# YouTube Email Scraper (`w3crawler/youtube-email-scraper`) Actor

Collect only email addresses that channel owners publicly expose in YouTube channel descriptions or public link metadata.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/w3crawler/youtube-email-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [w3crawler](https://apify.com/w3crawler) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.99 / 1,000 channel emails

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 Email Scraper

Find email addresses that are literally present in public YouTube channel descriptions or public channel-link metadata. The actor does not reveal hidden contact addresses, click contact-reveal controls, call private endpoints, or bypass access controls.

### Input

| Field | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `channelUrls` | — | Public channel URLs, `@handles`, `/channel/UC…` IDs, `/user/…` URLs. |
| `searchQuery` | — | Optional public YouTube channel search query. It can be combined with `channelUrls`. |
| `emailDomain` | — | Optional exact domain filter, for example `gmail.com`. |
| `maxItems` | `20` | Maximum channels to scan, from 1 to 100. |
| `includeDiagnostics` | `true` | Emit exact four-field diagnostics for blocked pages or channels with no public email. |
| `enableProxyFallback` | `true` | Try standard account-authorized Apify Proxy after direct access fails. |
| `maxRetries` | `2` | Bounded retries per route, from 0 to 3. |
| `requestDelayMs` | `250` | Delay between channel pages. |
| `requestTimeoutSecs` | `60` | Public-page timeout. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | — | Standard Apify Proxy or credential-free HTTP/SOCKS configuration. |

### Output

When a public email is found, the dataset includes the primary and complete matching email list, email source, channel ID/name/handle/canonical URL, description and length, displayed and parsed subscriber/video counts, public country/joined date, avatar, public external links, input/search provenance, explicit metadata source and extraction method, and timestamp.

When no address is exposed, the actor emits a `NO_PUBLIC_EMAIL_FOUND` diagnostic (if diagnostics are enabled) and still completes successfully when the public page itself was read. This distinction prevents an unavailable public contact from being mistaken for a scraper failure.

Diagnostics contain exactly `url`, `error`, `errorCode`, and `scrapedAt`. `OUTPUT` summarizes discovery, scanning, findings, failures, blocks, proxy state, and duration.

### Verification

```text
npm test
npx apify validate-schema .actor/input_schema.json
npx apify run --purge --input-file qa-inputs/youtube-email-scraper/local-validation.json
npm run validate-dataset
npx apify actors call <ACTOR_ID> --build latest --input-file qa-inputs/youtube-email-scraper/cloud-validation.json --timeout 300 --json
```

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/w3crawler/youtube-email-scraper/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Keywords used with YouTube's public channel search. Provide this or Channel URLs. At least one of searchQuery or channelUrls must be provided.

## `channelUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube channel URLs, @handles, or UC channel IDs. These are processed in addition to a search query when both are supplied. At least one of searchQuery or channelUrls must be provided.

## `emailDomain` (type: `string`):

Keep only exact email domains, such as gmail.com. Subdomains do not match the parent domain.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of channels to scan for emails.

## `includeDiagnostics` (type: `boolean`):

Emit exact four-field diagnostics for blocked pages or channels with no public email.

## `enableProxyFallback` (type: `boolean`):

Try the configured account-authorized Apify Proxy route after direct access fails.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Bounded retry attempts for each public channel route.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Pacing delay between public channel pages.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Timeout for one public channel page request.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional proxy settings. Start with direct access and enable a suitable proxy only for normal geographic availability or rate limiting.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "tech review",
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
  ],
  "emailDomain": "gmail.com",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "enableProxyFallback": true,
  "maxRetries": 2,
  "requestDelayMs": 250,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

## `keyValueStore` (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 = {
    "searchQuery": "tech review",
    "maxItems": 20,
    "includeDiagnostics": true,
    "enableProxyFallback": true,
    "maxRetries": 2,
    "requestDelayMs": 250,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("w3crawler/youtube-email-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 = {
    "searchQuery": "tech review",
    "maxItems": 20,
    "includeDiagnostics": True,
    "enableProxyFallback": True,
    "maxRetries": 2,
    "requestDelayMs": 250,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("w3crawler/youtube-email-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 '{
  "searchQuery": "tech review",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "enableProxyFallback": true,
  "maxRetries": 2,
  "requestDelayMs": 250,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call w3crawler/youtube-email-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,w3crawler/youtube-email-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/6wt73xO9WaTXqnID5/builds/unfMz0twbTrwhmhXs/openapi.json