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Use two independent checks: supervise FFmpeg on the machine that runs it, then query YouTube’s Live Streaming API to confirm that YouTube is receiving the feed and to inspect its health. A running FFmpeg process alone does not prove the stream is reaching viewers; an API result alone does not prove the local encoder is making progress.
What a useful health check should tell you
Report specific states rather than collapsing everything into a single green or red result. That lets an operator distinguish an encoder failure from an API outage or a YouTube configuration issue.
- Process absent: FFmpeg is not running.
- Process present, no recent progress: FFmpeg may be blocked or failing to produce output.
- Local output progressing: the encoder appears to be advancing, but this does not confirm YouTube is receiving it.
- API check failed: YouTube status could not be checked; the cause may be credentials, permissions, network access, or a temporary API problem.
- YouTube stream inactive or error: inspect FFmpeg logs and the connection to YouTube’s ingest endpoint.
- YouTube health bad: surface the reported configuration issue and severity.
- YouTube health unknown: noData or stale health data is not a healthy result.
- Checks healthy: local progress and YouTube’s stream and broadcast states are consistent with the intended live setup.
Layer 1: supervise FFmpeg locally
Check both process liveness and progress
Use the host’s service manager or another watchdog to detect process exit, capture the exit status, and apply a deliberate restart policy. Also monitor a progress signal from the actual FFmpeg invocation or media pipeline. A process can still exist while stalled, disconnected, or producing unusable output, so process presence by itself is not sufficient.
Record FFmpeg’s logs and timestamps. When local progress stops, alert on that condition separately from YouTube API failures. The precise progress signal depends on how FFmpeg is launched and on the host environment; validate it against your actual command and FFmpeg build rather than assuming a generic process check proves media is moving.
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Keep detection separate from restart
Local process supervision is the most direct trigger for restarting FFmpeg after an exit. Configure bounded retries and backoff rather than allowing an endless rapid restart loop. Decide how long a failure must persist before action, how many restarts are allowed in a time window, what gets logged, and when a person is alerted. These are operational choices, not YouTube-mandated values.
Layer 2: query YouTube’s incoming stream
YouTube models the incoming feed as a liveStream resource. Its status.streamStatus reports whether the stream exists, is configured, or is sending data; status.healthStatus reports YouTube’s assessment of configuration issues. See Google’s LiveStreams resource documentation.
Interpret streamStatus correctly
active: YouTube is receiving data via the stream.created: the stream exists but has no valid CDN settings.error: an error condition exists.inactive: YouTube is not receiving the user’s stream.ready: the stream has valid CDN settings.
ready is not the same as active: valid settings do not mean data is currently arriving. If a stream reports inactive or error, compare the result with FFmpeg’s recent logs and local progress before deciding whether to restart.
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good: no issues at warning severity or worse.ok: no error-severity issues.bad: at least one issue has error severity.noData: YouTube has no health-status information. Treat it as unknown, not as a pass.
Inspect configurationIssues[] rather than alerting only on the summary label. An issue can include a type, severity, reason, and description that help identify what needs attention. The health object also includes lastUpdateTimeSeconds, a UNIX timestamp in seconds. Check how old it is before treating a previous good result as current; the API documentation does not prescribe a universal freshness threshold.
Layer 3: check the viewer-facing broadcast
A liveBroadcast represents the event viewers see, not the incoming encoder feed. Its lifecycle can include created, ready, liveStarting, live, complete, revoked, testStarting, and testing. Consult Google’s LiveBroadcasts resource documentation when interpreting these states.
The liveBroadcasts.list method can return the status part, filter with broadcastStatus (including active, all, completed, and upcoming), and use mine=true to filter to the authenticated owner’s broadcasts. Requests require authorization. The method documents youtube.readonly as an accepted scope; insufficient live permissions or live streaming not being enabled can cause the request to fail.
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Do not infer that a healthy incoming feed means the intended broadcast is live. Compare the stream and broadcast results, and alert separately when the feed is arriving but the broadcast is not in the state your operation expects.
Build a health-check loop without conflating failures
- Read local state: check whether FFmpeg is present, whether its output or progress has advanced recently, and whether its latest exit status or logs show an error.
- Read YouTube state: use authorized API requests to retrieve the owned stream’s status and health fields, plus the relevant broadcast status.
- Classify the result: distinguish process failure, stalled progress, inactive/error stream, bad YouTube health, unknown or stale health data, API failure, and healthy checks.
- Choose an action for that class: restart after a confirmed local FFmpeg exit according to your bounded policy; investigate logs and ingest connectivity for YouTube inactive/error; surface individual configuration issues for bad health; alert without claiming stream failure when the API check itself failed.
- Log evidence: include timestamps, the returned states, health-update age, issue details, API errors, FFmpeg exit status, and restart count so an operator can diagnose a recurring fault.
The YouTube API references document the resources and fields, but they do not specify a shell script, polling cadence, process manager, restart cap, or alert threshold. Choose polling and escalation behavior to match your acceptable downtime and the rate limits and operational constraints of your own setup.
When automatic broadcast transitions are involved
A read-only monitor does not need to change broadcast state. If you separately automate transitions to testing or live, verify the prerequisites and authorization first: YouTube requires the bound stream to have streamStatus=active. The transition method can return inactive-stream or invalid-transition errors. See LiveBroadcasts: transition.
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Troubleshoot common monitoring results
FFmpeg is running, but YouTube says inactive
A live process does not establish that it is delivering data. Check whether FFmpeg progress is advancing, inspect its recent output and exit information, and verify the ingest connection. Do not restart solely because of a process listing.
YouTube reports ready, not active
ready means valid CDN settings are present; it does not mean YouTube is receiving the stream. Confirm that FFmpeg is publishing to the intended stream and that local progress continues.
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YouTube health is noData
Report the health check as unknown. YouTube says this state means its backend has no health-status information, so it is not evidence that the stream is healthy or unhealthy. Check the update timestamp and other status fields.
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The API request fails
Keep this distinct from an ingest failure. Check authorization, the requested scope, live-streaming eligibility, network access, and the returned API error. The list method documents permission and eligibility errors; a failed query does not by itself justify restarting FFmpeg.
Health is bad or the last update is old
Include the issue’s severity, reason, and description in the alert so someone can investigate the actual condition. If the health timestamp is stale, report the result as unknown or stale rather than presenting an old good status as current.
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