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

export YOUTUBE_TOKEN="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

How to Use

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

1. Search Videos

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=kubernetes+tutorial&type=video&maxResults=5&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | 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:

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=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {videoId: .id.videoId, title: .snippet.title}'

3. Get Video Details

Replace <your-video-id> with an actual video ID:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics,contentDetails&id=<your-video-id>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | 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:

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=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, views: .statistics.viewCount}'

5. Get Trending Videos

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics&chart=mostPopular&regionCode=US&maxResults=10&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | 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:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet,statistics&id=<your-channel-id>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[0] | {title: .snippet.title, subscribers: .statistics.subscriberCount, videos: .statistics.videoCount}'

7. Get Channel by Handle

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

8. Get Channel by Username

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

9. List Playlist Items

Replace <your-playlist-id> with an actual playlist ID:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlistItems?part=snippet&playlistId=<your-playlist-id>&maxResults=20&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | 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:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=contentDetails&id=<your-channel-id>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq -r '.items[0].contentDetails.relatedPlaylists.uploads'

11. Get Video Comments

Replace <your-video-id> with an actual video ID:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads?part=snippet&videoId=<your-video-id>&maxResults=20&order=relevance&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | 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:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads?part=snippet&videoId=<your-video-id>&searchTerms=great+video&maxResults=10&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {author: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.authorDisplayName, text: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.textDisplay}'

13. Get Video Categories

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

14. Search Videos by Category

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&type=video&videoCategoryId=28&maxResults=10&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | 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:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?part=snippet&channelId=<your-channel-id>&maxResults=20&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, description: .snippet.description}'

Common Video Categories

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:

curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=python&type=video&maxResults=50&pageToken=<your-next-page-token>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | 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