# YouTube Video Bulk Lookup (`gocreative.ai/youtube-video-bulk-lookup`) Actor

Turn a list of YouTube URLs or video IDs into full metadata rows: title, description, channel, views, duration, publish date, category and captions flag.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gocreative.ai/youtube-video-bulk-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [GoCreative AI](https://apify.com/gocreative.ai) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 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.
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 Video Bulk Lookup

Paste a list of YouTube URLs and get back a clean metadata table — one row per video, in the
order you supplied. Accepts watch URLs, `youtu.be` share links, Shorts links and bare
11-character video IDs, mixed freely in the same list.

No API key. No YouTube Data API quota. No browser automation.

### Every input reconciles

Videos that are private, removed or region-blocked come back as rows with `ok: false` and a
plain-English `error`, tagged with the exact string you supplied in `input`. A 500-URL input
always produces 500 rows, so you can join results straight back onto your source list without
hunting for silent drops.

### What you get

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `input` | `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9cRaBkVe0` |
| `ok` | `true` |
| `video_id` | `ix9cRaBkVe0` |
| `title` | `Python Full Course for free 🐍` |
| `description` | *(full description text)* |
| `channel_name` / `channel_id` / `channel_url` | `Bro Code` · `UC4SVo0Ue36XCfOyb5Lh1viQ` |
| `view_count` | `11477805` |
| `duration_seconds` | `43200` |
| `publish_date` / `upload_date` | `2026-02-15` |
| `category` | `Education` |
| `keywords` | `["python", "tutorial", ...]` |
| `is_live` / `is_family_safe` | `false` · `true` |
| `thumbnail` | `https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ix9cRaBkVe0/maxresdefault.jpg` |
| `fetched_at` | `2026-08-15T19:44:02+00:00` |

`view_count` and `duration_seconds` are real numbers, not display strings — sort and filter them
directly.

### Input

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9cRaBkVe0",
    "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DCwgXXv5Z_w",
    "8KCuHHeC_M0"
  ],
  "includeDescription": true,
  "includeKeywords": true
}
```

| Option | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `videoUrls` | *(required)* | Any mix of URL formats or bare IDs. |
| `includeDescription` | `true` | Turn off for a smaller, faster export. |
| `includeKeywords` | `true` | The creator's own tag list — useful for SEO work. |

### What people use it for

- **Enriching a video list** you already have from search, a spreadsheet or another scraper.
- **Content audits** — pull `category` and `keywords` across a whole back catalogue.
- **Competitive tracking** — re-run the same URL list on a schedule and diff `view_count`.
- **Channel benchmarking** — resolve every video URL from a competitor's catalogue and compare
  `view_count` against `duration_seconds` and `publish_date`.

### Export

Results land in a standard Apify dataset: CSV, JSON, Excel or XML download, or straight from the
API.

### Notes

- Metadata comes from the same internal endpoint the YouTube player itself calls, so it matches
  what a signed-out visitor sees and stays stable when page markup changes.
- This Actor returns metadata only. It does not download video or audio, and it does not fetch
  transcripts — YouTube gates caption fetching behind a proof-of-origin token, and no workaround
  ships here.

# Actor input Schema

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

Paste any mix of watch URLs, youtu.be share links, Shorts links or bare 11-character video IDs. One row comes back per input, in order.

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

Keep the video's full description text. Turn off for a smaller, faster export.

## `includeKeywords` (type: `boolean`):

Keep the creator's own tag list — useful for SEO and topic analysis.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

YouTube rate-limits cloud IPs, so runs go through Apify Proxy by default. Leave as-is unless you have a reason to change it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9cRaBkVe0",
    "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "includeDescription": true,
  "includeKeywords": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "BUYPROXIES94952"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

# 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 = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9cRaBkVe0",
        "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "BUYPROXIES94952"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gocreative.ai/youtube-video-bulk-lookup").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 = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9cRaBkVe0",
        "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["BUYPROXIES94952"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gocreative.ai/youtube-video-bulk-lookup").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 '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9cRaBkVe0",
    "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "BUYPROXIES94952"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call gocreative.ai/youtube-video-bulk-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,gocreative.ai/youtube-video-bulk-lookup"
        }
    }
}

```

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/8oKxM7a5iVnSbvTsd/builds/IThOdQwBog2Ol8iy1/openapi.json