YouTube API skill

Read public YouTube data as clean JSON. This YouTube API skill covers the full read surface: transcripts, captions and subtitles; video and channel statistics; comment threads, top comments and replies; Shorts listings, search and trending; channel videos, live streams and playlists; search with recency and suggestion variants; and direct media URLs for audio and video files.

Transcripts are the headline use. One call turns a video into text an agent can actually reason over, and at 3 credits it is the cheapest transcript in this repo — a fraction of the Instagram or Facebook equivalents.

This skill wraps 26 live YouTube endpoints from the ScraperSocial API. Public data only, returned as clean JSON.

When to use this skill

• A user pastes a YouTube URL and asks what the video says, or wants it summarised from the transcript.
• You are researching a channel: subscriber counts, upload cadence, which videos performed.
• You need comments on a video for sentiment or for surfacing recurring questions.
• You are tracking what is trending, or searching videos, Shorts or hashtags.
• You need a playlist's contents or a channel's live streams.

Do not use this skill when

• A YouTube link appears in passing and the user has not asked about its contents.
• The user only wants the title they already pasted. No call needed.
• You need your own channel's analytics. Watch time, retention and revenue are account-scoped — use YouTube Analytics.
• You need to upload, comment or manage a channel. Read-only.
• You intend to redistribute the media. get_media.js --section=video-files returns file URLs for technical access; downloading and republishing content you do not own is a copyright matter and usually a terms violation. Use it for analysis, not distribution.

Setup

export SCRAPERSOCIAL_KEY=sk_live_...   # https://scrapersocial.com/app/keys

Signing up at scrapersocial.com/signup includes 100 free credits, no card required.

Permissions and scope

These scripts do exactly three things and nothing else: read one environment variable (SCRAPERSOCIAL_KEY), send HTTPS requests to https://api.scrapersocial.com (the host is a constant in the code, not configurable), and print JSON. They run as node scripts/<name>.js with no other shell use, no file writes and no persistence. call_endpoint.js accepts only the 26 documented /v1/youtube/ paths in the table below and refuses anything else before a request is made.

Scripts

Every script also accepts --limit, --cursor, --fields, --format and --fresh. --limit is clamped to 50: above that the API returns an async job instead of data.

Example

node skills/youtube-api/scripts/search.js "transformer architecture explained"

Every response uses the same envelope:

{ "data": {}, "meta": { "count": 20, "next_cursor": "..." }, "request_id": "a18e4ef88ad4b00b" }

meta appears on paginated endpoints only. Keep request_id — support traces calls with it.

Endpoints

Costs shown per item for paginated endpoints, per call otherwise. Failed calls are not charged.

FAQ

How do I get a YouTube transcript from a URL?

get_transcript.js with the video URL, 3 credits. --section=captions and --section=subtitles return the caption tracks instead when you need timing or a specific language.

How do I get channel statistics?

get_channel.js --section=stats with the channel handle, 2 credits. Other sections cover videos, top-videos, shorts, lives and search.

Can I get YouTube comments and their replies?

Yes. get_comments.js returns comments at 1 credit each, --section=top returns top comments, and --section=comment-replies walks the replies under one comment.

Does this cover Shorts?

Yes, separately from long-form video: get_shorts.js with --section=search, --section=trending or --section=hashtag-search.

Is this an official YouTube API?

No. ScraperSocial is independent and not affiliated with YouTube or Google. It returns publicly available data only. YouTube's own Data API is free within quota and is the sanctioned route — this is most useful for transcripts, which the official API does not straightforwardly provide.

Links

• YouTube data on ScraperSocial
• All 33 platform skills
• OpenAPI spec · llms.txt

Disclaimer

ScraperSocial is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any platform named in this repository. All product names, logos and brands are property of their respective owners. These skills return only publicly available data.