Make YouTube Videos with Golpo: Website First, API When You Scale

The short answer: Start on the Golpo website. Bring a subject you already understand. Golpo drafts the narration from that idea, or speaks a script you approve, then plans the scenes, draws the explanation, and returns a finished video. Review the script before you render. That is the whiteboard explainer workflow, and you do not need an animation timeline to begin. Coding is optional. Once the website path works, Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or an MCP client can request later episodes through the API. Income still depends on the audience and on YouTube’s rules.

You need a topic you care about, a point of view, and the willingness to keep discovering better questions. Your taste, humor, knowledge, and storytelling are the channel. Golpo is the production workflow around them. The video below is an overview of that path. The 15-second pilot, the script you approve, and the vertical episode are the versions you create from the prompts in this guide.

The first episode, on the website

1. Source. One idea you can explain, or a few sentences you already wrote.
2. Settings. On video.golpoai.com, choose a duration your plan lists, a voice, an orientation, and a style.
3. Script review. Turn on Edit script before creating video. Use Script Mode when the spoken words must be exact. About 1,050 characters fit in one selected minute. Drawing notes go in Video Instructions.
4. Result. Generate and watch it as a viewer would.
5. One correction. Revise the script and generate again, or frame-edit a wrong label on any paid plan.
6. One reuse. The vertical version of the same idea, or the next question in a look you saved.

The opportunity: your ideas can become animation without animation school

The creator tutorial that inspired this guide shows a refreshingly direct workflow. After a one-time setup, the creator asks Claude Code and Golpo for a short whiteboard animation, watches the result, downloads it, then makes a second vertical animation from a custom script in a different visual style. The finished clips can stand alone as Shorts or become animated segments inside a longer YouTube video.

That simple sequence matters more than the technical details. It means someone who loves astronomy, psychology, history, mathematics, gardening, personal finance, books, software, geography, or another subject can spend more energy on what to say and less on keyframes, drawing tablets, stock-footage searches, and complicated editing timelines.

Do not interpret that as guaranteed passive income. A video tool cannot promise an audience. The practical advantage is that you can test more of your good ideas without turning every experiment into a major production project.

Step 1: start with a subject you would explore even before earning money

A useful channel subject sits where three things overlap:

• You care: you naturally read, watch, collect, build, teach, or talk about it.
• People are curious: beginners and enthusiasts repeatedly ask questions about it.
• Animation helps: drawings, diagrams, timelines, comparisons, stories, or visual metaphors make the answer clearer.

Passion alone is not a content plan, but it is excellent fuel. A creator who loves the subject notices better details, tells better stories, and survives the period when the channel is small. Instead of choosing “science,” choose a recognizable angle such as strange physics questions, the hidden science of ordinary objects, or one-minute explanations of space discoveries. Instead of “history,” choose forgotten inventions, turning points explained visually, or daily life in different eras.

The 30-idea test

Open a blank page and write 30 questions about the subject. Do not research keywords yet. Write what you personally find fascinating. Then mark each question:

• S for a Short that can deliver one surprising idea in under a minute.
• L for a longer episode that deserves explanation, examples, and a payoff.
• B for both: a Short can introduce the idea and a longer video can develop it.

If reaching 30 feels painful, narrow or change the angle. If the list produces another 30 ideas, you may have the beginning of a channel.

Step 2: create the first video on the Golpo website

The website is the path to use first. Open video.golpoai.com, start from a prompt or a script, set the duration and orientation your plan lists, and generate. You do not need a terminal, an API key, or a coding agent for that video.

Coding is the second path, and it is optional. After one website episode is worth repeating, Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or an MCP client can request later standard videos. The setup, the plans, and the limits are in the API and MCP section below. Leave that section until the website workflow is familiar.

Step 3: make one tiny animation from one interesting idea

Follow the source video's simplest move: do not begin by designing an entire channel. Ask for a short animation about one idea.

Create a 15-second whiteboard animation using Golpo about why looking into space is like looking back in time. Use an enthusiastic English narration voice and make the final idea feel surprising.

That prompt gives Golpo a topic, duration, visual direction, narration tone, and emotional destination. You can substitute any passion:

• Why basil smells stronger after you touch its leaves
• The tiny design decision that made Roman roads last
• Why a chess knight moves in an L shape
• What actually happens when a computer compresses a photo
• Why your brain remembers unfinished tasks

On the website, paste that prompt, select 15 seconds if your plan lists it, and turn on Edit script before creating video. Read the draft. Then generate. Watch the result as a viewer. Is the opening interesting? Does the visual reveal the idea? What would you say differently? That reaction is the direction for the second video.

