YouTube Subscriber Count Clock:
Exact Number, Not Rounded
I posted my first YouTube video in 2019, and pretty much since that day I've wanted a clock on my desk that shows my subscriber count and updates live. The problem is every counter you can buy shows the same thing: a number rounded down to the nearest hundred. I finally figured out how to get the exact number on a $50 pixel clock, refreshing every two minutes. Here's the whole setup.
The full walkthrough, including the prompt you copy in, is in the video — eight minutes.
Why every subscriber counter is rounded
YouTube's public API — the thing every counter clock, browser widget, and "live sub count" site reads from — only publishes a rounded number once you cross 1,000 subscribers. It's not a hardware limitation. The clocks are showing you exactly what YouTube gives them.
The exact count exists in one place: YouTube Studio, and only when you're logged in as the channel owner. So the trick isn't a better clock. It's getting your own computer to read Studio for you and hand the number to the clock.
What you need
- A Ulanzi TC001 pixel clock — about $50 on Amazon. This is the one I use.
- A Windows PC, or a laptop that stays plugged in. The computer is what reads Studio every two minutes. A laptop that goes to sleep means a clock that freezes.
- Wi-Fi — and the clock and the computer need to be on the same network.
- Google Chrome, signed into whichever Google account actually owns the channel.
- The Claude desktop app on a paid plan, with Cowork and the Chrome extension. Claude writes and installs the small program. You do not need to keep the subscription afterward — set it up, then cancel if you want.
- Python. You don't need to know what that is. Claude installs it during setup.
Step 1: Flash AWTRIX 3 onto the clock
Out of the box the Ulanzi runs its own firmware. You replace it with AWTRIX 3, which is free, open source, and gives the clock a simple web interface your computer can talk to. Go to blueforcer.github.io/awtrix3 in Chrome, plug the clock into the computer with USB-C, click Connect, pick the clock from the device popup, check "Erase device," and install. It takes about three minutes.
This part looked scary the first time I did it. It isn't, and if you hate it, going back to the stock firmware is easy.
Step 2: Put the clock on your Wi-Fi
After the flash, the clock broadcasts its own Wi-Fi network (it starts with "awtrix_"). Join it from your phone, and a page pops up asking for your home Wi-Fi name and password. Once it connects, the clock shows an IP address on its face. Write that down — it's how the computer finds the clock.
This step has been documented a hundred times online; the AWTRIX side is the easy half.
Step 3: Let Claude build the counter
This is the part I couldn't find anywhere, so I put the entire prompt in the video description. Open Claude Cowork (not the website — it has to be the desktop app so it can use Chrome and your files), paste the prompt, add "my clock's IP address is …", and it walks you through the rest one step at a time.
What it's actually doing, so nothing surprises you: it installs Python, builds a small script that opens YouTube Studio in the background and reads the number next to "Current subscribers," and sets up a scheduled task that runs that script every two minutes and pushes the result to the clock over Wi-Fi. You'll log into Studio once with the account that owns the channel. After that it runs silently — you won't see it happen.
Two minutes is what I settled on. You can set it to one or five; two felt like enough.
Step 4: Pick an icon and line it up
Icons come from the LaMetric icon library — I used a small animated YouTube logo. Then you just talk to Claude: "the number's cut off," "drop the comma," "move it two pixels left." It adjusts the clock live through Chrome until it looks right, then saves that layout so every future update keeps it.
Things that will go wrong
- The count freezes. Nine times out of ten the computer went to sleep, or the Studio login expired. Wake the PC or re-run the setup file.
- The clock stops receiving. Your router handed the clock a new IP address. Update the config, or reserve the address in your router settings so it can't change.
- The clock won't turn on. Hold the arrow buttons. If it's truly dead, unplug the cable and plug it back in.
Is it worth doing?
For fifty dollars and an afternoon, yes — if the rounded number has been bugging you as long as it bugged me. It isn't going to grow your channel. It's a desk object that tells the truth, and I look at it more than I'd like to admit. If you get stuck, ask in the comments on the video; I answer them.
Keep reading
- My desk setup — everything else on the desk, with links
- How Much Do Turo Hosts Make? — the other thing I have Claude automate
I'm a YouTuber in Charleston, South Carolina. I've been on YouTube since 2019 and wanted this clock for most of that time — this is the setup that finally worked. More about me.
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