# YouTube Channel Feed - latest videos, no API key (`sbr35/youtube-channel-feed`) Actor

Input: a YouTube @handle, channel URL or channel ID. Output: the channel's most recent videos with title, URL, publish date, description, thumbnail and view count. Use when you need the latest uploads from named channels. No API key or quota required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/sbr35/youtube-channel-feed.md
- **Developed by:** [Alexandre de La Fayette](https://apify.com/sbr35) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 videos

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?

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 Feed

Track the latest videos from any YouTube channel. **No API key, no quota, no scraping.**

Most YouTube actors scrape rendered pages, which means they fight anti-bot measures, need
proxies, and break whenever YouTube changes its markup. This one reads **YouTube's own public
feed endpoint** — the same one RSS readers and podcast apps have used for years. It is stable,
it is fast, and it does not break.

### What you get

One row per video:

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `title` | Video title |
| `videoId` | YouTube video ID |
| `url` | Direct watch link |
| `channel` | Channel name |
| `channelId` | Channel ID (UC...) |
| `publishedAt` | ISO 8601 publish time |
| `updatedAt` | Last updated |
| `description` | Description text (first 1,200 chars) |
| `thumbnail` | High-quality thumbnail URL |
| `views` | View count where the feed exposes it |
| `averageRating` | Average rating where available |
| `scrapedAt` | When this row was collected |

### Input

```json
{
  "channels": ["@mkbhd", "https://youtube.com/@veritasium", "UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ"],
  "playlists": [],
  "keywords": ["review"],
  "publishedAfter": "2026-01-01"
}
```

| Option | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `channels` | required | `@handle`, full channel URL, or raw `UC...` ID — all three work |
| `playlists` | empty | Playlist IDs to track alongside channels |
| `keywords` | empty | Keep only titles containing one of these (case-insensitive) |
| `publishedAfter` | empty | Keep only videos published on or after this date (`YYYY-MM-DD`) |

Handles are resolved to channel IDs automatically — paste `@mkbhd` and it just works. A channel
that cannot be resolved is skipped with a warning rather than failing the whole run.

### Who this is for

- **Competitor monitoring** — know within minutes when a rival publishes
- **Content aggregators** — pull many channels into one feed with one schema
- **Newsletter and curation** — filter by keyword and date, publish the result
- **Researchers** — build a dataset of publishing cadence across many creators
- **Alerting** — schedule it and diff against the previous run

### Why the feed approach matters

| | Page scrapers | This actor |
|---|---|---|
| API key | not needed | not needed |
| Quota limits | none, but rate-limited | none |
| Proxies | usually required | not required |
| Breaks on layout changes | frequently | no — structured feed |
| Terms-of-service posture | grey | reads a feed YouTube publishes for this purpose |

### Honest limits

- **The feed returns roughly the 15 most recent videos per channel.** This is a *latest videos*
  tool, not a full back-catalogue exporter. For deep history you need a different approach.
- `views` and `averageRating` are only present when YouTube includes them in the feed — treat
  them as a bonus, not a guarantee.
- Resolving an `@handle` fetches one public profile page to read its channel ID. Passing a raw
  `UC...` ID skips that step entirely and is marginally faster.
- Live streams and Shorts appear in the feed like any other upload.

### Pricing

Pay per event. Charged per video row returned. A channel that returns nothing costs nothing.

### Changelog

**1.0** — First release. Channels by handle, URL or ID, plus playlists, keyword and date filters.

# Actor input Schema

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

Channels to track. Accepts a @handle, a full channel URL, or a raw channel ID (UC...). Example: @mkbhd, https://youtube.com/@veritasium, UCBJycsmduvYEL83R\_U4JriQ

## `playlists` (type: `array`):

Playlist IDs to track alongside channels. Each returns its most recent videos.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Only keep videos whose title contains one of these, case-insensitive. Leave empty to keep everything.

## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`):

Only keep videos published on or after this date. Format YYYY-MM-DD.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "@veritasium"
  ],
  "playlists": [],
  "keywords": []
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `videos` (type: `string`):

Latest videos across every requested channel and playlist.

## `videosCsv` (type: `string`):

The same videos as a spreadsheet-ready CSV.

# 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": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "@veritasium"
    ],
    "playlists": [],
    "keywords": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("sbr35/youtube-channel-feed").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": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "@veritasium",
    ],
    "playlists": [],
    "keywords": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("sbr35/youtube-channel-feed").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": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "@veritasium"
  ],
  "playlists": [],
  "keywords": []
}' |
apify call sbr35/youtube-channel-feed --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,sbr35/youtube-channel-feed"
        }
    }
}

```

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/kSKQ9KjF12WEJvwoK/builds/4Ig4dDCTG7kLInIdQ/openapi.json