After the first result: make the next episode yours

The 15-second prompt is the test. The next episode is where the channel starts to look like yours. Use only the controls the episode needs.

A look you can repeat

Save a Custom Style from an image, a short video, or a written description of how the series should look. It lives in My Styles and can be selected again in Canvas or Sketch, so the astronomy Short and the history Short belong to the same channel. Business and higher are required. Reuse through the API also needs API access. A saved style is a repeating visual language. It is not pixel-exact typography. Review it.

A personal voice, or a clone

Voice Instructions, on Creator and higher and on Pay As You Go, steer the generated voice: tone, pace, emphasis, and pronunciation. They do not clone anyone, and they do not restyle an Own Narration recording. A pause request is a direction. Listen back. It is not a timed hold.

When the episodes should sound like you without a new recording each time, an authorized Voice Clone generates new narration in that saved voice. Business and higher, and Pay As You Go, list it. You need permission. Check pronunciation, and keep a fallback voice. Own Narration is the other personal-voice path: your audio, or the soundtrack of a video you upload, drives new visuals and sets the duration and the spoken language. A language setting does not translate that recording. An audio-only file does not create a face. Picture-in-Picture keeps you visible when the upload is video. Business and higher, and Pay As You Go, include Own Narration.

Scene groups

Custom Scenes let you move sentence boundaries, split or combine scenes, and change the count within the engine limit before generation. For the telescope idea, keep the light-travel fact in one scene and the “telescope as a time machine” payoff in the next. The map does not rewrite the narration. Custom Scenes are on Growth and higher and on Pay As You Go.

A presenter only when the face helps

Most of these episodes can stay a whiteboard. Add AI Presenter when a face should introduce the question. For a vertical Short, Top and bottom splits the presenter and the drawing. A circle layout (Round overlay) keeps the drawing large. Skip both when the diagram is the whole point. Auto can choose among the layouts you approved. Creator and higher, and Pay As You Go, include AI Presenter. A synthetic presenter is not a recording of you. Presenter API support is coming soon, so create presenter episodes on the website.

Step 4: use a custom script when your voice matters

A prompt is perfect for a quick proof. A custom script gives you more personality and control. The source tutorial follows the same progression: first generate a simple animation, then write a script and ask Golpo to animate that exact idea in another format.

For a 45-to-60-second Short, use this structure:

1. Hook: make a specific promise or raise an irresistible question.
2. Build: reveal two or three connected facts, steps, or story beats.
3. Payoff: deliver the surprising answer or useful conclusion.
4. Next curiosity: point naturally toward another video rather than begging for engagement.

Example custom script

Every time you look at the Moon, you see it about one second in the past. Look at the Sun and you see more than eight minutes ago. The nearest large galaxy appears as it was roughly two and a half million years ago. Light needs time to travel, so a telescope is not only a tool for seeing farther. It is a machine for seeing earlier. The deeper we look into space, the further back into cosmic history we travel.

On the website, turn on Script Mode and paste the narration. Put the visual direction in Video Instructions, not in the spoken words: energetic editorial style, clear scene changes, lively pacing, and do not rush the final sentence. Set Orientation to Vertical. Choose a duration your plan lists. A 45-to-60-second Short fits Creator’s range of about 15 seconds to 2 minutes. If the plan includes Voice Instructions, ask for a warm, curious delivery.

That vertical file is a new generation. It is not a crop of the 15-second landscape test. Golpo aligns the pictures with the narration you approved. You still decide whether the hook, the wording, and the final lesson represent the channel. The same approved narration can be sent later as custom_script through the API. enable_script_only_mode only generates a script. It does not mean “speak this text.”

Step 5: make a Short and a longer video from the same curiosity

Do not treat vertical and landscape videos as enemies. They can play different roles:

An 8–12 minute video is a YouTube length, not a duration every Golpo plan generates in one file. Creator’s per-video range is about 15 seconds to 2 minutes, which covers the pilot and a Short. Growth lists videos through about 4 minutes and adds color. If the duration menu stops short of the episode, render the sections separately and assemble them in your editor. Each section is its own credit charge. Confirm the current caps on the pricing page.

A Short can test whether the question attracts attention. If viewers respond, develop the idea in a longer video your plan can generate, or in sections you assemble. Or create a longer episode first and use one self-contained insight as a Short. This reduces idea pressure without uploading the same video repeatedly.

Golpo can also serve as one part of a mixed-format channel. You might speak on camera and insert animated explanations, use your own narration over Golpo visuals, or build a fully faceless educational format. The source tutorial demonstrates this well: animated segments can make a conventional creator video clearer and more visually active.

