# YouTube Shorts Scraper (`agentflow/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape all Shorts from a YouTube channel's Shorts tab. Fast, lightweight, no browser needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/agentflow/youtube-shorts-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Yunbin Huang](https://apify.com/agentflow) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 30 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.30 / 1,000 video scrapeds

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?

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 Shorts Scraper

Scrape all Shorts from any YouTube channel's Shorts tab. Fast, lightweight, no browser needed.

### What does YouTube Shorts Scraper do?

Extract the full Shorts list from any YouTube channel via pure HTTP — no browser, no Playwright, no Puppeteer.

- Scrape **all Shorts** from a channel's Shorts tab with title, view count, and thumbnail
- Support **multiple channels** in one run
- Get **channel metadata** alongside Shorts lists (channel ID, name)
- Handle all **channel URL formats** — @handle, /channel/UC..., /c/custom, /user/xxx
- **No browser needed** — runs in 128MB memory, extremely fast

### How to use YouTube Shorts data

- **Content analysis**: Audit a competitor's entire Shorts catalog
- **Viral research**: Find which Shorts got the most views
- **Trend tracking**: Monitor new Shorts from channels you follow
- **Influencer research**: Evaluate a creator's Shorts performance
- **Content strategy**: See which Short topics resonate with audiences

### What data can you extract?

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| Video ID | Unique YouTube video identifier |
| URL | Full Shorts URL (youtube.com/shorts/...) |
| Title | Short title |
| View count | Number of views (parsed to integer) |
| Thumbnail URL | Highest-resolution thumbnail URL |
| Channel name | Name of the channel |
| Channel ID | YouTube channel ID (UCxxxxxxxxx) |

### How to scrape YouTube Shorts

1. Create a free Apify account
2. Open [YouTube Shorts Scraper](https://apify.com/agentflow/youtube-shorts-scraper)
3. Paste one or more YouTube channel URLs
4. Set the maximum number of Shorts to scrape
5. Click **Start** and download results in JSON, CSV, or Excel

### Input example

```json
{
    "urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
    ],
    "maxShorts": 50
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    "channelId": "UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "channelName": "Marques Brownlee",
    "shortCount": 50,
    "shorts": [
        {
            "videoId": "abc123xyz",
            "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/abc123xyz",
            "title": "This phone surprised me",
            "viewCount": 2300000,
            "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/abc123xyz/hqdefault.jpg"
        }
    ]
}
```

### FAQ

#### How many Shorts can I scrape?

Set `maxShorts` to 0 to scrape all Shorts from a channel. Channels with hundreds of Shorts will take longer due to pagination.

#### What URL formats are supported?

All common YouTube channel URL formats work:

- `https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd`
- `https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ`
- `https://www.youtube.com/c/mkbhd`
- `https://www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee`

Tab suffixes like `/videos`, `/shorts`, `/playlists` are automatically stripped and `/shorts` is appended.

#### How much does it cost?

Charged per Short scraped at **$0.40 per 1,000 Shorts** — extremely affordable for large channel audits.

#### What if the channel has no Shorts?

The result will include channel metadata but `shorts` will be empty.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

List of YouTube channel URLs to scrape Shorts from. Supports @handle, /channel/UC..., /c/custom, and /user/xxx formats.

## `maxShorts` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of Shorts to extract per channel. Set to 0 for all Shorts.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
  ],
  "maxShorts": 50
}
```

# 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 = {
    "urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
    ]
};

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

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

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,agentflow/youtube-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/E4UOBBcmAKzd78m24/builds/VT85cp0eoJ1mnsxv4/openapi.json