youtube

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Translated

YouTube Data API v3 via curl. Use this skill to search videos, get video/channel info, list playlists, and fetch comments.

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Sourcevm0-ai/vm0-skills
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NPX Install

npx skill4agent add vm0-ai/vm0-skills youtube

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter
youtube-data-apicurl-commandsdata-retrievalapi-integrationvideo-analytics

SKILL.md Content

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YouTube Data API

Use the YouTube Data API v3 via direct 
curl
calls to search videos, retrieve video details, get channel information, list playlist items, and fetch comments.
Official docs: 
https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:
  • Search videos by keywords or filters
  • Get video details (title, description, statistics, duration)
  • Get channel info (subscriber count, video count, description)
  • List playlist items (videos in a playlist)
  • Fetch comments on videos
  • Get trending videos by region

Prerequisites

1. Create Google Cloud Project

  1. Go to Google Cloud Console
  2. Create a new project or select existing one
  3. Go to "APIs & Services" > "Library"
  4. Search for "YouTube Data API v3" and enable it

2. Get API Key

  1. Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
  2. Click "Create Credentials" > "API Key"
  3. Copy the API key
bash
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY="AIzaSy..."

3. (Optional) Restrict API Key

For production use, restrict the key:
  • Application restrictions: HTTP referrers, IP addresses
  • API restrictions: YouTube Data API v3 only
Important: When using 
$VAR
in a command that pipes to another command, wrap the command containing 
$VAR
in 
bash -c '...'
. Due to a Claude Code bug, environment variables are silently cleared when pipes are used directly.
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.example.com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" | jq .'

How to Use

Base URL: 
https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3

1. Search Videos

bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=kubernetes+tutorial&type=video&maxResults=5&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {videoId: .id.videoId, title: .snippet.title, channel: .snippet.channelTitle}'

2. Search with Filters

Search for videos uploaded this year, ordered by view count:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=react+hooks&type=video&order=viewCount&publishedAfter=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z&maxResults=10&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {videoId: .id.videoId, title: .snippet.title}'

3. Get Video Details

Replace 
<your-video-id>
with an actual video ID:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics,contentDetails&id=<your-video-id>&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[0] | {title: .snippet.title, views: .statistics.viewCount, likes: .statistics.likeCount, duration: .contentDetails.duration}'

4. Get Multiple Videos

Replace 
<your-video-id-1>
, 
<your-video-id-2>
, 
<your-video-id-3>
with actual video IDs:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics&id=<your-video-id-1>,<your-video-id-2>,<your-video-id-3>&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, views: .statistics.viewCount}'

5. Get Trending Videos

bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics&chart=mostPopular&regionCode=US&maxResults=10&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {title: .snippet.title, channel: .snippet.channelTitle, views: .statistics.viewCount}'

6. Get Channel by ID

Replace 
<your-channel-id>
with an actual channel ID:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet,statistics&id=<your-channel-id>&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[0] | {title: .snippet.title, subscribers: .statistics.subscriberCount, videos: .statistics.videoCount}'

7. Get Channel by Handle

bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet,statistics&forHandle=@GoogleDevelopers&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[0] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, subscribers: .statistics.subscriberCount}'

8. Get Channel by Username

bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet,statistics&forUsername=GoogleDevelopers&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[0] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, description: .snippet.description}'

9. List Playlist Items

Replace 
<your-playlist-id>
with an actual playlist ID:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlistItems?part=snippet&playlistId=<your-playlist-id>&maxResults=20&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {position: .snippet.position, title: .snippet.title, videoId: .snippet.resourceId.videoId}'

10. Get Channel Uploads Playlist

First get the channel's uploads playlist ID, then list videos. Replace 
<your-channel-id>
with an actual channel ID:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=contentDetails&id=<your-channel-id>&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq -r '.items[0].contentDetails.relatedPlaylists.uploads'

11. Get Video Comments

Replace 
<your-video-id>
with an actual video ID:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads?part=snippet&videoId=<your-video-id>&maxResults=20&order=relevance&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {author: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.authorDisplayName, text: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.textDisplay, likes: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.likeCount}'

12. Search Comments

Replace 
<your-video-id>
with an actual video ID:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads?part=snippet&videoId=<your-video-id>&searchTerms=great+video&maxResults=10&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {author: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.authorDisplayName, text: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.textDisplay}'

13. Get Video Categories

bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videoCategories?part=snippet&regionCode=US&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title}'

14. Search Videos by Category

bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&type=video&videoCategoryId=28&maxResults=10&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {videoId: .id.videoId, title: .snippet.title}'
Note: Category 28 = Science & Technology

15. Get Playlists from Channel

Replace 
<your-channel-id>
with an actual channel ID:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?part=snippet&channelId=<your-channel-id>&maxResults=20&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, description: .snippet.description}'

Common Video Categories

IDCategory
1Film & Animation
10Music
17Sports
20Gaming
22People & Blogs
24Entertainment
25News & Politics
26Howto & Style
27Education
28Science & Technology

Part Parameter Options

Videos

  • snippet
    - Title, description, thumbnails, channel
  • statistics
    - Views, likes, comments count
  • contentDetails
    - Duration, definition, caption
  • status
    - Upload status, privacy, license
  • player
    - Embeddable player

Channels

  • snippet
    - Title, description, thumbnails
  • statistics
    - Subscribers, videos, views
  • contentDetails
    - Related playlists (uploads, likes)
  • brandingSettings
    - Channel customization

Pagination

Use 
nextPageToken
from response to get more results. Replace 
<your-next-page-token>
with the actual token from the previous response:
bash
bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=python&type=video&maxResults=50&pageToken=<your-next-page-token>&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {title: .snippet.title}'

Guidelines

  1. Quota limits: API has 10,000 units/day quota. Search costs 100 units, most others cost 1 unit
  2. Rate limits: Implement exponential backoff on 403/429 errors
  3. API key security: Never expose API keys in client-side code
  4. Caching: Cache responses to reduce quota usage
  5. Video IDs: Extract from URLs like 
    youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
    or 
    youtu.be/VIDEO_ID