# YouTube Shorts Scraper (`lentic_clockss/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor Scrape YouTube Shorts from any channel or search query. Get titles, view counts, thumbnails, video IDs, and channel info. Fast HTTP-only extraction, no browser needed. No login required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/lentic\_clockss/youtube-shorts-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [kane liu](https://apify.com/lentic_clockss) (community) - **Categories:** Social media, Videos, MCP servers - **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per usage This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 Shorts Scraper Fast, lightweight YouTube Shorts scraper. Extract Shorts from any channel or search query. Pure HTTP extraction — no browser, no login, no API key required. ### Features - **Channel Shorts**: Get all Shorts from any YouTube channel with pagination - **Search Shorts**: Find Shorts by keyword - **Fast**: HTTP-only extraction, no headless browser overhead - **Deduplicated**: Results automatically deduplicated by video ID ### Output Fields | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | videoId | string | YouTube video ID | | title | string | Short title | | url | string | Full Shorts URL | | viewCount | integer | View count (parsed from "6.4M views" format) | | viewCountText | string | Raw view count text | | channelName | string | Channel name | | channelId | string | Channel ID | | channelUrl | string | Channel URL | | thumbnailUrl | string | Thumbnail image URL (1080x1920) | ### Input Examples #### Get Shorts from a channel ```json { "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"], "maxResults": 50 } ```` #### Search for Shorts ```json { "searchQueries": ["cooking tips", "fitness motivation"], "maxResults": 20 } ``` #### Multiple channels ```json { "channelUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast", "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie" ], "maxResults": 100 } ``` ### Cost Estimate - \~100 Shorts per compute unit (channel scraping) - \~50 Shorts per compute unit (search) ### Legal This actor extracts publicly available data from YouTube. No login or authentication is used. # Actor input Schema ## `channelUrls` (type: `array`): YouTube channel URLs to scrape Shorts from. Supports @handle and /channel/ formats. ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): Search YouTube Shorts by keywords. Appends ' #shorts' to target short-form content. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of Shorts to return per channel or search query. Default 50. ## Actor input object example ```json { "channelUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast", "https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp" ], "searchQueries": [ "cooking tips", "fitness motivation" ], "maxResults": 50 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `shorts` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped YouTube Shorts data # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "channelUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("lentic_clockss/youtube-shorts-scraper").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("lentic_clockss/youtube-shorts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "channelUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast" ] }' | apify call lentic_clockss/youtube-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lentic_clockss/youtube-shorts-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Shorts Scraper", "description": "Scrape YouTube Shorts from any channel or search query. Get titles, view counts, thumbnails, video IDs, and channel info. Fast HTTP-only extraction, no browser needed. No login required.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "YNPvOh2pBWFCNa3GK" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/lentic_clockss~youtube-shorts-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lentic_clockss-youtube-shorts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/lentic_clockss~youtube-shorts-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-lentic_clockss-youtube-shorts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/lentic_clockss~youtube-shorts-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-lentic_clockss-youtube-shorts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "channelUrls": { "title": "Channel URLs", "type": "array", "description": "YouTube channel URLs to scrape Shorts from. Supports @handle and /channel/ formats.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "searchQueries": { "title": "Search Queries", "type": "array", "description": "Search YouTube Shorts by keywords. Appends ' #shorts' to target short-form content.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 5000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of Shorts to return per channel or search query. Default 50.", "default": 50 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```