Plan, duration, and credits

Standard video is 1 credit per selected minute. A one-minute Short is 1 credit at that rate. The credit line in the product is the figure to trust for a 15-second selection. On Pay As You Go, Edit script before creating video charges 10% after the script and 90% after the video.

If a label is wrong and the narration is right, frame editing changes the visual. All paid plans include it. The first edited version is free across sessions until finalized. A charged version is billed on the selected duration. It does not change the audio. If the spoken line is wrong, edit the script and generate again. The improved vertical episode is that correction: same idea, tighter script, phone-shaped scenes.

The Free plan is not a downloadable publishing workflow. Dollar amounts and the live duration menu are on the pricing page.

Optional path: API and MCP after the website workflow works

Generate one episode on the website, review the script, and download the MP4 before you automate anything. When you want to repeat that setup, the Golpo API can request a standard video and report job status. You can call it from Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or any MCP client.

• Claude Code. The official plugin submits a prompt or a custom script, polls the job, and can save the MP4. Install it once from the Golpo plugin instructions:

/plugin marketplace add Golpo-AI/golpo-claude-skill
/plugin install golpo@GolpoSkill

The plugin requires Python, the requests package, and a Golpo API key. The Claude Code installation guide covers that setup.

• Codex, GitHub Copilot, and Cursor. Point the agent at the API docs or connect the Golpo MCP server. The same key and the same generation fields apply. MCP is a way to call the API. It does not add a separate publishing product.
• What the API does. It generates a standard video and reports status. A saved Custom Style can be referenced when the account has API access. custom_script supplies approved narration. enable_script_only_mode only generates a script.
• What stays outside Golpo. Script approval against your sources, YouTube upload, thumbnails, scheduling, analytics, and monetization review are your pipeline. Presenter API support is coming soon, so presenter episodes stay on the website.

Scale includes API access. Business has a paid API add-on. API Only is a separate product with its own metering, and it does not include dashboard generation. Check the pricing page rather than a price remembered from an older tutorial. The field-level reference stays in the API docs, the Claude Code guide, and the MCP guide. This page is the creator path: website first, coding when you are ready to repeat it.

Step 6: download, package, and publish

Once Golpo completes the animation, download the MP4. Golpo creates the video asset; it does not choose the final YouTube title, thumbnail, description, or upload schedule.

Give each upload one clear promise

A title should make the subject and payoff understandable. “Space Facts Episode 4” asks the viewer to do too much work. “Every Telescope Is a Time Machine” creates a clear curiosity gap. The thumbnail should strengthen that promise with one readable visual idea rather than summarize the whole video.

In the description, explain what the viewer will learn and add relevant sources or further reading when useful. If the episode is sponsored or contains affiliate links, disclose that clearly. Upload, watch the published version on a phone and desktop, and respond to genuine comments. The comments often contain the next video ideas.

Step 7: turn one-off videos into a recognizable series

Consistency does not mean repeating the same script with different nouns. It means giving viewers a familiar promise. A science creator might build:

• One-Minute Cosmic Mysteries: Shorts built around a surprising question.
• How We Know: longer explainers about the evidence behind a discovery.
• What If? imaginative scenarios grounded in real science.

Each series uses the creator's passion differently. The Short rewards quick curiosity, the explainer rewards clarity, and the scenario rewards imagination. Golpo reduces production work across all three, while your thinking prevents them from feeling interchangeable.

A simple weekly rhythm

• Monday: choose one question from your idea list.
• Tuesday: draft the hook and script.
• Wednesday: generate the Golpo video and revise if necessary.
• Thursday: create the title, thumbnail, and description.
• Friday: publish and collect viewer questions.

Once that feels comfortable, add a second Short or begin a longer monthly episode. The sustainable cadence is the one that leaves enough creative energy to keep the ideas good.

Step 8: build income around the audience—not around a promise of virality

A channel can earn in several ways. Advertising is only one of them.

Current full advertising-revenue eligibility generally requires 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours during the previous 12 months or 10 million valid public Shorts views during the previous 90 days. YouTube also reviews the channel and requires compliance with its monetization policies. Check the current YPP eligibility page because features, regional availability, and thresholds can change.

You do not always need to wait for advertising eligibility to earn. A small, specific channel can sometimes produce an affiliate sale, client inquiry, or digital-product customer before ads become meaningful. The offer must genuinely fit what the audience came to learn.

What “less effort” honestly means

Golpo can remove or reduce several difficult production tasks:

• Drawing scenes by hand
• Animating every object and transition
• Searching for enough stock footage to cover a script
• Manually synchronizing every visual idea with narration
• Generating a separate vertical or landscape version from the same approved idea

It does not remove the enjoyable creator work: choosing what fascinates you, developing the angle, writing a memorable hook, deciding what to leave out, naming the video, understanding your viewers, and improving after publication. The goal is not zero effort. It is to spend your effort where a human creator adds the most value.

