# YouTube Channel Posts: community posts with text, images, polls (`steadydata/youtube-channel-posts`) Actor

The community posts of YouTube channels, up to 100 channels per run: one row per post with text, links, images, attached video, poll choices and votes, like count and age, newest first, from the channel's Posts tab. Pay per post.

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

## Pricing

from $0.65 / 1,000 post fetcheds

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 Channel Posts: community posts with text, images, polls

The community posts of YouTube channels, up to 100 channels per run: one row per post with text, links, images, attached video, poll choices and votes, like count and age, newest first, from the channel's Posts tab. Pay per post.

### Why this scraper

- **Only delivered results are charged.** Inputs that fail come back as clear error
  records at no cost.
- The Posts tab over the slim mobile route, one request per page of posts, no browser. Measured on MKBHD and MrBeast: 50 posts in one run for a tenth of a cent, with 26 single images, 10 image sets, 7 attached videos, 3 polls and 4 text-only posts, every one with like count and age.
- Attachments taken apart: `attachmentType` says what the post carries (text, image, images, video, poll), `imageUrls` gives the full-size images, `videoId` the attached video, `pollChoices` and `pollTotalVotes` the poll. Outbound links are unwrapped from YouTube's redirect so `links` holds the real URLs.

### Who this is for

Paste channels in `channels` (URL, @handle or channel id; up to 100 per run) and set `maxPostsPerChannel` (default 20, ceiling 500, newest first). Every row carries the channel id and name, the post's position, id and URL, its age, text, links, like count, attachment type and, depending on the attachment, image URLs, attached video or poll choices with the vote total.

### Who this is not for

Posts show their age as YouTube prints it ("2 weeks ago"), not an exact timestamp; YouTube does not expose one on the Posts tab. Comment counts are not delivered: the mobile tab does not carry them. Members-only posts and posts of channels that hide the tab are not visible. Columns that depend on the attachment are empty by design on other posts: `imageUrls` only on image posts, `videoId` and `videoTitle` only on video posts, `pollChoices` and `pollTotalVotes` only on polls; `links` only when the text contains a link.

### Input example

```json
{
    "channels": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
    ],
    "maxPostsPerChannel": 20
}
```

### Output example

- `channelId`
- `channelName`
- `channelUrl`
- `position`
- `postId`
- `url`
- `publishedText`
- `text`
- `links`
- `likeCount`
- `attachmentType`
- `imageUrls`
- `videoId`
- `videoTitle`
- `pollChoices`
- `pollTotalVotes`

Error codes: `INVALID_CHANNEL`, `CHANNEL_NOT_FOUND`, `NO_POSTS`, `BLOCKED`.

One delivered row looks like this:

```json
{
  "channelId": "UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
  "channelName": "Marques Brownlee",
  "position": 1,
  "postId": "UgkxX6gkDxQ0KRucvyG7NLui0LhjHp0CLlfZ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxX6gkDxQ0KRucvyG7NLui0LhjHp0CLlfZ",
  "publishedText": "2 years ago (edited)",
  "text": "Alright, it's that time: https://vote.mkbhd.com\n\nWelcome to the Blind Smartphone Camera Test 2023! 20 smartphones. 3 categories. Scientific winners revealed (I'...",
  "links": [
    "https://vote.mkbhd.com/"
  ],
  "likeCount": 12000,
  "attachmentType": "image",
  "imageUrls": [
    "https://yt3.ggpht.com/zy6PEg0QzlzFe8xfDxpAbe1mGV0pXgc-xV1MvQ7rlf_EWjEj_YqN0Y2b7fiaOCdghICsMxy8tDGDaA=s1516-nd-v1"
  ],
  "videoId": null,
  "videoTitle": null,
  "pollChoices": [],
  "pollTotalVotes": null,
  "status": "ok"
}
```

### Related actors from steadydata

- [youtube-channel-videos](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-channel-videos): the videos of the same channel
- [youtube-channel-details](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-channel-details): subscriber and view statistics of the channel
- [youtube-channel-live](https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-channel-live): the live and upcoming streams of the channel

### Pricing

Pay per event: one `post-fetched` event per delivered result. No charge for inputs
that fail, no separate platform-usage surcharge.

**Free Apify plan:** this actor delivers up to 25 rows per run for accounts on the Apify free
plan, and then stops with a message. That limit is set by us, not by Apify. It exists so the
actor keeps paying for itself for the people who do pay. Any paid Apify plan runs it at full
size, billed per delivered row, with failed rows never charged.

**Reviews:** if this actor saves you time, a short review on this page is the one thing that
helps most. Ratings are what other buyers look at first, and we have no other way to ask.

### FAQ

**Do I get the comments under a post?** No, only what the channel published: text, links, attachments, likes and age.

**How far back does it go?** As far as the Posts tab pages, newest first; `maxPostsPerChannel` caps the cost. A channel without posts comes back as one free `NO_POSTS` error row.

**Are poll results included?** The choices and the vote total as YouTube shows them; per-choice percentages are only shown to voters and are not available.

**Can I use a handle?** Yes: a channel URL, an @handle or a UC... channel id all work and resolve to the same channel id.

**Which image size do I get?** The largest thumbnail YouTube lists for the post, usually 1280 pixels wide.

**Is personal data collected?**
`likeCount` is YouTube's rounded figure (12K becomes 12000). `url` is the permanent post link on youtube.com/post/.

**What happens when the source changes?**
Sources change from time to time; that is the nature of this work. The actor is
monitored daily and fixed fast, and while it is broken you are not charged, because
only delivered results cost anything.

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/steadydata/youtube-channel-posts/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

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

One per row, up to 100: a channel URL, @handle or channel id (UC...).

## `maxPostsPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Cost ceiling per channel, newest first.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("steadydata/youtube-channel-posts").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": ["https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("steadydata/youtube-channel-posts").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": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
  ]
}' |
apify call steadydata/youtube-channel-posts --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/BrET2uGSO0XCSd0zh/builds/ET7c30qvHidyYWWRh/openapi.json