Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Douyin Video & Note Publisher agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
This guide explains the douyin-upload agent skill, a set of instructions that lets an AI agent drive the sau command-line tool from the social-auto-upload project to log in to Douyin, check saved cookies and publish videos or image-text notes. It is written for readers who have never used agent skills. By the end you will know what the skill needs, how to install it, how to phrase a request so the agent picks the right command, and what to check for safety.
Douyin Video & Note Publisherdreammis/social-auto-upload · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Confirm prerequisites. Check that social-auto-upload is installed and that sau douyin --help runs in your shell.
- 2Download and place the skill. Download the ZIP from this page and unzip douyin-upload into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/ folder, or upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills in the Claude apps.
- 3Check the account cookie. Ask the agent to run sau douyin check for your account name to see whether a saved login is valid.
- 4Log in if needed. If the cookie is invalid, have the agent run sau douyin login for that account and scan the QR code it shows you.
- 5Prepare your files. Gather the video or image paths, the title, optional description and comma-separated tags.
- 6Ask for the publish. Describe the upload in plain language; the agent will run upload-video or upload-note with those values.
What the douyin-upload skill makes the agent do
An agent skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that tells an AI agent when and how to perform a task. This one covers Douyin, the Chinese short-video platform, and tells the agent to use the sau command rather than reading the project's source code first.
The skill supports four actions: logging in to a named account, checking whether that account's cookie is still valid, uploading a video, and uploading an image-text note. Videos use a title, description and tags; notes use a title, note text and tags.
- login: sau douyin login --account <name> generates or refreshes the cookie for that account
- check: sau douyin check --account <name> reports valid or invalid
- upload-video: publishes a Douyin video
- upload-note: publishes a Douyin image-text note
Install the skill (ZIP or Claude apps)
Download the douyin-upload ZIP from this page. Then choose one of two routes. For Claude Code, unzip the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to share it with that project. In the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.
The skill is only half of the setup. It assumes social-auto-upload is already installed and that the sau command works in your shell. Install that first.
- Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/douyin-upload/
- Project install: .claude/skills/douyin-upload/ inside your project
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP
Set up the sau command and Chromium
The skill's runtime notes recommend installing the project from its root folder with uv, then installing the Chromium browser that patchright uses. Check that the CLI responds before you ask the agent to do anything.
The runtime notes list several ways to call the CLI: sau directly if it is on PATH, through an activated virtual environment, through the sau.exe file on Windows, or with uv run. If the first call fails, the troubleshooting notes suggest trying these alternatives in turn.
- Install the project from its root: uv pip install -e .
- Install Chromium for patchright (the exact command depends on your OS; see the runtime requirements file)
- Verify with: sau douyin --help
uv pip install -e .Trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need to type command names. Describe the outcome you want and name the account and files. The skill tells the agent to confirm the runtime prerequisites, read the command contract, then run the matching sau douyin command.
Be specific about the account name, the file path and the title. If you want a specific browser mode, say headless or headed. Ask for scheduled publishing only if you want it, because the skill uses --schedule only when you explicitly request it.
- "Log in to Douyin for the account creator-a and check it is still valid."
- "Upload ./clips/launch.mp4 to Douyin account shop-1 with the title and tags I give you."
- "Publish these five images as a Douyin note on account brand-main."
- "Check whether my cookie for account studio is still valid; if not, log in again."
Publish a video or image note
For a video, the minimum inputs are the account, the file and the title. Description and tags are optional. Tags are passed as a comma-separated list. You can also add a thumbnail, product link or product title, and choose headless or headed mode.
For an image note, the minimum inputs are the account, the images and the title. The note body is optional. Notes do not accept GIF files and allow at most 35 images. If you exceed that, reduce the count or convert the files, then retry.
- Video required: --account, --file, --title
- Video optional: --desc, --tags, --schedule, --thumbnail, --product-link, --product-title, --headless or --headed
- Note required: --account, --images, --title
- Note limits: no GIF, maximum 35 images
sau douyin upload-video \
--account <account> \
--file <video-path> \
--title "<title>" \
[--desc "<description>"] \
[--tags tag1,tag2]Handle login QR codes and expired cookies
Login may require scanning a QR code with your Douyin app. The skill asks the agent to show any locally generated QR image directly to you rather than only giving a file path, because the image is meant to be scanned. If the terminal QR code does not display properly, use the saved image instead of changing terminal settings repeatedly.
When an upload fails because the cookie is no longer valid, run check first. If it reports invalid, run login again for the same account. Each account name maps to its own cookie file, so you can keep several accounts separate.
- Expected check output: valid (cookie usable) or invalid (missing or expired)
- Each --account name corresponds to one account file
sau douyin check --account <account>What people use it for
- Batch-publishing short videos to one Douyin creator account from a folder of finished clips
- Posting image-text notes for a brand account, keeping each account in its own cookie file
- Checking cookie status before a scheduled posting run, and re-logging in only when needed
- Driving sau from an agent for a developer who already runs social-auto-upload
Frequently asked questions
What do I need before installing the douyin-upload skill?
You need the social-auto-upload project installed with the sau command available in your shell, plus Chromium installed for patchright. You also need a Douyin account you can log in to by scanning a QR code, and the local video or image files you want to upload. The skill does not work without sau.
Is the douyin-upload skill free?
The skill is published under the MIT-0 licence in its SKILL.md metadata, while the project it drives is listed as MIT on this page. The source does not mention prices, so check the project and the directory page for any current terms.
Can this skill post to TikTok, Instagram or YouTube?
No. The skill covers only Douyin commands: login, check, upload-video and upload-note. For other platforms you would need a different skill or the matching commands from the same project, if they exist.
Where do I put the skill folder?
For Claude Code, place it in ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Why does the agent show me a QR image instead of a file path?
The skill asks the agent to display or send the generated local QR image directly, because that image is what you scan with your Douyin app. If the terminal QR code does not render correctly, the saved image is the recommended fallback.
What should I check if the skill says sau is not found?
Activate the virtual environment and run sau douyin --help, call the executable directly (for example .venv\Scripts\sau.exe on Windows), or use uv run sau douyin --help. If the project is not installed yet, run uv pip install -e . from its root.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you already run social-auto-upload and want an agent to handle Douyin logins, cookie checks and scheduled or batch posting through stable commands. Skip it if you have not installed sau, want to post to other platforms, or are uneasy about automated posting on an account that matters, since login stores session cookies on disk and automation may breach platform terms or lead to restrictions.
Download the skill