Agent skill

youtube

YouTube API for videos and channels. Use when user mentions "YouTube", "youtube.com", "youtu.be", shares a video link, "channel stats", or asks about video content.

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/vm0-ai/vm0-skills/tree/main/youtube

SKILL.md

YouTube Data API

Use the YouTube Data API v3 via direct curl calls to search videos, retrieve video details, get channel information, list playlist items, and fetch comments.

Official docs: https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

  • Search videos by keywords or filters
  • Get video details (title, description, statistics, duration)
  • Get channel info (subscriber count, video count, description)
  • List playlist items (videos in a playlist)
  • Fetch comments on videos
  • Get trending videos by region

Prerequisites

1. Create Google Cloud Project

  1. Go to Google Cloud Console
  2. Create a new project or select existing one
  3. Go to "APIs & Services" > "Library"
  4. Search for "YouTube Data API v3" and enable it

2. Get API Key

  1. Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
  2. Click "Create Credentials" > "API Key"
  3. Copy the API key
bash
export YOUTUBE_TOKEN="AIzaSy..."

3. (Optional) Restrict API Key

For production use, restrict the key:

  • Application restrictions: HTTP referrers, IP addresses
  • API restrictions: YouTube Data API v3 only

How to Use

Base URL: https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3

1. Search Videos

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=kubernetes+tutorial&type=video&maxResults=5&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {videoId: .id.videoId, title: .snippet.title, channel: .snippet.channelTitle}'

2. Search with Filters

Search for videos uploaded this year, ordered by view count:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=react+hooks&type=video&order=viewCount&publishedAfter=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z&maxResults=10&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {videoId: .id.videoId, title: .snippet.title}'

3. Get Video Details

Replace <your-video-id> with an actual video ID:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics,contentDetails&id=<your-video-id>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[0] | {title: .snippet.title, views: .statistics.viewCount, likes: .statistics.likeCount, duration: .contentDetails.duration}'

4. Get Multiple Videos

Replace <your-video-id-1>, <your-video-id-2>, <your-video-id-3> with actual video IDs:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics&id=<your-video-id-1>,<your-video-id-2>,<your-video-id-3>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, views: .statistics.viewCount}'

5. Get Trending Videos

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,statistics&chart=mostPopular&regionCode=US&maxResults=10&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {title: .snippet.title, channel: .snippet.channelTitle, views: .statistics.viewCount}'

6. Get Channel by ID

Replace <your-channel-id> with an actual channel ID:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet,statistics&id=<your-channel-id>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[0] | {title: .snippet.title, subscribers: .statistics.subscriberCount, videos: .statistics.videoCount}'

7. Get Channel by Handle

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet,statistics&forHandle=@GoogleDevelopers&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[0] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, subscribers: .statistics.subscriberCount}'

8. Get Channel by Username

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=snippet,statistics&forUsername=GoogleDevelopers&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[0] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, description: .snippet.description}'

9. List Playlist Items

Replace <your-playlist-id> with an actual playlist ID:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlistItems?part=snippet&playlistId=<your-playlist-id>&maxResults=20&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {position: .snippet.position, title: .snippet.title, videoId: .snippet.resourceId.videoId}'

10. Get Channel Uploads Playlist

First get the channel's uploads playlist ID, then list videos. Replace <your-channel-id> with an actual channel ID:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels?part=contentDetails&id=<your-channel-id>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq -r '.items[0].contentDetails.relatedPlaylists.uploads'

11. Get Video Comments

Replace <your-video-id> with an actual video ID:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads?part=snippet&videoId=<your-video-id>&maxResults=20&order=relevance&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {author: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.authorDisplayName, text: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.textDisplay, likes: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.likeCount}'

12. Search Comments

Replace <your-video-id> with an actual video ID:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads?part=snippet&videoId=<your-video-id>&searchTerms=great+video&maxResults=10&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {author: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.authorDisplayName, text: .snippet.topLevelComment.snippet.textDisplay}'

13. Get Video Categories

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videoCategories?part=snippet&regionCode=US&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title}'

14. Search Videos by Category

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&type=video&videoCategoryId=28&maxResults=10&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {videoId: .id.videoId, title: .snippet.title}'

Note: Category 28 = Science & Technology

15. Get Playlists from Channel

Replace <your-channel-id> with an actual channel ID:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlists?part=snippet&channelId=<your-channel-id>&maxResults=20&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title, description: .snippet.description}'

Common Video Categories

ID Category
1 Film & Animation
10 Music
17 Sports
20 Gaming
22 People & Blogs
24 Entertainment
25 News & Politics
26 Howto & Style
27 Education
28 Science & Technology

Part Parameter Options

Videos

  • snippet - Title, description, thumbnails, channel
  • statistics - Views, likes, comments count
  • contentDetails - Duration, definition, caption
  • status - Upload status, privacy, license
  • player - Embeddable player

Channels

  • snippet - Title, description, thumbnails
  • statistics - Subscribers, videos, views
  • contentDetails - Related playlists (uploads, likes)
  • brandingSettings - Channel customization

Pagination

Use nextPageToken from response to get more results. Replace <your-next-page-token> with the actual token from the previous response:

bash
curl -s "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=python&type=video&maxResults=50&pageToken=<your-next-page-token>&key=$(printenv YOUTUBE_TOKEN)" | jq '.items[] | {title: .snippet.title}'

Guidelines

  1. Quota limits: API has 10,000 units/day quota. Search costs 100 units, most others cost 1 unit
  2. Rate limits: Implement exponential backoff on 403/429 errors
  3. API key security: Never expose API keys in client-side code
  4. Caching: Cache responses to reduce quota usage
  5. Video IDs: Extract from URLs like youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID or youtu.be/VIDEO_ID

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