# YouTube Channel Uploads & RSS Exporter (`archive-scout-labs/youtube-channel-uploads-rss-exporter`) Actor

Export recent videos and Shorts from public YouTube channel feeds. No API key or login. Get titles, dates, descriptions, thumbnails, URLs, views, and channel metadata.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/archive-scout-labs/youtube-channel-uploads-rss-exporter.md
- **Developed by:** [Archive Scout Labs](https://apify.com/archive-scout-labs) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 33.3% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## YouTube Channel Uploads & RSS Exporter

Export the latest public uploads from YouTube channels as clean dataset rows. Supply channel IDs, `@handles`, channel URLs, or YouTube feed URLs and receive recent videos and Shorts with titles, dates, descriptions, thumbnails, URLs, view counts, and channel metadata.

No YouTube account, login, cookie, API key, proxy, or browser automation is required.

### Start in 30 seconds

1. Add one or more public YouTube channels.
2. Choose whether to include videos, Shorts, or both.
3. Optionally set a `publishedAfter` date.
4. Click **Start** and export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML, or RSS.

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q",
    "@kurzgesagt"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 15,
  "maxItems": 100,
  "shortsMode": "all",
  "publishedAfter": "2026-09-01"
}
```

### What each result contains

- Video and channel IDs
- Channel and video titles
- Published and updated timestamps
- Direct video or Short URL
- Thumbnail URL and feed description
- Public view and rating data when the feed provides it
- Original input and canonical feed URL for traceability

```json
{
  "videoId": "NIifnIP_NnQ",
  "channelId": "UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q",
  "channelTitle": "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell",
  "title": "How ADHD Medication Works",
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-05T14:00:06+00:00",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NIifnIP_NnQ",
  "isShort": true,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i3.ytimg.com/vi/NIifnIP_NnQ/hqdefault.jpg",
  "views": 123456
}
```

### Accepted channel inputs

- Channel ID: `UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q`
- Handle: `@kurzgesagt`
- Channel URL: `https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt`
- ID URL: `https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q`
- Feed URL: `https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q`

Only public `youtube.com` inputs are accepted. Other hosts are rejected before any request, which prevents the Actor from being used as a general URL fetcher.

### Useful workflows

- Monitor creator uploads without maintaining a YouTube API project
- Feed new videos into n8n, Make, Zapier, Sheets, databases, or AI pipelines
- Track competitors or a portfolio of channels on an Apify schedule
- Separate Shorts from long-form uploads
- Build a lightweight video-news or creator-research feed

### Reliability and limits

The Actor reads YouTube's public Atom feeds over HTTP, retries temporary failures, respects `429 Too Many Requests` responses, and uses limited Apify permissions. One invalid channel does not stop the rest of a batch; optional error rows identify failures without charging a result event.

YouTube public feeds normally expose only the 15 most recent uploads for each channel. This Actor does not search historical videos, download media, retrieve comments, or access private channel data. Handle and vanity-URL inputs require one extra public page request to resolve the channel ID.

### Pricing

The planned launch price is **$0.001 per successful video result ($1 per 1,000 results)** with platform usage included. Error rows are not charged. The final Store price will be confirmed after a capped cloud cost test.

### Data source and affiliation

This independent community Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube or Google. It reads public YouTube channel feeds and returns the metadata those feeds expose. Users remain responsible for their downstream use of the data.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

YouTube channel IDs, @handles, channel URLs, or feeds/videos.xml URLs.

## `maxVideosPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

YouTube public feeds normally expose up to 15 recent uploads per channel.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Global dataset limit across all channels.

## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`):

Optional ISO date or timestamp. Only videos published at or after this time are returned, for example 2026-09-01 or 2026-09-01T00:00:00Z.

## `shortsMode` (type: `string`):

Return all uploads, exclude Shorts, or return only Shorts.

## `includeDescription` (type: `boolean`):

Include the description provided by the public YouTube feed.

## `saveErrors` (type: `boolean`):

Keep processing other channels and add an uncharged error row for each invalid or unavailable channel.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Polite delay between public feed requests.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 15,
  "maxItems": 100,
  "shortsMode": "all",
  "includeDescription": true,
  "saveErrors": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 250
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Default dataset containing videos and optional error rows.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("archive-scout-labs/youtube-channel-uploads-rss-exporter").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("archive-scout-labs/youtube-channel-uploads-rss-exporter").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call archive-scout-labs/youtube-channel-uploads-rss-exporter --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,archive-scout-labs/youtube-channel-uploads-rss-exporter"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/g2zjwTcK4PAPkoRGs/builds/ZFY7WXd9EL3najX1S/openapi.json