Is there an API for YouTube?

YouTube does not offer a public data API for this, but Anakin Wire provides 6 maintained endpoints for youtube.com. You call Anakin's REST API with an action ID and parameters and get structured JSON back; Anakin handles the browser, proxies, anti-bot, and parsing.

How do I scrape YouTube data?

POST to https://api.anakin.io/v1/wire/task with your API key, the action ID, and its parameters, then poll GET /v1/wire/jobs/{id} until the job settles. There is nothing to install and no scraper to maintain — when youtube.com changes its markup, Anakin updates the action.

Do I need a YouTube account?

No. Every YouTube action listed here runs anonymously — no account and no credentials required.

What does the YouTube API cost?

Usage-based credits, charged per call and refunded automatically when a job fails. New accounts start with 300 free credits and no card. See anakin.io/pricing for the current rates.

Social

YouTube API

youtube.com

YouTube - video search and details, channel info, comments, and suggestions.

Actions: 6
Category: Social
Login: Not required
Output: JSON

Get an API key Wire API reference

Call the YouTube API

Submit a task, then poll the job until it settles. This example runs yt_channel.

curl -X POST https://api.anakin.io/v1/wire/task \
  -H "X-API-Key: $ANAKIN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "action_id": "yt_channel",
    "params": {
      "channel_id": "UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ"
    }
  }'

6 actions on youtube.com

Read

Channel Info
yt_channelread1 credit / call
Returns channel details including name, description, avatar, banner, and keywords.
channel_id
string · required
Related Videos
yt_relatedread1 credit / call
Returns recommended up next videos for a given video.
video_id
string · required
Search Suggestions
yt_suggestionsread1 credit / call
Returns search autocomplete suggestions for a partial query.
query
string · required
Video Comments
yt_commentsread3 credits / call
Returns video comments with optional reply walking, up to 10,000 comments.
video_id
string · required
limit
integer
include_replies
boolean
sort
string
Video Details
yt_videoread1 credit / call
Returns full video details including title, author, views, duration, description, tags, and thumbnail.
video_id
string · required
Video Search
yt_searchread1 credit / call
Returns videos matching a query with title, channel, views, duration, and thumbnail.
query
string · required
limit
integer

YouTube API questions

Is there an API for YouTube?: YouTube does not offer a public data API for this, but Anakin Wire provides 6 maintained endpoints for youtube.com. You call Anakin's REST API with an action ID and parameters and get structured JSON back; Anakin handles the browser, proxies, anti-bot, and parsing.
How do I scrape YouTube data?: POST to https://api.anakin.io/v1/wire/task with your API key, the action ID, and its parameters, then poll GET /v1/wire/jobs/{id} until the job settles. There is nothing to install and no scraper to maintain — when youtube.com changes its markup, Anakin updates the action.
Do I need a YouTube account?: No. Every YouTube action listed here runs anonymously — no account and no credentials required.
What does the YouTube API cost?: Usage-based credits, charged per call and refunded automatically when a job fails. New accounts start with 300 free credits and no card. See anakin.io/pricing for the current rates.