# YouTube Shorts API (`soilair/youtube-shorts-api`) Actor

Extract recent public YouTube Shorts from known channel URLs, @handles, or channel IDs. Return Short URLs, titles, view counts, thumbnails, and channel metadata. No YouTube Data API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/soilair/youtube-shorts-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Salih Can Kurnaz](https://apify.com/soilair) (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 $1.00 / 1,000 short 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/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 Shorts API

> **Unofficial independent tool. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or maintained by YouTube or Google.**

Extract recent public Shorts from known YouTube channels and return structured rows.

### What it returns

Each successfully returned Short is written as one dataset row with:

- original channel input
- resolved channel Shorts URL
- rank within the requested channel feed
- video ID
- canonical Shorts URL
- title
- view count
- thumbnail URL
- channel name
- channel ID
- channel URL
- UTC collection timestamp

### Input example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@NASA",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 50
}
```

Accepted channel forms:

- `@handle`
- full YouTube channel URL
- raw `UC...` channel ID
- plain handle name

### Scope

This Actor is intentionally focused on **recent public Shorts from known channels**.

It does not claim to provide:

- keyword Shorts search
- country-wide trending Shorts
- exhaustive historical channel archives
- per-Short likes/comments enrichment
- transcripts
- video/audio downloads
- private or restricted content

The upstream channel Shorts feed is dynamic, so results can change between runs.

### Pricing

Primary PPE event: `short-result`.

You are charged only for Short rows successfully written to the dataset.

Current tiers:

- FREE: $1.50 / 1,000 successful Shorts
- BRONZE: $1.35 / 1,000
- SILVER: $1.20 / 1,000
- GOLD / PLATINUM / DIAMOND: $1.00 / 1,000

A small synthetic Actor-start event may also be charged by the platform.

### Reliability and limitations

A channel can return no rows if:

- it has no Shorts,
- the channel is unavailable or restricted,
- upstream YouTube behavior changes,
- the requested public feed is temporarily inaccessible.

No YouTube Data API key is required from the user.

### Responsible use

Use only for lawful purposes. Respect applicable platform terms, copyright,
privacy obligations, and local law.

# Actor input Schema

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

YouTube channel URLs, @handles, raw UC... channel IDs, or plain handle names.

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

Maximum number of recent Shorts returned for each channel.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@NASA",
    "@MrBeast"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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("soilair/youtube-shorts-api").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("soilair/youtube-shorts-api").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 soilair/youtube-shorts-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/iB4fPhntk9WnS1HKl/builds/cJX4Mnd266UWM28RC/openapi.json