# YouTube Channel Video Explorer (`gifted_wagon/youtube-channel-video-explorer`) Actor

Extract normalized YouTube channel videos with titles, views, publish age, duration, thumbnails, and continuation paging—no buyer API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gifted\_wagon/youtube-channel-video-explorer.md
- **Developed by:** [Michael Olmos](https://apify.com/gifted_wagon) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.70 / 1,000 video extracteds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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 Video Explorer

Extract normalized video metadata from public YouTube channels and handles: title, URL, views, publish age, duration, and thumbnails. Continuation paging supports deterministic per-channel limits without a buyer API key.

### Input and output

Provide channel URLs, handles, or `UC...` channel IDs in `channels`. Set `maxVideosPerChannel` from 1 to 500. The default input returns a few recent Apify channel videos.

Successful dataset rows contain normalized channel and video IDs, canonical URLs, counts, duration, publish text, thumbnails, and extraction time. Failed channel resolutions are explicit, uncharged rows.

### Quick start

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Apify/videos"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 10,
  "includeThumbnails": true
}
```

Inputs may be public channel URLs, `@handles`, or `UC...` channel IDs. Use a small limit for monitoring and increase it for one-time research exports.

### Common workflows

- Monitor a competitor or creator's recent uploads.
- Build a content-research dataset with canonical video URLs and metadata.
- Feed new-video rows into an n8n or Make workflow.
- Join channel metadata with transcript extraction for an AI or RAG pipeline.
- Track publishing cadence and visible engagement without maintaining YouTube API credentials.

### API and automation

```bash
curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/gifted_wagon~youtube-channel-video-explorer/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channels":["https://www.youtube.com/@Apify/videos"],"maxVideosPerChannel":5}'
```

For recurring monitoring, save the input as an Apify task and schedule it. Deduplicate downstream records by `videoId`.

### Pricing

The primary `video-extracted` event starts at **$0.0009 per successful video**. Only successful video rows are charged; failed channels and the `OUTPUT` summary are uncharged. A small Actor-start event covers startup.

### Responsible use

Collect only public metadata for a lawful purpose and respect platform terms, privacy, copyright, and rate limits. This Actor does not access private channel data. YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC; this independent Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube.

### FAQ and limitations

- **Is a YouTube Data API key required?** No.
- **Does it return transcripts?** Use YouTube Transcript Extractor Pro for captions and timed text.
- **Can it access private or members-only videos?** No.
- **Can public YouTube markup change?** Yes. Explicit failure rows make upstream changes visible instead of silently dropping channels.

# Actor input Schema

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

Channel URLs such as https://www.youtube.com/@Apify/videos or UC... IDs.

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

Deterministic cap across continuation pages for each channel.

## `includeThumbnails` (type: `boolean`):

Return public thumbnail URLs and dimensions for each video.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Apify/videos"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 25,
  "includeThumbnails": true
}
```

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gifted_wagon/youtube-channel-video-explorer").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("gifted_wagon/youtube-channel-video-explorer").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 gifted_wagon/youtube-channel-video-explorer --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/JziTLZINNPlJNkeeC/builds/OBi9tnsrSwup5Rphg/openapi.json