Buying bonds thru treasury direct vs brokerage

Today was my first foray into buying government bonds. CS rep @ my brokerage company walked me through it, and explained a few things along the way. Did a great job.

I want to stay mostly liquid so bought the treasuries expiring on 2/21/23, lot 912796Y60. These came out on 1/21/23.

The total price was $99.6949, which from my understanding means I keep $0.3051 for every $100 invested, which is around 3%. *Edit: math done below, this is right*

Yet, the “Yield to Worst” was listed as around 4.45%.

Qty is 981.0, cost basis is 978.0, and current value is 977.8 (simplified numbers) so looks like I’ve lost money since purchase? (about $200)

Ideally I’d like to earn as close to that 4.45% as possible.

Next, wondering if people think buying them thru their brokerage is better vs Treasury Direct? It looks like with TD, I have to transfer money in, and then “bid” on the sale. Let’s say I do 4-week bills, can I set it up automatically to keep reinvesting after the sale and buy another 4-week lot?