Keep the channel monetizable by keeping it yours

YouTube's current policy allows creative tools to assist an original video, but warns that generic or unoriginal AI templates that look mass-produced and lack the creator's perspective may be ineligible for monetization. The platform specifically emphasizes authentic educational, entertainment, or creative value. See the current YouTube monetization policy.

The simplest protection is also the best creative advice: make videos that sound like something you wanted to say. Use your favorite examples. Explain what surprised you. Connect ideas other people overlook. Create a recurring visual metaphor or style. Let Golpo execute the animation without outsourcing your curiosity.

A 30-day Golpo channel launch

Week 1: find the channel

• Choose one subject and one clear angle.
• Write 30 questions and mark them S, L, or B.
• Create one 15-second Golpo animation from a simple prompt.
• Create one vertical animation from your own script.

Week 2: publish three experiments

• Publish three Shorts with different questions but the same audience.
• Test three hook types: surprising fact, bold question, and visual transformation.
• Read comments for confusion, excitement, and follow-up questions.

Week 3: deepen the best idea

• Choose the Short with the strongest combination of attention and genuine response.
• Turn it into a longer Golpo explainer your plan can generate: about 2 minutes on Creator, or through about 4 minutes on Growth. Assemble sections if the episode needs to run longer on YouTube.
• Add examples, a clear payoff, and a natural next-video suggestion.

Week 4: build the repeatable series

• Name two or three recurring series.
• Plan the next six videos.
• Choose one realistic monetization path that fits the audience.
• Keep the schedule small enough that the work remains enjoyable.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make money on YouTube with Golpo videos?

Golpo can reduce the work required to create original animated videos, but it cannot guarantee views or income. Creators can pursue YouTube revenue, affiliates, sponsorships, products, memberships, or services when the content builds a relevant audience and follows platform rules.

Do I need animation or video-editing experience?

No. Start on the Golpo website from a prompt or an approved script. Golpo drafts or speaks the narration, plans the scenes, and returns a video. You still choose the subject, the angle, the title, the thumbnail, and what to publish.

What should my YouTube channel be about?

Start with a subject you enjoy enough to explore repeatedly and that other people want to understand, such as science, history, business, software, books, health education, hobbies, or exam topics.

Should I begin with YouTube Shorts or long videos?

Shorts are useful for testing hooks and topics quickly, while longer videos can develop an idea in more depth and accumulate eligible public watch hours. Many creators use Shorts for discovery and long-form videos for deeper trust. The length you can generate in one Golpo file depends on the plan.

Do I have to use the API or Claude Code?

No. The website is the first path. Enter a prompt or script, review the narration, and generate. Use Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or an MCP client only after that workflow is one you want to repeat.

Can Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor create Golpo videos?

Yes, once the account has API access. The Golpo API can generate a standard video and report status from Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or an MCP client. Scale includes API access. Business has a paid API add-on. API Only is metered separately and does not include dashboard generation. Presenter API support is coming soon, so presenter episodes stay in the dashboard. YouTube upload stays in your pipeline.

Does every plan support an 8 to 12 minute video?

No. An 8 to 12 minute YouTube video is a publishing length. Creator’s per-video range is about 15 seconds to 2 minutes. Growth lists videos through about 4 minutes and adds color. If the duration menu stops short of the episode, render the sections separately and assemble them outside Golpo. Confirm the current caps on the pricing page.

Does Golpo upload videos to YouTube automatically?

No. Golpo creates the video asset. The creator downloads it and handles the YouTube title, thumbnail, description, upload, schedule, and audience interaction.

Are AI-generated videos eligible for YouTube monetization?

AI-assisted videos may be monetizable when they are original, authentic, and valuable. YouTube says generic, repetitive, or mass-produced AI templates without the creator's original perspective may be ineligible. Read the current policy linked in this guide before you scale output.

How quickly can I build a profitable channel?

There is no reliable timeline or income guarantee. Progress depends on the topic, quality of ideas, packaging, consistency, audience response, monetization fit, and YouTube eligibility.

Make the improved version of a subject you already understand

Pick one subject you can explain today. On the website, generate the 15-second version, review the script, and produce the improved version with the voice or style you want to repeat. Publish that pair. Add the API only when you are ready to request the next episode the same way.

For niche selection, use the faceless educational niche scorecard. For the wider business model, read the Faceless YouTube Business Playbook. For revenue beyond advertising, see monetization beyond AdSense. And before scaling output, understand YouTube's inauthentic-content policy.

Create the first video on the Golpo website from the subject you already understand.