How channel-guard works

channel-guard is a monitoring service for YouTube channel operators. We watch your channels and YouTube's policies in the background so you can find out fast when something changes that might affect your monetization, reach, or compliance.

What we monitor

Per channel

• Daily snapshot of views (30-day total)
• Daily snapshot of total views (lifetime)
• Subscriber count
• Subscribers gained in last 30 days
• Average view duration
• Last sync timestamp

We pull this from the YouTube Data API and Analytics API using OAuth tokens you authorize.

Across YouTube as a platform

• 14 official YouTube and AdSense policy pages, polled daily
• Diff detection: when the page content changes meaningfully, we generate a plain-English summary
• Severity classification: low, medium, high, critical

Multi-channel patterns

• BAN-domino risk: if one of your channels shows signs of policy enforcement, we flag the others
• Group-level health rolling up channel-level signals

How alerts work

We send alerts through:

• Email (Resend, sent from alert@channel-guard.com)
• In-app banner on your dashboard
• Webhook (Slack/Discord — coming after V1)

Alert triggers:

• View drop > 30% in 24 hours
• Monetization state change
• Sub count anomaly (sudden drop or spike beyond normal range)
• Policy diff on a tracked YouTube page
• BAN-domino warning when a related channel shows distress signals

What we don't do

• We don't manage your YouTube account — we only read
• We don't upload, schedule, or modify your content
• We don't represent you in appeals
• We don't promise to detect every issue — some enforcement happens with no visible signal
• We don't connect to third-party platforms (Reddit, TikTok, etc.) — YouTube only for V1

Scope of access

When you authorize the app, we request these scopes:

• youtube.readonly — channel metadata
• yt-analytics.readonly — analytics data
• userinfo.email — account identification

We do not request scopes that allow modifications. Your channel can't be changed by anything channel-guard does.

Data retention

• Channel snapshots: retained for the duration of your subscription
• Policy diffs: retained indefinitely (they're useful historical context)
• Your OAuth tokens: encrypted at rest, never exposed
• We process your data inside U.S. data centers (Vercel + Neon)

Pricing model

• Free tier: 1 channel, daily sync
• Starter: 5 channels, hourly sync
• Pro: 30 channels, priority sync, advanced analytics

You can cancel at any time; access continues to end of billing cycle.

What's coming after V1

• Discord and Slack webhook alerts
• AdSense API integration (revenue side, requires AdSense API approval)
• TikTok and Instagram channel support (post-V2)
• Mobile-friendly companion dashboard