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

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

2. Get API Key

Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
Click "Create Credentials" > "API Key"
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

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

Quota limits: API has 10,000 units/day quota. Search costs 100 units, most others cost 1 unit
Rate limits: Implement exponential backoff on 403/429 errors
API key security: Never expose API keys in client-side code
Caching: Cache responses to reduce quota usage

Video IDs: Extract from URLs like

youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID

youtu.be/VIDEO_ID

youtube

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

YouTube Data API

When to Use

Prerequisites

1. Create Google Cloud Project

2. Get API Key

3. (Optional) Restrict API Key

How to Use

1. Search Videos

2. Search with Filters

3. Get Video Details

4. Get Multiple Videos

5. Get Trending Videos

6. Get Channel by ID

7. Get Channel by Handle

8. Get Channel by Username

9. List Playlist Items

10. Get Channel Uploads Playlist

11. Get Video Comments

12. Search Comments

13. Get Video Categories

14. Search Videos by Category

15. Get Playlists from Channel

Common Video Categories

Part Parameter Options

Videos

Channels

Pagination

Guidelines