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

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 -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 -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 -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

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

4. Get Multiple Videos

bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics&id=VIDEO_ID_1,VIDEO_ID_2,VIDEO_ID_3&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, views: .statistics.viewCount}

5. Get Trending Videos

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

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

7. Get Channel by Handle

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 -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

bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlistItems?part=snippet&playlistId=${PLAYLIST_ID}&maxResults=20&key=${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:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=contentDetails&id=${CHANNEL_ID}&key=${YOUTUBE_API_KEY}"' | jq -r '.items[0].contentDetails.relatedPlaylists.uploads

11. Get Video Comments

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

12. Search Comments

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

13. Get Video Categories

bash -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 -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

bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?part=snippet&channelId=${CHANNEL_ID}&maxResults=20&key=${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:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=python&type=video&maxResults=50&pageToken=${NEXT_PAGE_TOKEN}&key=${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 or youtu.be/VIDEO_ID

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