# YouTube Short Scraper (`lightmoon/youtube-short-scraper`) Actor

Every Short a channel has posted: title, views, link and thumbnail, read from the channel's own Shorts tab in the order it shows them. From $2.20 per 1,000. Exact views, likes and publish date optional; no account or API key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lightmoon/youtube-short-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Stable](https://apify.com/lightmoon) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.20 / 1,000 shorts

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/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 Short Scraper

Paste channel handles and get every Short they have posted as a table: title,
view count, link and thumbnail — read from the channel's **own Shorts tab**,
in the order the channel shows them.

No account, no API key, no quota.

### What one row looks like

```json
{
  "channelInput": "@MrBeast",
  "channelId": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
  "channelName": "MrBeast",
  "rank": 1,
  "videoId": "CEJXqm2eiJ0",
  "shortUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CEJXqm2eiJ0",
  "title": "What's Inside My Briefcase?",
  "viewCountText": "15M views",
  "viewCountApprox": 15000000,
  "viewCount": null,
  "likeCount": null,
  "publishedText": null,
  "statsSource": "tab-only",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CEJXqm2eiJ0/sardefault.jpg",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-29T09:41:02+00:00"
}
```

15 fields. Views in the dataset tab: **Shorts**, **Performance**, **All fields**.

### The one thing to know before you run it

**The Shorts tab only ever states a rounded view count.** It says `15M views`,
and that is all there is on that surface. So a row carries:

| field | what it is |
|---|---|
| `viewCountText` | YouTube's own words — `15M views` |
| `viewCountApprox` | those words as a number, **openly approximate** |
| `viewCount` | empty, unless you turn on the exact pass |

**Exact views, likes and the publish date** (in YouTube's own words, `Aug 1, 2026`) are available with the **Exact stats**
switch. They cost one extra request per Short (about 430 KB each), so the
switch is off by default and every row says where its figures came from in
`statsSource`: `tab-only` or `video-page`.

### Input

| field | what it does |
|---|---|
| **YouTube channels** | one per line: `@MrBeast`, a channel link, or a `UC…` id |
| **Maximum Shorts in total** | ceiling for the whole run |
| **Maximum per channel** | the tab gives about 48 per request, so this is what a channel costs |
| **Minimum views** | drops quiet Shorts **before** the row is stored — never charged |
| **Exact stats** | the extra pass described above |
| **Language / Country** | `hl` and `gl`, sent with the request |

### What it does not do

- **It does not find Shorts by keyword.** Give it channels; searching YouTube
  is our search listing's job.
- **It does not invent exact numbers.** See above — the rounded figure is
  labelled as rounded, and the exact one is optional and marked.
- **It does not log in**, so it sees what a signed-out visitor sees.

### A channel with no Shorts

Finishes normally, names the channel in the run summary, and **charges
nothing**. A handle that does not exist is reported the same way rather than
failing the run.

### Free plan

Everything works on the free plan: the same fields, the same filters.

# Actor input Schema

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

One per line: a handle (`@MrBeast`), a channel link, or a channel id starting UC. A video link is not a channel and is skipped with a note.

## `maxShorts` (type: `integer`):

A ceiling for the whole run. Shorts dropped by a filter are never charged.

## `maxShortsPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

The tab gives about forty-eight Shorts per request, so this is also what a channel costs.

## `minViews` (type: `integer`):

Drop Shorts under this many views before the row is stored, so a quiet one is never charged. The tab only ever states a rounded figure - `15M views` - and this filter reads that.

## `exactStats` (type: `boolean`):

Off by default, and deliberately: the tab's figures are rounded, and the exact ones need one extra request per Short at about 430 KB each. With it on, the row says `video-page` in `statsSource`; without it, `tab-only`.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Two-letter code sent to YouTube as `hl`.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Two-letter code sent as `gl`.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@MrBeast"
  ],
  "maxShorts": 30,
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 30,
  "minViews": 0,
  "exactStats": false,
  "language": "en",
  "country": "US"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `shorts` (type: `string`):

No description

## `performance` (type: `string`):

No description

## `all` (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 = {
    "channels": [
        "@MrBeast"
    ],
    "maxShorts": 30,
    "maxShortsPerChannel": 30
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lightmoon/youtube-short-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "channels": ["@MrBeast"],
    "maxShorts": 30,
    "maxShortsPerChannel": 30,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lightmoon/youtube-short-scraper").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 '{
  "channels": [
    "@MrBeast"
  ],
  "maxShorts": 30,
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 30
}' |
apify call lightmoon/youtube-short-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/wuBwcrWsZvwkbjXri/builds/k0MlbA4lplaJ5SJNc/openapi.json