Automate multi-platform vertical video publishing across YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok with Gemini AI captions and smart staggered scheduling.
Created by sim racers for sim racers and individual creators. Stop wasting hours manually re-uploading the same 9:16 racing highlights to three different apps. Queue your renders once, generate engaging hooks with Google Gemini Flash AI, and let the engine publish them with intelligent anti-spam interval staggering.
The Short Distro Engine is provided completely free of charge to help independent content creators, sim racers, and personal channels grow their audience:
This engine is currently in an early Beta state and undergoing active real-world stress testing by the development team and community creators. As platform upload APIs (YouTube Data API v3, Meta Graph API, TikTok Content Posting API) update their rate limits and authorization flows, you may encounter occasional edge cases. Please report any logs, bugs, or workflow suggestions in our Discord community so we can test and iterate rapidly.
Upload 9:16 vertical MP4 video clips concurrently to YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok from a unified desktop interface.
Automatically craft viral hook headlines, platform-tailored descriptions, and trending hashtags customized to your racing stint or game clip.
Automated publication offsets space out uploads across platforms by 20 minutes to prevent bot detection and maximize viewer engagement.
Drop new clips into your ./input_queue folder directly from Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, or CapCut. The engine auto-stages them instantly.
Test your entire queue, inspect generated AI captions, and verify pipeline logic without burning API quotas or publishing live to followers.
Track status badges (QUEUED, PROCESSING, PUBLISHED, FAILED), direct platform video URLs, and retry failed uploads in 1 click.
Short Distro Engine runs on macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel) as well as cross-platform desktop environments.
The script compiles the Compose Multiplatform client, signs the local binary, packages a native disk image, and installs it directly to /Applications.
Click on Settings in the navigation rail to configure your platform API tokens. You can also populate these via your local environment variables:
GEMINI_API_KEY): Obtain a free API key from Google AI Studio. This powers automated headline hooks, descriptions, and hashtags using gemini-2.5-flash.YOUTUBE_REFRESH_TOKEN / Client ID & Secret): Configures the official Google OAuth uploader with youtube.upload scope.INSTAGRAM_ACCESS_TOKEN & INSTAGRAM_ACCOUNT_ID): Meta Graph API credentials for Instagram Professional or Creator accounts with instagram_content_publish permissions.TIKTOK_ACCESS_TOKEN): TikTok Developer Content Posting API bearer token with video.upload and video.publish permissions.Using third-party AI copywriting models (such as Google Gemini) requires entering your personal API key and generates external API consumption. Any extra costs or usage fees billed by the AI provider (Google Cloud / AI Studio) are covered solely by the user if you decide to enable and use that feature. AI generation is completely optional—you can always enter titles, descriptions, and hashtags manually, or test without incurring costs using Simulation Mode.
Turn ON "Simulation Mode / Dry Run" in the top-right toggle or in Settings before entering production tokens. In Simulation Mode, the engine stages sample videos, generates real AI descriptions, and mocks the upload lifecycle so you can learn the workflow safely.
You have two ways to add vertical clips to the distribution pipeline:
Click "New Short" in the sidebar. Click Select Video File to pick an MP4 (9:16 vertical ratio recommended, up to 60 seconds). Add a brief context note (e.g., "Last-lap overtake at Spa Eau Rouge in GT3 Porsche") and select your target platforms (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok).
The engine actively watches your local ./input_queue directory. When you render an MP4 clip from your video editor directly into this directory, the watcher automatically registers the file, generates metadata via Gemini, and pushes it into the scheduled queue.
Inside the New Short editor, click "✨ Generate with Gemini". The AI analyzes your racing context and generates:
#GT7 #GranTurismo7 #SimRacing #Shorts) automatically formatted for each platform.You can fine-tune or edit any generated text before finalizing.
Once you click "Queue for Distribution", your video enters the live scheduler:
QUEUED: Waiting for its scheduled staggered time slot.PROCESSING: Currently encoding and uploading to platform servers.PUBLISHED: Successfully live with direct clickable URLs to the live video.FAILED: Error logged (e.g. expired token or network timeout) with an instant Retry button.The Short Distro Engine is actively evolving based on real feedback from creators producing Gran Turismo 7 and sim racing content. If you have feature suggestions, custom platform requests, or want to share your channel's success with the engine, hop into our community: