete the stored token and statistics at any time by deleting those files, and can revoke the tool's access at myaccount.google.com/permissions.

Other services

Depending on the owner's own configuration, the tool may send the scripts it writes to AI providers chosen by the owner, fetch stock footage and music from services the owner has keys for, and send finished videos to the owner's own Telegram chat. None of these receive Google user data.

Limited use

Shorts Engine's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be raised on the project's GitHub repository: github.com/bigmo6286/youtube-shorts-automation/issues.