Fix YouTube playlist ID env handling (#667)

Co-authored-by: Cursor Agent <cursoragent@cursor.com>

Author: kentcdodds

.github/workflows/index-semantic-youtube.yml

@@ -47,9 +47,10 @@ jobs:
             ${{ secrets.CLOUDFLARE_AI_EMBEDDING_MODEL }}
           R2_BUCKET: ${{ secrets.R2_BUCKET }}
 
-          # Prefer setting this as a repository variable.
+          # Prefer setting this as a repository variable (or secret).
           # If it is not set, the script uses a built-in default playlist ID.
-          YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID: ${{ vars.YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID }}
+          YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID:
+            ${{ vars.YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID || secrets.YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID }}
 
           # Optional: force-index specific videos. Can be set either as a
           # workflow_dispatch input or as a repository variable.

other/semantic-search/index-youtube-playlist.ts

@@ -292,6 +292,12 @@ function collectObjectsByKey(
 	return result
 }
 
+function nonEmptyTrimmed(value: string | undefined | null): string | undefined {
+	if (typeof value !== 'string') return undefined
+	const trimmed = value.trim()
+	return trimmed ? trimmed : undefined
+}
+
 function getPlaylistId(input: string | undefined) {
 	if (!input) return null
 	const trimmed = input.trim()
@@ -1196,11 +1202,13 @@ async function main() {
 		dryRun,
 	} = parseArgs()
 	const playlistInput =
-		playlistArg ?? process.env.YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID ?? DEFAULT_PLAYLIST_ID
+		nonEmptyTrimmed(playlistArg) ??
+		nonEmptyTrimmed(process.env.YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID) ??
+		DEFAULT_PLAYLIST_ID
 	const playlistId = getPlaylistId(playlistInput)
 	if (!playlistId) {
 		throw new Error(
-			`Invalid YouTube playlist input: "${playlistInput}". Use --playlist with a playlist URL or ID.`,
+			`Invalid YouTube playlist input: "${playlistInput}". Use --playlist with a playlist URL or ID, or set YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID.`,
 		)
 	}
 

other/semantic-search/readme.md

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ For podcast indexing:
 - `SIMPLECAST_KEY`
 - `CHATS_WITH_KENT_PODCAST_ID`
 
-For YouTube playlist indexing (optional but recommended as repo variables):
+For YouTube playlist indexing (optional but recommended as repo variables or secrets):
 
 - `YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID` (playlist ID only)
 - Optional (helps when YouTube returns anti-bot `LOGIN_REQUIRED`):