# YouTube Search - Keyword to Video Results (`bin_ai_tools/youtube-search`) Actor

Turn YouTube search keywords into clean, deduplicated public video rows with success-only pay-per-result billing.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/bin\_ai\_tools/youtube-search.md
- **Developed by:** [Bin Bin](https://apify.com/bin_ai_tools) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.50 / 1,000 search video 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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Search

Turn search keywords into clean, deduplicated YouTube video rows for research, monitoring, lead lists, content analysis, or API workflows.

### Input

- `queries`: 1–20 search keywords or phrases.
- `maxVideos`: maximum unique video rows per query, up to 1000.

### Output

Each successful row includes the original normalized query, video ID, canonical video URL, title, channel identity when available, published-time text, view-count text, duration text, and retrieval timestamp.

### Billing

PPE event: `search-video-result`.

A result is charged only after its dataset row is successfully written. A hard query-level failure writes one diagnostic `FAILED` row and produces no PPE event. The Actor code does not add a separate start charge.

### Scope

This Actor focuses only on `keyword → videos`. It does not fetch transcripts, comments, playlists, channel catalogs, or Shorts-only results.

### Reliability and cost controls

- `maxVideos` limits each query; `maxTotalResults` limits the whole run (default 1,000, maximum 10,000).
- Temporary provider failures are retried once. A later-page failure preserves earlier rows and reports a partial result.
- Rows are charged only after storage. Failed/skipped queries and retries are free.

### Family recipes

Use Search for discovery, then route selected results to Transcript or Comments; use Playlist, Channel Videos or Shorts when the source is already known.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Add 1–20 YouTube search keywords or phrases. Equivalent queries are processed once.

## `maxVideos` (type: `integer`):

Maximum unique video rows delivered per search query, from 1 to 1000.

## `maxTotalResults` (type: `integer`):

Run-wide safety cap across all queries. Processing stops before another query when this total is reached.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "openai agents"
  ],
  "maxVideos": 100,
  "maxTotalResults": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "openai agents"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("bin_ai_tools/youtube-search").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 = { "queries": ["openai agents"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("bin_ai_tools/youtube-search").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 '{
  "queries": [
    "openai agents"
  ]
}' |
apify call bin_ai_tools/youtube-search --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,bin_ai_tools/youtube-search"
        }
    }
}
```

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/I2Rz8Eo8Bp5BFK7Hh/builds/xBSf6DLPWGqR1CzZZ/openapi.json