# YouTube Hashtag Video & Shorts Scraper (`w3crawler/youtube-hashtag-video-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Collect current YouTube hashtag videos and Shorts through YouTube browse continuations, with source-provided metadata.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/w3crawler/youtube-hashtag-video-shorts-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 hashtag videos & shorts

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 Hashtag Video & Shorts Scraper

Collect rich public video and Shorts observations for one or more hashtags. The actor queries ordinary public YouTube search pages with the hashtag as the query, parses embedded public page metadata, and does not use private clients, browser automation, or continuation APIs.

### Input

| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---:|---|
| `hashtags` | — | Required; 1–50 tags, with or without `#`. |
| `maxItems` | `20` | Maximum unique records per hashtag, 1–200. |
| `locale` | `en-US` | Public page language-country locale. |
| `includeDiagnostics` | `true` | Emit exact four-field diagnostics for failed/empty public pages. |
| `enableProxyFallback` | `true` | Try account-authorized Apify Proxy after direct access fails. |
| `requestDelayMs` | `250` | Delay between hashtag requests, 0–5000 ms. |
| `requestTimeoutSecs` | `60` | Public request timeout, 15–180 seconds. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | — | Optional standard Apify Proxy configuration; proxy URLs must be credential-free. |

Example:

```json
{
  "hashtags": ["travel", "food"],
  "maxItems": 10,
  "locale": "en-US",
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "enableProxyFallback": true
}
```

### Dataset fields

Each row contains the hashtag, normalized tag, per-tag rank, `video`/`short` type, video ID, title, description and length, canonical watch/Shorts URLs, public thumbnail set, displayed and parsed view counts, duration and seconds, channel identity, verification/badge flags, publication label, query/page provenance, locale, extraction method, and scrape time. The `OUTPUT` key-value record contains counts, request coverage, proxy state, failures, and timings.

Diagnostics contain only `url`, `error`, `errorCode`, and `scrapedAt`. A zero-result hashtag is reported as `NO_HASHTAG_RESULTS` instead of silently appearing successful.

Run locally with `apify run --purge --input-file qa-inputs/youtube-hashtag-video-shorts-scraper/local-validation.json`, inspect `storage/datasets/default/`, and run `npm run validate-dataset`. Deploy with `apify push` and verify the direct and proxy QA calls.

# Changelog

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

# Actor input Schema

## `hashtags` (type: `array`):

One to 50 hashtags; a leading # is optional.

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

Maximum unique public video/Short records retained for each hashtag.

## `locale` (type: `string`):

Public page language-country locale, for example en-US or de-DE.

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

Store exact four-field diagnostics for failed or empty public requests.

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

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

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

Bounded delay between hashtag pages.

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

Timeout for one public page request.

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

Optional standard Apify Proxy configuration. Proxy URLs must be credential-free.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "hashtags": [
    "travel"
  ],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "locale": "en-US",
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "enableProxyFallback": true,
  "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 = {
    "hashtags": [
        "travel"
    ],
    "maxItems": 20,
    "locale": "en-US",
    "includeDiagnostics": true,
    "enableProxyFallback": true,
    "requestDelayMs": 250,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("w3crawler/youtube-hashtag-video-shorts-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 = {
    "hashtags": ["travel"],
    "maxItems": 20,
    "locale": "en-US",
    "includeDiagnostics": True,
    "enableProxyFallback": True,
    "requestDelayMs": 250,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("w3crawler/youtube-hashtag-video-shorts-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 '{
  "hashtags": [
    "travel"
  ],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "locale": "en-US",
  "includeDiagnostics": true,
  "enableProxyFallback": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 250,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 60,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call w3crawler/youtube-hashtag-video-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,w3crawler/youtube-hashtag-video-shorts-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/2VcRfWNy7RW1D75x4/builds/KtZz54XsbzJiMlquL/openapi.json