Retrieve YouTube search results programmatically.
Send a search query and receive structured JSON data for videos, channels, and playlists. No Google Cloud quota management required.
Live demo
Try it live.
Change the parameters and run a real request against the endpoint. No account, no key.
Free to try, no account. Costs 15 credits on your own key.
Run the request to see a live response.
curl -X POST https://automatio.ai/api/v1/query \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AUTOMATIO_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"tool":"youtube_search","params":{"query":"web scraping tutorial","limit":5}}'How it works
One request, one response.
- 1
Submit query parameters
The caller sends a POST request with the search term and optional filters for time or location.
- 2
Process search request
The system queries the public YouTube index to retrieve the most relevant matching metadata.
- 3
Receive structured JSON
A JSON object returns containing the requested number of results and their associated metadata.
Capabilities
What you get.
Everything this endpoint does, without running the infrastructure yourself.
Date based filtering
Narrow results using the orderBy parameter to find the latest content from the last hour or current year.
Geographic targeting
Use the country parameter to retrieve search results specific to a particular region or market.
Language localization
Specify the lang parameter to ensure results match the linguistic requirements of your application.
Volume control
Control the amount of data returned and the credit cost per request by setting the limit parameter.
Cost of ownership
Build it yourself, or call this.
Both are real options. Here is what each one actually costs you.
Run it yourself
- Spin up headless browser instances like Playwright or Puppeteer
- Implement rotating proxy pools to prevent IP blocks and CAPTCHAs
- Maintain custom DOM parsers that break when the UI updates.
Call the API
- Single POST request to a unified endpoint
- No infrastructure to maintain or proxy list to manage
- Standardized JSON output that remains consistent regardless of layout changes.
Integrate
Built for the language you use.
One HTTP endpoint. Copy the call in your language and go.
curl -X POST https://automatio.ai/api/v1/query \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AUTOMATIO_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "tool": "youtube_search", "params": { "query": "web scraping", "limit": 10 } }'In production
What people build with it.
Competitive analysis tools
Monitor specific keywords to track how competitors are ranking for new product launches. You send a query for the competitor name and receive a list of recent videos to analyze their market reach and engagement.
Brand mention alerts
Automate the discovery of new videos mentioning a brand name to trigger sentiment analysis. Use the orderBy parameter set to last_hour to poll for fresh mentions and alert community management teams.
AI content discovery
Feed relevant video URLs into transcription workflows to build datasets for RAG systems. This endpoint provides the entry point URLs needed to trigger subsequent transcription and analysis tools.
Choosing parameters
Which options matter.
The table below lists what exists. These are the calls worth making deliberately.
- orderBy
- limit
- country
Alternatives
When to use something else.
A page that pretends it has no alternatives reads as an advert. These are the other real options.
YouTube Data API v3
Best if you already have a Google Cloud project and your volume fits within their daily quota limits without high costs.
Manual Export
A viable choice for one-off research tasks where the time to integrate an API exceeds the time to copy-paste data.
Before you integrate
What it does not do.
The boundaries are as useful as the features. These are the ones worth knowing up front.
Public data only
This endpoint only returns data for publicly available videos, channels, and playlists. It cannot access private content or restricted member-only videos.
No engagement actions
It cannot be used to post comments, like videos, or subscribe to channels. It is a read-only metadata retrieval tool.
No streaming access
The API provides metadata and URLs but does not serve raw video files or bypass player requirements for playback.
Reference
15 credits per call- Endpoint
- POST https://automatio.ai/api/v1/query
- Tool ID
- youtube_search
Parameters
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| query | string | Search query (e.g., "how to code in python") | |
| limit | number | Maximum number of results to return (default: 10, max: 50) | |
| lang | string | — | Language code (e.g., "en", "es", "fr") - optional |
| orderBy | "last_hour" | "today" | "this_week" | "this_month" | "this_year" | — | Filter by upload time - optional (e.g., "this_month" for recent uploads) |
| country | string | — | Country code in lowercase (e.g., "us", "uk", "de") - optional |
The same endpoints are available over MCP, and the full machine-readable catalogue lives in the API documentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about YouTube Search API
Same data source
Every YouTube endpoint.
One key, one endpoint shape. These all bill per successful call the same way.
YouTube Video Data API
Retrieve comprehensive YouTube video metadata including titles, view counts, descriptions, and channel details via a single POST request for your application.
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Extract YouTube comments by video ID. Retrieve structured JSON containing comment text, author metadata, and timestamps for sentiment analysis or moderation.
15 creditsYouTube Transcript API
Retrieve structured YouTube transcripts with timestamps for LLM summarization and RAG indexing. Access text from public videos via JSON without OAuth or...
15 creditsOther endpoints
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