YouTube API

YouTube data access via TranscriptAPI.com — no Google API quota needed.

Setup

If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, read references/auth-setup.md and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.

Required Headers

Every request needs two headers:

• Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
• User-Agent: your agent's name and version if known (e.g. HermesAgent/0.11.0, ClaudeCode/1.0). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.

API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: transcriptapi.com/openapi.json — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

Endpoint Reference

All endpoints: https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/...

Channel endpoints accept channel — an @handle, channel URL, or UC... ID. Playlist endpoints accept playlist — a playlist URL or ID.

search also takes type=playlist or type=movie, plus first-page-only filters sort (relevance/views), upload_date, duration, and features. channel/videos takes tab=videos (default), shorts, or streams, plus an optional sort (latest/popular/oldest).

Naming: /video/metadata was previously /video/info. The old path still works but is deprecated — use /video/metadata.

Quick Examples

Search videos:

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search\
?q=python+tutorial&type=video&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Get transcript:

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=dQw4w9WgXcQ&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Check video info & transcript languages (free, before spending a credit):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/info?video_url=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Get rich video metadata (views, likes, description, tags):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/video/metadata?video_url=dQw4w9WgXcQ&include=details" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Get a channel's profile (subscriber count, tags, tabs):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/info?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Also available with the same channel parameter: /channel/playlists (a channel's playlists), /channel/posts (community tab), and /channel/sections (its curated Home-page shelves).

Resolve channel handle (free):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Latest videos (free):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Browse channel uploads (paginated):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

# Most-viewed first (channel Videos tab, ~30 per page)
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA&sort=popular" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"
# Use continuation token from response for next pages, repeating the same tab and sort

Sorting. Add sort=latest, popular, or oldest to channel/videos to get a channel's videos in the order you want, for example its most-popular uploads first. A sorted page returns about 30 videos (an unsorted page returns about 100), and every page costs the same 1 credit.

When paging, send the same sort on each request.

Item fields. Every item carries members_only, true only when YouTube badges it "Members only", and those items have no viewCountText. tab=streams items carry lengthText and publishedTimeText (for example Streamed 2 years ago); tab=shorts returns null for both, because YouTube's Shorts grid publishes neither. On the channel-tab feeds (tab=videos with sort, tab=shorts, tab=streams) channelId, channelTitle, channelHandle and index are null.

Browse playlist (paginated):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos?playlist=PL_PLAYLIST_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Parameter Validation

| channel | @handle, channel URL, or UC... ID | | playlist | Playlist URL or ID (PL/UU/LL/FL/OL prefix) | | q (search) | 1-200 chars | | type (search) | video (default), channel, playlist, movie | | tab (channel/videos) | videos (default), shorts, streams | | sort (channel/videos) | latest, popular, oldest (omit for the uploads feed) | | tab (channel/sections) | featured (default), podcasts, releases | | include (video/metadata) | details, related (comma-separated) | | limit | 1-50 | | continuation | non-empty string |

Why Not Google's API?

Errors

Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min. Starter ($5/mo): 1,000 credits.